[ACT] CO Blvd Trees Cut Down @ 2:00am Last Night! (Photos + Mtg at Vroman's Stump Tomorrow 11am)

Fri Feb 20 21:35:45 PST 2009

FYI. Please cross-post to neighborhood listserves and share with  
others...

Colorado Trees Cut Down 2:00am Last Night
Remaining Trees Need Your Help!
Rally tomorrow at 11:00am in front of Vroman's next to the stump of  
the old tree

I hope you can forward this message to your associates as some trees on
Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena could use our help and support.

There will be a gathering this Saturday (Feb. 21, 2009) at 11 AM in  
front of
Vroman's bookstore (695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101) to  
peacefully
protest the City Council's controversial decision to cut down a bunch of
healthy, beautiful ficus and other trees along historic Colorado Blvd.
between Los Robles Av. and Lake Av. and replace them with palm and  
gingko
trees.

We feel there can be a win-win situation to preserve the trees and  
address
the concerns of the business owners. To that effect we would like to  
make
some signs and banners and hang them from those trees and maybe have  
a tree
sit-in with live acoustic guitar, a passionate and peaceful  
demonstration.
We will take whatever people can offer (song, moral support, advice,  
petitions,
other ideas, etc.).

They can contact me if interested in helping (kecman at srl.caltech.edu
626-354-2534), but mainly show up on Saturday and spread the word as  
far as
you can since time is short!

Thank you!
Branislav Kecman

- - -

Dear Tree Huggers,

Last night, around 2:00am, the old trees on Colorado (in front of  
Kinko's and Vroman's) were cut down. I was told those trees would not  
come down until April. It's nesting season, too. Any eggs and  
nestlings that were in those trees are now dead. The trees are dead.  
Below are before and after photos by Mr. Kecman and his wife. He and  
others are devastated. Passersby are shocked and angry that the trees  
are gone. The street is now lined with large stumps. That block of  
Colorado looks like a cheap strip mall in some economically depressed  
Central Valley town. The majestic, healthy trees lining the Blvd.  
have been destroyed in one night of chainsaws and ropes.

I've left messages with the Mayor's office and City Council members  
(see list below) expressing my outrage and demanding a temporary  
moratorium on further tree destruction until the public can respond.  
Once a tree is gone, it is gone forever. What's their rush? Perhaps  
increasing momentum to save the trees was building to fast, putting  
the Mayor, Council and the Pasadena Playhouse District on the hot seat?

Please call and/or e-mail the Mayor's office and as many City Council  
members as you can. Express your own frustration and outrage. Tell  
them to halt cutting down the remaining trees until after nesting  
season and after further public discussion of this matter.

I suggest you also call Vroman's at:
626-449-5320
Tell the staff how you feel about the "stealth destruction" of the  
trees in the wee hours of the morning. Let Mr. Joel Sheldon, Vroman's  
owner and major shareholder, know that you will take your business to  
other independent bookstores if he doesn't support an immediate  
moratorium on removing the remaining mature trees.

I will not shop or eat at restaurants on Colorado Blvd from now on  
and may avoid Pasadena altogether. I will take my money where trees  
are respected, and hope others will do the same. I will tell the  
businesses and restaurants on Colorado why I am going elsewhere with  
my money in these difficult economic times. There must be tangible  
consequences for Pasadena's environmentally destructive,  
irresponsible actions; otherwise, the loss of mature, urban tree  
canopy and bird habitat will continue. I intend to send a clear  
message by taking my own business elsewhere, for what little that is  
worth. Then again, if all of you and others do the same, we can make  
a difference. Pasadena is going in the wrong direction. If the City  
won't listen to its own Urban Forestry Advisory Committee (UFAC), to  
a JPL Atmospheric scientist, to the public or to common sense and  
environmental facts... then maybe they'll listen to the silence of  
customers going elsewhere?

I don't yet know how many of the Indian Laurel Fig and Carrotwood  
Trees remain, but I will find out.

This is so tragic. Stand by for more photos. "Trees are the Answer,"  
as the bumper sticker says. Please contact the Mayor and City Council  
to request a moratorium on removing the remaining trees on Colorado.

Thank you,
Lori

The trees in the photo below were chopped down last night:

I took the following photos in the wee hours earlier today (Friday  
2/20/09), during the slaughter of ficus trees on Colorado Blvd. in  
front of Vroman's Bookstore.
-- Branislav Kecman

- - -

Contact Info:

Bill Bogaard
Mayor of Pasadena & Pasadena City Council
626-744-4311
Fax:  626-744-3727
bbogaard at ci.pasadena.ca.us
P.O. Box 7115
Pasadena, CA 91109-7215

District 1:
Councilmember Jacque Robinson
Field Representative:  Tina Williams
district1 at ci.pasadena.ca.us
626 744-4444
Fax: 626 396-7300

District 2:
Councilmember Margaret McAustin
Field Representative:  Margo Morales-Fuller
mfuller at cityofpasadena.net
626 744-4742

District 3:
Councilmember Chris Holden
Field Representative:  Jacqueline McIntyre
jmcintyre at cityofpasadena.net
626 744-4738
Fax:  626 744-4774

District 4:
Vice Mayor Steve Haderlein
Field Representative:  Rhonda L. Stone
rstone at cityofpasadena.net
626 744-4740

District 5:
Councilmember Victor Gordo
Field Representative: 	 Vannia DeLaCuba
vdelacuba at ci.pasadena.ca.us
626 744-4741  or   626 831-8609
Fax:  626 398-1836

District 6:
Councilmember Steve Madison
Field Representative:  Takako Suzuki
NO e-mail listed! Use online form under "Contact" tab at:
http://cityofpasadena.net/district6/
626 744-4739

District 7:
Councilmember Sid Tyler
Field Representative:  Pam Thyret
NO e-mail listed! Use online form under "Contact" tab at:
http://cityofpasadena.net/district7/
626 441-4802
Fax:  626 441-4806

- - -

Pasadena Star News

Steve Lambert, Editor
(626) 962-8811 x2410
steve.lambert at inlandnewspapers.com

Larry Wilson, Public Editor
larry.wilson at sgvn.com
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