The birds ate almost all my blueberries. There's always scavengers! Your wife should have grabbed that shopping bag :-)

Resist the temptation to go after their tires. Jail is no reward for your feelings. Do file a police report and bring an officer to their house. Be sure to include the tree damage in your police report. Then file for civil damages if you want to press the point.

Anything planted in the parking strip or front yard is considered by many to be a "free market."

So if you want to harvest cherries, plant one in the backyard or behind a tall fence.

As for whether local laws cover your loss, you'll need to contact the local authorities.

My guess is that nothing applies.

I also think you will find since it is on the street you have no protection. Ironically homeowners in Seattle are expected by the city to maintain the parking strip in front of their house - including the sidewalk.

I wouldn't do edibles next to the road anyway because of asbestos, lead etc. from cars. Old neighborhoods like yours will have lead in soils near streets because they were there long before the lead was taken out of gasoline. Of course, on a busy arterial the contamination zone probably extends back farther than the entire depth of most small urban lots.

Last year I helped a bit with a concern near an urban interchange. The filth drifting down from the tailpipes of cars waiting for the light was palpable.

I am not talking about stopping and eating some cherries, which I'm OK with. I am talking about harvesting all my cherries. If I need firewood, can I cut a neighbor's sidewalk tree down? Can I pick all the flowers from your rose? Can I dig up a plant I like and take it home? Can I dig up a portion of it (my fair share as a citizen)?.I think not. Looking for a law/code one way or another.

Thanks,
Eric

We feel your pain but I don't think you have any legal recourse. In general, cities consider the parking strip to be city property, and anything you put there is unprotected. The city reserves the right to rip out your plantings at any time to do utility or street work.

Sidewalk trees belong to the city. No you may not cut them down for firewood. They do not belong to the homeowner but you still can't cut them down. Nor can you take your 'fair share as a citizen'. They belong to the citizenry as a whole and not to any individual in any portion.

Now a fruit tree you planted yourself and maintain yourself, might be considered private property even when planted on public property, but don't count on it. Where I've lived before, the city warns you that anything you plant in the parking strip can be removed without warning or reimbursement.

What they did was clearly wrong, but probably not illegal. There's a difference between right/wrong and legal/illegal. Many 'wrong' things are legal, or at least not illegal.

Dig up the tree and move it. Planting anything edible within reach of the public street is asking for trouble.

When I lived in a university town, we'd find total strangers climbing our fruit trees to break branches to reach the fruit. When confronted they'd claim our trees must belong to the university and therefore the fruit is free to students, even though we were a privately-owned and -operated residence hall.

Never underestimate the power of thoughtless people to justify greed.

It looks like your tree may be a prohibited planting in a parking strip in Seattle:

TREES PROHIBITED FOR STREET PLANTING IN SEATTLE
⇒ Acer negundo, Acer saccarinum, Acer macrophyllum (boxelder, silver maple, and big leaf
maple). Break badly in storms.
⇒ Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven). Roots are invasive, brittle wood, suckers freely,
(produces new trees off of the root system, which may create a maintenance problem in the
yard).
⇒ Alnus rubra (red alder). Brittle wood. Favorite of tent caterpillars.
⇒ Malus. Fruiting apples. Fruit on walks
⇒ Prunus. Fruiting cherries. Fruit on walks
⇒ Pyrus. Fruiting pears. Fruit on walks.
⇒ Populus spp. (Poplars). Tops are brittle and break up easily in storms.
⇒ Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust) Thorny, brittle.
⇒ Salix spp. (willows, including weeping). Roots are particularly hard on sewers.

Here is the link to the site:
http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/transportation/docs/Planting2004.pdf

I am sorry for your loss.

...and there is not enough money in 6 pounds of cherries to go the civil court route. It's likely not trespass. You can't even call them scofflaws. Just call them %(*^$#%.

Your tree sign should read "Warning, these cherries are pretty but wormy". It's worth a try.

I grit my teeth when people pick quince from my front yard tree, but that fruit educates the greedy quickly: After a few chews, they have the equivalent of a mouthful of sawdust. Every year there are a couple of quince with a single bite laying near the curb.

This unwelcome harvesting in Portland has included much plant material for floral bouquets, including entire flowering branchlets of various Prunus trees in early spring.

Harvest-Morons are a close second to ice storms in triggering my gardening anxiety.

I'm still wondering what to put on the sign. If it's legally my property (the tree & fruit) as I suspect, then I want to state that clearly.

Kneewalker: are you suggesting I rip the tree out?

I'm happy if passersby help themselves to a handful, but showing up with a shopping bag for a U-Pick session is heinous.

If it was mine, I would remove it to avoid future aggravation.

I'm not a lawyer but it appears the Seattle Municipal Code defers rules regarding street trees to the Transportation Dept, which has a list of trees prohibited in parking strips, and fruiting cherry trees are on the prohibited list.

I'm right across from an elementary school. Lots of little vandals and thieves. After they stole a bench and bombed the outhouse directly across the street in the playground 3 times (melted to the ground X2) I called the cops who said to get a dog, put up a fence, security cameras and make a big sign that would scare the kids.

So I painted a sign that read, When I catch the jerk who stole the bench, I will kill you -- with fake blood and cartoonish, big letters.

You cannot believe the reaction! Did the parents use the opportunity to educate their kiddies about the evils of theft and consequences? NNOOOOO. They demanded the principal come demand that we take the sign down, which we didn't. The news crew showed up; we and the sign were on TV and the paper. The parents called the cops multiple times ... LOL ... yep the same cops who told us to put up a scary sign and commiserated on all the vandalism around here.

No law against our sign, so it stayed up a long time with a cop coming to our door frequently looking quite embarrassed. It did deter theft for quite awhile. We took it down when the heavy rains of winter started. Then the theft started again. Put up a fence and gate to keep the dogs and sticky-fingered kids out of the yard. They even stole a birdhouse ... sigh. And somebody stole gas out of our Jeep -- got a locking gas cap.

I'm out all night watering so no theft -- and if anybody came on this property with that intention I would not hesitate to exert maximum self-defense.

You'll have to pick your cherries before anybody else does, and yes, put up a sign saying MY cherries NOT your cherries -- Scat!

Yes: That's right! YOU are actually the one in violation by planting an orchard cherry tree on a Seattle street! I forgot about that. And you certainly see fruit trees on the street elsewhere. But the street department was actually listing fruit trees as prohibited 30 years ago, and apparently still does. So you certainly aren't going to get any support from the city. Better move or remove it, plant a replacement somewhere inside your property.

Eric,
I certainly feel your pain and anger. We used to live on a corner lot and I had a fence all the way around covered with roses. A woman came by every few days and picked ALL the blooms. After finding out where she lived, sending a letter to her family, and confronting her, nothing did any good. She continued, I was livid, and finally gave up after much anguish. There are people out there who don't care what you do--they are simply rude and selfish.
Move the tree, let go of the anger and spend the energy gardening.

That is one of the most obnoxious things I've ever heard of. I would be so mad! The planting strip is part of an easement (public right-of-way) that includes the sidewalk and the street that allows the public at large to travel over it. Adjacent property owners retain title to the planting strip and can make use of it so long as it doesn't interfere with the right of the public to travel over it. What this means practically is that the city could widen the street and chop down the cherry tree (or tell you to move it because they don't want fruit trees dropping fruit on parked cars) but it doesn't mean that Joe Schmuck and his family can come in pick your cherries.

Hello.

First, check your legal description. The City may have merely an easement on your property (generally use-specific, such as to maintain utilities, etc.), rather than actual ownership of the planting strip.

If the planting strip is owned by you, albeit encumbered with an easement, then you have the right to take reasonable actions to protect your private property, such as to hang a "No Trespassing" sign. If your tree were to be injured due to the merry cherry pickers (MCPs), you might have a cause of action under Washington's timber trespass statute. The link to the same is as follows:

64.12.030 Injury to or removing trees, etc. -- Damages.
Whenever any person shall cut down, girdle or otherwise injure, or carry off any tree, timber or shrub on the land of another person, or on the street or highway in front of any person's house, village, town or city lot, or cultivated grounds, or on the commons or public grounds of any village, town or city, or on the street or highway in front thereof, without lawful authority, in an action by such person, village, town or city against the person committing such trespasses or any of them, if judgment be given for the plaintiff, it shall be given for treble the amount of damages claimed or assessed therefor, as the case may be.

Note that the allowance of treble damages is highly unusual for Washington. It demonstrates, I believe, the lobbying powers of the once-great and still not-too-shabby timber industry in this, our state of evergreen.

The MCPs' removal of the cherries, even without concomitant damage to the tree, can be viewed as an act of conversion. See the following link for the elements of this cause of action.

http://www.lawriter.net/cgi-bin/texis/web/caselaw/bvindex.html?dn=21+Wn.2d+256&State=WA&sid=cf4esr2kv0jq85nfi9mhdn8q92

Second, even if the City does own the strip, you might still be able to make a case for conversion by showing that you rightfully possessed the strip by such acts as mowing, planting, weeding, watering, etc. The case cited above indicates that legal title is not required in a conversion action.

Third, you might re-consider the downside of owning a forbidden tree (ergo, the cherries are the fruit thereof, and doesn't that sound ominous?). If your MCPs were to slip on some rotted fruit and hurt themselves, it is likely that you will be sued. See the link below.

http://www.lawriter.net/cgi-bin/texis/web/caselaw/+lBe0Y_0eoxbnme5fWSeoRIxwwxFqEqh6n5G+AVXz389DhoKMrmD83K+IFqqbE/svindex.html?doc=1

I agree with what others have written about possibly digging up and replanting the tree, hanging up a humorous sign and the like. You should try to discuss it with them first, in a reasonable, non-judgmental (if you can bite back your justifiable vitriol), neighborly manner: "Hey, guys, I water that tree, weed around it and wait all year for the luscious harvest. How about leaving some for me next year?" Although some folks do stupid or mean things out of pure jerkdom, most are only ignorant.

Alas, this only works with humans. I've tried to reason with the crows but each year they get every single one of our Rainier's.

Advisedly,

Rain

Thanks for all you input. For the record, this planting strip is 10 ft. deep, so there is no overhang of branches onto the sidewalk. There is no parking on this side of the street so it does not interfere with access. 2 blocks from here there's a 20 ft. deep planting strip that people don't use at all (such a shame).

My yard is completely full up with all sorts of cool things, plus fruit trees and shrubs, so I don't have room to move this tree elsewhere. A good rule of thumb about such things is "If you ask, you can't", so I never asked anyone if the tree is legal. I never asked anyone if any of the plants I planted is legal. It's possible those poppy volunteers that come up every year are also illegal, but I'm not writing to the federal government to find out.

I am not seeking legal recourse, such as suing or having them arrested. I completely sympathize with Cascadians.

I don't know if I'll put up a sign now (cherries all gone), but definitely will next year. I'm a completely non-violent person, but my dad told me years ago that some people only understand violence and the threat of violence. The flip side of that is that you can write all the polite signs you want and those people will never respect your property.

The loss of a few pounds of cherries doesn't affect me. I'm happy to share the fruit with the birds, squirrels, and passersby in reasonable portions.

Thanks all!

:-)
I'm not violent either, except for eradicating any mole immediately, but the cops said a lot of these kids are spoiled rotten and can only understand pointed dramatic signs like a comic book -- that's the level they're at. Sheeesh. And you were dealing with adults!

Keep your tree by all means, put up a warning sign and fend off the humanimals next year. I carry around a super squirter squirt gun full of water -- which the TV crew filmed and reported as "brandishing a gun" .... whatever works: mine is aimed at the scores of neighborhood cats who want to hang out in my yard, only place for shade, coolness, water, grass, birds, nature near here.

With the banks, housing and economy tanking, fuel and food prices going up, yet more and more ppl completely clueless about nature and gardening, I think theft of fruit and garden produce is going to rise exponentially.

I feel your pain.

One year someone cut all the flowers off my hydrangea. No doubt sold them to the local cut flower market. I was furious.

My hydrangea is not in the parking strip, we don't even have a parking strip. They came clear up into our yard and took every single bloom with long stems. Six foot shrub covered with flowers reduced to a four foot shrub that was bare.

Criminal conduct by your cherry thieves, as well as the obvious theft could include:

RCW 9A.48.090
Malicious mischief in the third degree.

(1) A person is guilty of malicious mischief in the third degree if he or she:

(a) Knowingly and maliciously causes physical damage to the property of another, under circumstances not amounting to malicious mischief in the first or second degree; or

(b) Writes, paints, or draws any inscription, figure, or mark of any type on any public or private building or other structure or any real or personal property owned by any other person unless the person has obtained the express permission of the owner or operator of the property, under circumstances not amounting to malicious mischief in the first or second degree.

(2)(a) Malicious mischief in the third degree under subsection (1)(a) of this section is a gross misdemeanor if the damage to the property is in an amount exceeding fifty dollars.

(b) Malicious mischief in the third degree under subsection (1)(a) of this section is a misdemeanor if the damage to the property is fifty dollars or less.

(c) Malicious mischief in the third degree under subsection (1)(b) of this section is a gross misdemeanor.

[2003 c 53 71; 1996 c 35 § 1; 1975 1st ex.s. c 260 § 9A.48.090.]

___________

I agree with the advice you were given earlier, that your purchase, installation and care of the tree confer property rights upon you even if the strip itself belongs to the city; with regard to the list of prohibited trees, no doubt that rule is more honored in the breach, and I doubt any city employee will come out and enforce it. Doesn't Seattle have a tree planting policy now?

Just doing some browsing through the Seattle Municipal Code (Google it for yourself just for fun). Ah, here we have:

SMC 1.16.030 Officers and employees to encourage private
cultivation.

The officers and employees of the City are requested to encourage the
public to plant and cultivate dahlias and other flowers for
beautifying private grounds and parking strips to the end that Seattle
may be and become known as "The City Beautiful."

(Ord. 32137 Section 3, 1913.)

Cherries have flowers!

________________

Eric, you're a nice guy and West Seattle is a nice part of town, but that's exactly what miscreants count on when they break the law and the standards of society. I say, Nail em!

In your shoes I would file a criminal complaint - I would certainly post a notice next year that the cherries are private property and theft will be prosecuted - but I would think about complaining this year as well.

People don't complaint to the police because they believe they will be dismissed as silly, but 1. the police are obliged to take your complaint if they can't talk you out of it, so don't be talked, and 2. listen to the brokenhearted stories of gardeners who care and cultivate and wait for some lovely plant to flower or fruit only to lose it to some galoot with the conscience of a raccoon - stand up for yourself and all gardeners and make these thieves sting!

I had a pea patch at Tilth for several years and lost all my tomatoes - I finally met the woman who took them. No shame at all! I could have brained her with my hoe but she was too fast for me! GRRRRRRRRRR!

Unfortunately, the cherry tree is NOT private property. With only minor exceptions, curbed parking strips located between a sidewalk and the street are part of the public right of way and owned by the city. Check your property legal description - your property line is going to end somewhere adjacent to the inner edge of the sidewalk. It does not incorporate either the sidewalk or the parking strip. The property owner is obligated to maintain any plantings or improvements they may have added to the parking strip, but legally the plants there are not theirs - once planted they are owned by the city, who has the right to restrict, modify or remove them at will. That's why the city has programs that subsidize street tree plantings.

Since the area is not considered private property and the tree is really not "owned" by the homeowner, I doubt there is anything that can be done legally to prevent this type of thievery. Posting signs will only get you the reputation of being a neighborhood ogre and could provoke other, less innocuous activities. Either move or remove the tree or live with it. It is unfortunate that this type of entitlement mentality exists, where some folks think anything is up for grabs, but at least it hasn't expanded to trespassing into the garden which IS private property and is enforceable although often equally difficult to prove and prosecute.

I have to strongly disagree with many of these posters opinions. The parking strip is private property, and taking your cherries (which likely have a value of less than $50) is theft in the third degree (ORS 164.043), a C misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and up to $1,250 in fines. Furthermore, damaging the tree (assuming the damage is less than $100) is criminal mischief in the third degree (ORS 164.345), also a C misdemeanor.

The parking strip in Portland, OR is private property with a public right of way. What does that mean? It means you own the land and its fixtures (which includes trees and parts of trees), but the city has an easement, which is a limited use of your private property. In this case, the city's easement is one of public access and regulations allowing that public access. Public access does not mean the right to take property, it means the right to enter the land. Furthermore, even if the cherry tree were in a park which is public property, it means that the cherries and the tree are the property of the government and not open to be taken by just any member of the public.

All your comments and advice are terrific. I'm not involving the police on this one. I have involved them before though. A "neighbor" (such a benign word for a family of human miscreants) decided he could cut branches off my trees and dig up plants hanging over my backyard fence. He believed in his tiny brain that he had a property right to do so. Behind my house we have a large public alley, basically a road. He lives across the road and he and his dad clean all organic matter out of their gravel with a tweezer. Of course, my yard is an affront to their sterile GRAVEL-WORLD. After he cut branches the first time, I got him to agree to not do it again without my permission. Of course, he couldn't help himself, because the voices in his head kept telling him to cut. That's when the police told him to stop or they'd arrest him. They told him what he thought was his right was only in his imagination, not actual law.

After I worked for several years to get chicanes (2 half traffic circles) installed on our street to slow traffic, I was labeled a property rights thief by a psychotic neighbor. She convinced the neighborhood drunk and others that I had violated his property rights. Even though most neighbors liked having the chicane, the evil-doers (Rumsfeld would have called them "a group of dead-enders")vandalaized the chicanes, my property, and even took the lug nuts off one of my car wheels (under cover of darkness). Anyhow, I lived here in a hostile environment for about 4 years. yes, that's how long the anti-chicane activists persisted. Their evilness and inability to get their way ate away at them and they all moved away. It's now really quiet and nice here.

So, this cherry thing is small potatoes.

A couple days after this cherry incident, a man was killed in an altercation around his caring for plants in a traffic circle.

Yes, I read that article, too. It does put things in perspective. A bleak one.

Glumly,

Rain

I know this might sound silly...but, have you thought about printing one of the comments stated above (citing some possible law breaking ordinances--and the consecuences) and mailing it to these people? Sometimes it is not the law but the "threat of the law" that works as a deterrant. Just a thought.

Well, after reading all your comments, I've decided that the tree is in fact on public property and is fair game.

With that principle in mind, I have taken all the tires (and wheels) off that family's car (which was parked on public property). Those wheels are now on my car (on private property). I am feeling better about the cherries now.

Just kidding!

Maybe you should tell your neighbors (and post a sign next year) about the Cherry Worms!

Daphne in Tacoma

Plant a few of these around your cherry tree for when they come back.

I don't care whose property the cherry tree is legally what they did was morally wrong. They knew dang well that it was your tree and your cherries.

There goes Ian again with those desert plants that don't grow in our climate. That one only lives in Hollywood.

Yeah, didn't see that one on the euc pages! Ian you've been holding out ...

Can I buy one for my driveway? That should send a message to the kiddies
;^D