Can Pittsburgh do more to quell the putrid-smelling ginkgo trees?

PITTSBURGH — All across Pittsburgh, there is an effort to plant more trees and grow the city's shade canopy. In one neighborhood, there are some people who want to see trees come down. It's all because of a nasty smell that comes up for a quarter of the year because of some berries growing on the ginkgo trees that line the Brookline street.

On Seton Street, 80 ginkgo trees keep the street shaded. They are known for their beautiful fall displays and hardiness. However, the female trees are better known for something less pleasant: the fruit they drop. In the fall, the ginkgo trees' berries fall and start to rot, giving off a strong odor that neighbors described to us as vomit-like.

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"I used to photograph autopsies in the Navy, and that wasn't even this bad," said Kathleen Janoski, who lives on the street.

Janoski is a disabled veteran. She reached out to Channel 11 because she says the city of Pittsburgh is not doing enough to help neighbors deal with these gingko trees. They are planted on city easement property, so the neighbors can't do anything to the trees without city permission. Half of the 80 trees are female, which means each fall, there is a big mess on Seton Street.

Janoski told us she has contacted 311 several times to get her tree trimmed or the berries cleaned up but says she has had little response. The city disagrees.

"I feel that despite what some of the residents think up there, we've been very responsive," said Pittsburgh forester Lisa Ceoffe.

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The city told us they have responded to several calls from Seton Street and routinely do sweeps of the street during the fruiting season. Ceoffe told us anytime a homeowner wants to remove a ginkgo, the city has to post the plan on the tree. She says neighbors didn't like the plan to remove one fruiting tree, fearing it could cause a domino effect.

Other neighbors tell us they don't need to see the trees cut down; they just want fewer fruits to fall onto their sidewalks and stink up their front lawns. They said the city suggested looking into inoculating the trees. The city tells us they did explore that option, but it would only slow the fruiting down. They would have to repeat the process for years to come and said the financial cost didn't make it a worthwhile response. Homeowners say they shouldn't be forced to clean up the city's problem.

"I have two guys that cut my grass, but every time they do a cleanup, they charge me anywhere from $60 to $90 because they actually have to dispose of the debris," said Janoski. "Why should I pay to clean up the city's mess?"

The city says the mess is a small inconvenience for the beauty the trees provide.

"You have to look at all the benefits you are going to have," Ceoffe said. "It's only for a short period of time, late autumn maybe through the first of December, where you are going to have these fruiting bodies that fall."

Right now, the city suggests homeowners get out as soon as the fruits fall to clear them up before they rot. They say they have a contact on the street workers talk to and schedule street flushings when too many fruits fall.

Cox Media Group