Elderly residents in a Yarraville street say they are too scared to leave their homes because of the danger posed by debris from street trees.
The large white cedar (melia azedarach) trees in Castle Street drop hundreds of hard, marble-sized fruit on the footpath, which the residents say are a slipping hazard.
Mena Cassetta said her 95-year-old mother Antonia was one of a number of residents in their 90s terrified of slipping on the fruit.
Ms Cassetta said Maribyrnong council had been negligent in its upkeep of the street trees and failed to deal with the debris, without constant pestering.
“They are so dangerous. Council planted these trees and they look fabulous, but they drop these seeds and they don’t clean them up.”
Ms Cassetta said one elderly resident was taken to hospital by ambulance in recent years with broken teeth, a broken jaw and cuts to her lip and cheek, and died in hospital from her injuries.
“This validates all our concerns regarding our parents and neighbours, a good number of whom are elderly and have been ratepayers for more than 50 years,” Ms Cassetta said.
She said the fruit dropped for about two months every year, leaving elderly residents feeling under siege throughout spring.
“It shouldn’t be left to the elderly residents to clean up or employ services to clean up.”
Ms Cassetta said her mother, a proud gardener, was also distressed at the mess the trees caused on her property.
Another resident, who has been complaining to council about the same issue, said she had yet to hear back about her concerns.
Council’s infrastructure and engineering director, Ian Butterworth, said the white cedar trees had been planted in streets and open spaces across Maribyrnong as they were appealing in flower, performed well in nature strips and responded well to maintenance and pruning.
“Council runs a cyclical maintenance program where all street trees across our city are maintained and pruned regularly to reduce the amount of debris generated,” he said.
Mr Butterworth said the council responded to requests from residents about footpath debris from street trees that create obstacles.
“In every instance, council removes the debris from the footpath at the relevant location as soon as possible, frequently within a 24-hour period,” he said, adding the council was considering a footpath maintenance schedule based on seasonal tree debris.
