Pardon me if I rant...

Southern California is full of palms. They are part of our aesthetic and cultural heritage, a big part of our visual landscape. Sometimes the palms end up growing under power lines. The power company, in our case SDG&E, doesn't like this. They end up sending a contracting crew out to trim any offending shrubbery. They send crews to spray poison defoliant on your property around their precious poles, even if you are an organic farmer and have asked them not too, like I have.

I have noticed of late that they have taken to cutting the crowns off palms around town, in these cases pictured the native washingtonia filiferas. Of course this kills the palms since that is the part of the tree that actually grows. You cut it off, the palm is dead. You are left with a giant stump of wood for someone else to take care of, and a standing fire hazard. By the way palms can really burn. I have seen huge stands down in Mexico near Guadalupe Hot Springs.

The question is if they engage in this practice out of malice or ignorance? Whichever it is, it is a visual blight and eyesore. If they are going to kill a palm, kill it and don't leave a mess for somebody else, SDGE.