It’s no secret that Santa Monica government is notorious for its bureaucracy. In recent years, some City Hall employees were starting to earn a pretty decent reputation for being less than personable when dealing with the average citizen. That became obvious a few years ago when code compliance officers threatened residents with $25,000 fines because their hedges were too high. Hundreds of residents were clearly in violation of an antiquated law that was passed in 1948. Where City Hall officials got the idea that tall hedges was a city priority is still beyond us.

The way City Hall went about it was enough for Bobby Shriver to successfully run for City Council. He vowed to help turn around customer service within City Hall. Ironically enough, it was City Councilman Kevin McKeown and new City Manager Lamont Ewell who this week turned around what could have been a real crappy situation.

Valerie Hiss, who has attached more than 60 “doggie houses” onto trees throughout the city so dog owners can pick up after their pets was told earlier this month to remove them because they violated a city ordinance which prohibits people from placing objects on trees. The directive was in response to one person’s complaint about the houses and arborists’ concerns that the screws used for the dispensers create holes in the tree trunks, which lead to infestation of pests and fungus.

It appeared her efforts to keep public spaces, including the Pacific Ocean, free of dog feces were going to be in vain. That’s despite the fact that she’s spent $5,000 of her own money over the last three years for the small bird houses containing plastic bags.

But McKeown, Hiss’ next door neighbor, intervened. Not pleased with City Hall’s response, McKeown reached out to Hiss and asked her to come to a City Council meeting last week. She was introduced to Ewell, who is a fellow dog owner and a new neighbor of McKeown’s and Hiss’.

Hiss this week met with city staff and it’s planned that she will get clearance to mount the doggie houses on city parkway trees, so long as she uses a specified and approved means of attachment. City staff also will provide information on what kind of trees can be safely used, and which trees might be damaged by such mounting.

Oftentimes, common sense is lacking in City Hall’s enforcement of rules and regs. It’s refreshing to see that they’ve come to their senses, especially since City Hall posts its own signs all over Santa Monica telling us what we can and can’t do. But we wonder if this about-face would have come from the staff members who originally barked up Hiss’ tree if there hadn’t been pressure from the public, an elected official and the city manager’s office.

Kudos go out to city staff, Ewell and McKeown for fetching a solution to what should’ve never been an issue in the first place.

We often press City Hall when its staff and elected leaders handle these types of issues poorly. This week, they deserve credit for absorbing the criticisms, and then reacting creatively and making good on neighborly cooperation toward a very worthwhile goal, a cleaner city and bay.