SM Treesavers hold election season’s first candidates forum
For once there was a candidates forum that had nothing to do with development, traffic or even the homeless.
Instead the eight aspiring City Council contenders who gathered at the Ken Edwards Center on Thursday focused solely on what has perhaps been the hottest topic of the past year — urban forestry.
The election season’s first political symposium came courtesy of the Treesavers, the grassroots organization that protested City Hall over a controversial ficus tree removal plan, the event questioning candidates about everything to do with the group’s favorite natural specimen. Former Mayor Mike Feinstein moderated the discussion.
A total of 13 people — including all incumbents — will be vying for four seats on the City Council this fall. Only one of the four incumbents — Councilmember Ken Genser — participated in the forum, with Mayor Pro Tem Richard Bloom submitting his answers to a set of questions in time for the event.
Many of the panelists were previously vocal in their opposition to the ficus tree removal plan, but two in particular — Jerry Rubin and Susan Hartley — played a central role in the protest, having founded the Treesavers and launching a lawsuit against City Hall last year.
The forum, as expected, paid close attention to the removal of 23 ficus trees deemed structurally deficient in Downtown Santa Monica earlier this year, one of the questions focusing on whether the candidates would have voted for the plan.
The council last summer passed a downtown beautification plan, which included a proposal to remove and transplant 54 ficus trees. All of the councilmembers, with the exception of Kevin McKeown, have defended the plan in its entirety, stressing the need to remove the physically unsound trees in order to ensure public safety.
“I would’ve listened to the people who came to speak at council meetings requesting modification of the streetscape (plan) to preserve the trees,” Linda M. Piera-Ávila said.
The lone voice in support of the trees’ removal was Genser, who reiterated the decision he made last year.
“I voted for this and unapologetically so,” Genser said. “What we ultimately did is environmentally superior … it will work for the longevity of the urban canopy in downtown.”
Recreation and Parks Commissioner Ted Winterer said he would’ve opposed the plan, regardless of whether the trees were in the equation, noting that the streetscape project doesn’t do much for bike lanes and the newly installed curb extensions serve as an impediment to cyclists.
The Treesavers’ most recent cause — lobbying the council to form a commission to consult on urban forestry matters — was also raised, asking candidates whether one is necessary.
While most said they would favor a commission, Jon Louis Mann, who has unsuccessfully run for the council eight previous times, said he wouldn’t trust one.
Instead public debate over urban forestry matters should be facilitated online, Mann said, reiterating his perennial campaign platform that all residents should be given free Internet access and that the City Hall Web site should be a hub for community discourse.
Hartley, an employment lawyer who also serves on the Airport Commission, added that a commission could make recommendations to preserve a tree but that the ultimate decision would be determined by the council.
Some candidates, like Linda Armstrong, said that a commission would be valuable only if the seats were open to the public.
“Cutting down trees should be a very last resort,” she said.
The candidates also reflected on the moment that instilled a life’s compassion for trees.
For Herbert Silverstein, life has always been filled with a love for the specimens, having grown up in a house in Brooklyn that was surrounded by various species of trees.
The Santa Monica resident has held daily vigils in honor of the ficus trees at Palisades Park.
“To me this was my paradise,” Silverstein said. “When I came out here to Santa Monica, it was another paradise that was revealed to me.”
Jump hedline: Treesavers hold election season’s first candidates forum
Suggested pullquote: “I would’ve listened to the people who came to speak at council meetings requesting modification of the streetscape (plan) to preserve the trees.”
Linda M. Piera-Ávila
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 16, 2008. Read the original PDF.