“Do you have any advice about what I should do to get the tree taken care of?”

“Dear PoPville,

My property is at the corner of 13th and W St, NW. In the backyard of a house on W is a dead tree leaning dangerously on a (Comcast?) power line / power line pole, which is leaning dangerously due to the weight of the trunk. The dead tree is about as tall as my house, and if it were to fall it would hit my upper floor.

I reached out to the owner of the house on W, who said: “The tree is located on the easement line and city has to address the issue. However, I was not able to resolve it, numerous attempts were made – we called the city and comcast several times, but without any result. Please feel free to investigate the issue since you property caries a direct risk of being damaged. From what I understand – unfortunately, no one really cares till the problem arises”

Do you have any advice about what I should do to get the tree taken care of?

I have a few updates (though no actual progress) since I sent this email:

– I reached out to 311 and they sent a crew to inspect. The crew said they wouldn’t do anything (full quote: “Tree on easement at rear of private property, this is not city maintained right of way. Would require permit for removal as appears to be >44” circumference. Apply for Special Tree Removal Permit at tops.ddot.dc.com”)
– I reached out to Comcast (the other house’s owner said they had cables on the pole?) and they won’t do anything because my neighbor and I don’t have Comcast service
– I reached out to Pepco and they said the pole isn’t theirs – their power is underground in this part of the city. They said it is probably “DC Street Light or Verizon, especially DC Street Light if it’s in the back of the property.”

Now I really don’t know what to do… the other house’s owner won’t do anything, and all of my googling about “DC Street Light” has turned up nothing.”