It took five Auckland City Council arborists to condemn the old Mexican
Pine, with other pine trees cut down to provide all the paper on which
they wrote their reports. Then they all went away.
Cedric, founding member of the Headhunters Gang, had got the Council along as part of his campaign to drive me out of my house. Councils and gangs get along well together. They have much in common.Most Council bureaucrats would not be very good bullies left to their own resources, but when the gang mentality takes over they feel they can bully everyone.
People who love pushing other people around get a job with Council and they wear their patch with pride. The Council gives nobodies an identity, and they remain convinced that they are different from the Mongrel Mob or Black Power. If wde are going to ban gangs we should also ban Councils.
Councils also tend to act illegally because they feel they are above the law. As far as they are concerned the law applies to other people. Councils even ignore the Local Government Act. However taking the Council to court can be an expensive process. They use your rates to employ the most expensive lawyers in town because they cannot afford to lose.
They also aim to break you finanacially as you are paying for yourself, the other team and the referee. You cannot win unless you do all your own legal work and then, with a little bit of luck, you cannot lose.
Council staff are generally ignorant of planning schemes, and sadly woefully inadequate in ecological and environmental issues.
I had known for years that the pine was dangerous. From time to time it would shed an enormous branch for no particular reason. Enough to kill anyone who happened to be around at the time. However it was a big tree and there were always other priorities.
