No subject
Mon Nov 24 11:10:49 PST 2008
A protest against the downing of the stately ficus scheduled for Saturday m=
orning in front of Vroman's and the Laemmle in the Playhouse District inste=
ad turned into a wake as dozens of people bemoaned the loss of one of the c=
ity's most prominent and useful trees, buzz-sawed overnight without notice.=
Tree-huggers now ask two things: For a big turnout Monday at 6:30 p.m., Ci=
ty Council Chambers, 100 N. Garfield Ave., Pasadena, during Public Comment.=
And for an immediate moratorium on the removal of all (safe) street trees =
until a real forestation plan is put in place. Even the LA Times had a stor=
y today on the midnight massacre of the trees on Colorado Blvd - probably b=
ecause Pasadena is a Tree City USA!=20
February 22, 2009
PASADENA
Residents protest city's removal of ficus trees
Before organizers could mount a planned protest Saturday, Pasadena public w=
orks crews moved in Friday night to cut down about 15 ficus trees along Col=
orado Boulevard, famed across America as the Rose Parade route. The mature =
ficus trees had been the focus of much community debate after merchants dem=
anded their removal because the trees were obscuring signs, wrecking sidewa=
lks and damaging plumbing.
Ficus supporters say that the trees provide shade and beauty and that the p=
roblems could be dealt with in other ways, such as installing rubberized si=
dewalks to help accommodate root growth and keeping the trees trimmed.=20
"We should rename Colorado 'Bleak Street,' " said resident Christle Balvin.=
"We've lost our shade canopy. If I were a business owner, I would no longe=
r want to locate on this strip. . . . It just looks awful."
The city plans in coming weeks to replace 38 mature ficus and carrotwood tr=
ees with palm and ginkgo trees. Many of the cut trees had been in front of =
Vroman's bookstore, a city institution. Vroman's employees released a state=
ment criticizing the decision to remove the trees.
The protest went on as planned Saturday, with organizer Branislav Kecman, a=
Caltech physicist, gathering signatures on a petition to save the remainin=
g trees.
City officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
-- Martha Groves EL CAJON
=20
_______________________________________________
ACT mailing list
ACT at fourpalms.org
http://www.fourpalms.org/mailman/listinfo/act
_______________________________________________
ACT mailing list
ACT at fourpalms.org
http://www.fourpalms.org/mailman/listinfo/act
_______________________________________________
ACT mailing list
ACT at fourpalms.org
http://www.fourpalms.org/mailman/listinfo/act
=20
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<table cellspacing=3D"0" cellpadding=3D"0" border=3D"0" ><tr><td valign=3D"=
top" style=3D"font: inherit;"><br>Jeremiah-<br><br>Native Sycamores are won=
derful trees. They don't do well in sidewalks. If you notice , in Nature th=
ey tend to grow in stream beds where the soil is very well drained. They ea=
sily develop a fungus that rots them at the junction of the roots and trunk=
, sadly. Native Oaks have like problems and since they are protected there =
are cost problems with trimming and so on. in fact the regulations to prote=
ct oaks interestingly enough have lead to people not wanting to plant them.=
If you notice the mature street trees on say Michigan in Bungalow heaven, =
you will notice that they have large areas of open soil in the parkway and =
on lawns that lend to their health. Planted on a commercial street they don=
't have this.<br><br>A gGinko, in spite of the fact that Gustav Stickley lo=
ved them, is a sucky street tree. The leaves have high amounts of lubricity
making them terrible as a street tree because they promote tires slipping =
and sliding and I forget but either the male or female tree is highly poiso=
nous.<br><br>--- On <b>Mon, 2/23/09, Jeremiah Small <i><jeremiah at stonehi=
llnews.com></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style=3D"border-left: 2px soli=
d rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;">From: Jeremiah Sm=
all <jeremiah at stonehillnews.com><br>Subject: Re: [ACT] Tell the Pasad=
ena City Council what you think...<br>To: steve_lamb57 at sbcglobal.net, Meb78=
7 at aol.com, "Lisa Hastings" <rumberalisa at gmail.com>, "DFA" <sangabr=
ielvalley4democracy at yahoogroups.com><br>Cc: "Bill Bogaard" <bbogaard@=
ci.pasadena.ca.us>, act at fourpalms.org, "Kevin Urich" <kevinu at pasadena=
weekly.com>, "larry wilson" <larry.wilson at sgvn.com>, eti at fourpalms=
.org<br>Date: Monday, February 23, 2009, 10:25 AM<br><br><div id=3D"yiv1359=
293624">
<title>Re: [ACT] Tell the Pasadena City Council what you think...</title>
<font face=3D"Arial"><span style=3D"font-size: 12pt;">As I understand it, t=
he plan is to replace the trees with non-native Ginkos. I am curious why th=
is species is being considered. The historical argument for native Washingt=
onia palms is obvious, but Ginkos?<br>
<br>
Is there a reason native California Sycamore or California Live Oak doesn=
=A2t make sense?<br>
<br>
Jeremiah Small<br>
<br>
On 2/23/09 9:53 AM, "SSL" <<a rel=3D"nofollow">steve_lamb57 at sbcglobal.ne=
t</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
</span></font><blockquote><font face=3D"Arial"><span style=3D"font-size: 12=
pt;">Lisa-<br>
<br>
Perhaps a little history would be helpful to you. First of all the Washingt=
onia Palm is the traditional Pasadena street tree for major streets. Has be=
en since 1918 or so. In the 1970's a group of us do gooder civic design typ=
es had the idea that we wanted to make Colorado and other commercial street=
s in Pasadena more walkable, and more like the commercial streets of a Euro=
pean city. Like Paris, Utrecht, or Amsterdam with thier canopy of street tr=
ees.<br>
<br>
We sought to keep the historic Washingtonias as a overstory and use other t=
rees as a understory for shade. Several businesses funded the study and ele=
vation drawings INCLUDING VROMANS (be nice to Joel) and for many years copi=
es of the elevations hung gathering support at Barney's LTD. <br>
<br>
We had specific detailed well studied recomendations for the type of tree t=
o be planted ahd how they should be planted to ensure very little sidewalk =
damage and that we got healthy long lived trees. Some business owners, Jim =
Plotkin in particular,who was involved at the time with the Old town Mercha=
nts Association and a major landlord in old town, were rabily against the t=
rees we selected because they were slow growing and would cover their signs=
for too long. The City of Pasadena being a political creature compromised =
and put in faster growing less hardy healthy trees and then because so much=
time had lapsed and costs had gone up, didnt put them in correctly. Those =
of us whose idea this was protested and were either ignored, or told to not=
let the perfect be the enemy of the good, a refrain one often hears in Pas=
adena from the government except when one is attempting to get say a zoning=
or building permit...<br>
<br>
Anyhow, this mess was inevitable, because the City of Pasadena screwed it u=
p from the begining. So now that the cheap trees have their canopies finall=
y above the signs, they are eating the sidewalk and /or dieing and must be =
cut down to protect the public. <br>
<br>
They should be cut down. Trees with long lifespans and properly planted sho=
uld be planted for an understory. Sadly, even if we start in the morning, I=
wiull not live long enough to see them as mature civic shade trees, but pa=
rt of being civic minded is leaving a better world for the next generation.=
<br>
<br>
Let us attempt to have Pasadena City Hall take the correct lessons from thi=
s:<br>
<br>
1 .Some questions can or should not properly be answered with compromise<br=
>
2. The good is the enemy of the perfect, and of the future<br>
3. It doesnt do any good to "save" 15% today if it will cost you 150% in tw=
enty five years.<br>
<br>
And of course, <br>
4. People will defend things, even if done incorrectly, that improve the hu=
maneness of their existence.<br>
<br>
Steve Lamb<br>
<br>
P.S. Sadly what I take away from this, Devils Gate and Lincoln Crossing, is=
that visionaries need to never and I mean<b> never</b>, share any idea wit=
h any governmental agency because they are, in my wretched experience, comp=
letely incapable of ever carrying through without destroying the whole purp=
ose of the original idea. I guess if they were capable of being visionary o=
r carrying a visionary idea, they wouldnt be bueracrates in the first place=
. This miserable lesson, that they are just incapable of implimentation wit=
hout destruction, has been a painful one that has taken me most of my life =
to learn, because at first I could just not believe the levels of mendacity=
, sloth and corruption. I see much more clearly now, sadly.<br>
<br>
--- On <b>Sun, 2/22/09, Lisa Hastings <i><<a rel=3D"nofollow">rumberalis=
a at gmail.com</a>></i></b> wrote:<br>
</span></font><blockquote><font face=3D"Arial"><span style=3D"font-size: 12=
pt;">From: Lisa Hastings <<a rel=3D"nofollow">rumberalisa at gmail.com</a>&=
gt;<br>
Subject: Re: [ACT] Tell the Pasadena City Council what you think...<br>
To: <a rel=3D"nofollow">Meb787 at aol.com</a><br>
Cc: <a rel=3D"nofollow">act at fourpalms.org</a>, <a rel=3D"nofollow">eti at four=
palms.org</a><br>
Date: Sunday, February 22, 2009, 9:15 PM<br>
<br>
Who started this tree destruction program anyway? First on Arroyo Parkway, =
then Holly Street going toward city hall. Now, Colorado. Why in the w=
orld does Pasadena want palm trees? The ones on Arroyo Parkway look terribl=
e and Holly Street going toward city hall looks so barren now! Palm trees a=
ren't trees anyway. They're classified as grasses! And they're not native, =
either! What is going on? Is this part of all the new development? Tear eve=
rything down and put up high density population development?<br>
<br>
On Sun, Feb 22, 2009 at 7:02 PM, <<a rel=3D"nofollow">Meb787 at aol.c=
om</a>> wrote:<br>
</span></font><blockquote><font face=3D"Arial"><span style=3D"font-size: 12=
pt;">From Larry Wilson's column today in the Star News:<br>
</span><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-size: 10pt;">A protest against =
the downing of the stately ficus scheduled for Saturday morning in front of=
Vroman's and the Laemmle in the Playhouse District instead turned into a w=
ake as dozens of people bemoaned the loss of one of the city's most promine=
nt and useful trees, buzz-sawed overnight without notice. <font color=3D"#f=
f0000">Tree-huggers now ask two things: For a big turnout Monday at 6:30 p.=
m., City Council Chambers, 100 N. Garfield Ave., Pasadena, during Public Co=
mment. And for an immediate moratorium on the removal of all (safe) street =
trees until a real forestation plan is put in place. </font>Even the LA Tim=
es had a story today on the midnight massacre of the trees on Colorado Blvd=
- probably because Pasadena is a Tree City USA! <br>
February 22, 2009<br>
<b>PASADENA<br>
</b><br>
<b>Residents protest city's removal of ficus trees<br>
</b><br>
Before organizers could mount a planned protest Saturday, Pasadena public w=
orks crews moved in Friday night to cut down about 15 ficus trees along Col=
orado Boulevard, famed across America as the Rose Parade route. The mature =
ficus trees had been the focus of much community debate after merchants dem=
anded their removal because the trees were obscuring signs, wrecking sidewa=
lks and damaging plumbing.<br>
<br>
Ficus supporters say that the trees provide shade and beauty and that the p=
roblems could be dealt with in other ways, such as installing rubberized si=
dewalks to help accommodate root growth and keeping the trees trimmed. <br>
<br>
"We should rename Colorado 'Bleak Street,' " said resident Christle Balvin.=
"We've lost our shade canopy. If I were a business owner, I would no longe=
r want to locate on this strip. . . . It just looks awful."<br>
<br>
The city plans in coming weeks to replace 38 mature ficus and carrotwood tr=
ees with palm and ginkgo trees. Many of the cut trees had been in front of =
Vroman's bookstore, a city institution. Vroman's employees released a state=
ment criticizing the decision to remove the trees.<br>
<br>
The protest went on as planned Saturday, with organizer Branislav Kecman, a=
Caltech physicist, gathering signatures on a petition to save the remainin=
g trees.<br>
<br>
City officials could not immediately be reached for comment.<br>
<br>
<i>-- Martha Groves </i><b>EL CAJON<br>
</b> <br>
</span></font><span style=3D"font-size: 12pt;"><br>
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ACT mailing list<br>
<a rel=3D"nofollow">ACT at fourpalms.org</a><br>
<a rel=3D"nofollow" target=3D"_blank" href=3D"http://www.fourpalms.org/mail=
man/listinfo/act">http://www.fourpalms.org/mailman/listinfo/act</a><br>
<br>
</span></font></blockquote><font face=3D"Arial"><span style=3D"font-size: 1=
2pt;"><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
ACT mailing list<br>
<a rel=3D"nofollow">ACT at fourpalms.org</a><br>
<a rel=3D"nofollow" target=3D"_blank" href=3D"http://www.fourpalms.org/mail=
man/listinfo/act">http://www.fourpalms.org/mailman/listinfo/act</a><br>
</span></font></blockquote><font face=3D"Arial"><span style=3D"font-size: 1=
2pt;"><br>
<hr size=3D"3" width=3D"95%" align=3D"center"></span></font><span style=3D"=
font-size: 12pt;"><font face=3D"Monaco, Courier New">______________________=
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ACT mailing list<br>
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man/listinfo/act">http://www.fourpalms.org/mailman/listinfo/act</a><br>
</font></span></blockquote>
=20
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