A report by the Auditor General of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA), in 2009 the Directorate General of Urban Trees (DGARB) inspected 9% of the 57,100 complaints received from neighbors, like requests for cutting branches, clearing break lights or sidewalks for root growth, damage to cars and homes caused by falling trees. And, among these, they only solved 1%.

Who was lucky enough to belong to those heard? The watchdog interviewed the owner of the area, who later resigned. He acknowledged that in that department "there does not yet exist a unified intervention in the trees nor is there any planning criteria, focusing on dealing with emergencies and / or VIP claims." The latter, he explained are "orders and urgent demands of special neighbors, his insistence or notified by the Private Secretariat Head of Government, Vice Head of Government, Chief of Cabinet, Ministers or Secretaries." The Buenos Aires Audit noted the "existence of a preferential circuit and unscheduled care claims, called" VIP ". Thus, a criterion of privilege that is unacceptable for a public service "applies.
  
The Directorate General of Urban Trees was created by decree in May 2009 and is responsible for maintaining and preserving tree specimens of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. In addition, companies must control performing maintenance woodland and address neighborhood complaints.

For the management of urban trees, the city was divided into six zones, two operated by DGARB and the remaining work with four private companies. The Directorate performs woodland maintenance through two units: one located in Venezuela Street, which operates in the area corresponding to the CGPs 4, 5 and 6; and another located in Parque Avellaneda, operational base for the area covered by the CGPs 8 and 9.

According to the report by the AGCBA in 2010 on data obtained in 2009, dependence on Venezuela has several shortcomings. In terms of mobility, the delegation has two types of pickup trucks and a Trafic that at the time of the visit, they didn’t have a budget to run them.

Regarding equipment and due to lack of items such as saws, hydro lift, ladders, ropes, shovels, and axes, most operators are not performing tasks. The unit also lacks communication equipment, so once the operators go on public roads, there is no way to keep in touch with them.

The report notes that the personnel performing the operations on trees do not receive formal training. According to the union representative of the General Directorate for Green Spaces, they learn the work "in the field."

Finally, the auditors warned of telephone work orders received are settled in "slips" placed in a puncture, without being formally registered.

The dependence Parque Avellaneda, meanwhile, has an industrial warehouse showing a complete state of disrepair (cracks, leaks, and stains) and at the time of the audit, they seemed were being renovated by the operator themselves.

The Chief Operating Officer of the place said that new works in squares and parks, trees are purchased from third parties, i.e. individual green houses. The auditors noted that "species of cultivated and existing mature trees on the DGARB units and / or DGEV (Municipal gardens) are not exploited." As reported by the Chief Operating Officer, the trees that are in the DGARB are not handled due to lack of equipment, such as bulldozers.

The officers present at the time of the audit expressed that they were never consulted about their needs for clothing, supplies, and machinery required by operating on public streets in order to perform their tasks. In fact, they showed the auditors several boxes of new bike saws that are not suitable for work at height due to excessive weight. They added that when the chain of old chainsaws, which are lighter, break they fix them by taking the chains off the new ones.

Inspection and Control

The audit noted that, as reported by the DGARB, a total of 57,100 complaints registered between 4/4/09 and 4/4/10, "only 9% were inspected and 1% fixed." The auditors could verify that "only works based claims were made. Complaints about urban trees are received through 0800-999-2727 (call Center of SUACI) or Management and Participation Centers (CGP) for the affected homes. Those called “VIP” claims are also received. In addition the audit "could not access information or documentation (minutes) of the results of inspections since DGARB did not have them."

The Director of Urban Trees told the AGCBA that "an agreement with the National Technological University was made to conduct a survey of trees in the play areas of the squares." But it warned that "serious potential risk posed by the state of woodland management and maintenance in regard to accidents." The AGCBA noted that "the real and complete risk cannot be calculated because the new body (DGARB) reliably knows the state of affairs of total woodland areas of Buenos Aires".

Finally, the report notes that in an interview with the Operations Director of Operational Address Inspections and Certification DGARB, "in 2009, they virtually, had not performed inspections and controls on undertakings Contractors Service Maintenance of Trees".