I live in a very confused town: Santa Barbara.  Somehow, in this town where major fires hit us many times a year, costing millions in revenue not available, trees have become sacred. Not poles made of wood. Only trees.

You see, if I wanted to, I could plant as many trees on my property as I wished, and let them grow as high as possible, and into my neighbor's space, and it would all be legal. My neighbor would even have to pay for cutting back my branches! Now, if it was a "finished" piece of lumber, I could stick it only in areas that conformed to the lot restrictions, and only to a height of 12 feet. Make sense? Does one or the other burn faster?

California has tried to impliment a law back in 2005, requiring various tree spacing restrictions, but the local fire department has so far declined to respond to my questions concerning their own brochure on the subject of "defensible space", creating a joke.

Looks like there is little we can do in this town until someone organizes for a rational assessment of our community's needs. There is not a politician alive here who would even touch the subject, let alone act.