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# Council should beware of trees
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/council-should-beware-of-trees/
- Published: 2008-03-28T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T19:02:11.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Downtown, #archive-import, Homelessness

Not much of a tree-hugger you’ll find here, truth be known. On most days I have a tendency as I’m sure most do, to walk right on by without so much as a nod or hello. They’re nice to lean on, give shade and all, but really they’re just kind of there, right? So it’s OK to make them not there, right?

Right, as decreed by your City Council, and there soon may be no there there, as they say, for the unlucky ones designated for either destruction or forced relocation from their Second and Fourth street earth due to, among other things, “damage to their canopies from oversized vehicles.” That, according to City Manager Lamont Ewell as quoted some months ago in the SMDP. Right about then I’m thinking I must be reading “The Onion,” except I knew I wasn’t because there’s nobody laughing at any of this.

Let me get this straight: At significant taxpayers’ expense, these trees will be either uprooted and relocated, or just plain chainsaw massacred into toothpicks for what again? • For being reckless enough to hang a branch in the way of an “oversized” Escalade trying to squeeze into a spot made for a normal car in front of Circuit City? • For inconsiderately blocking the view at certain angles of a merchant’s sign that says “Bubar’s Jewelry,” or “Bank of America” or “Dance Doctor?” • For sadly possessing no historical significance or “characteristics of noteworthy or aesthetic interest or value …” as decreed by the Landmarks Commission?

Just saying: • Instead of getting the trees out of the way of the Escalade, how about getting the Escalade out of the way of the trees? Turn on the key and drive the damn “oversized” Escalade to a place where there’s not a low-hanging ficus. • Second and Fourth street merchants are in one of the best locations known to man for selling their wares to other men, and might not they be able to withstand the nuisance of a little foliage getting in the way of their signage untilthe trimmers trim, as part of a routine maintenance schedule? • A personal anecdote on the “history” thing: When I first came to Santa Monica some decades ago I was taken most by this very downtown area at issue now. There was a tranquility in the heart of this bustling beach town, an ease on the eyes and all the other senses. This is a vivid personal memory, and carries with it a kind of historical significance and “aesthetic interest” the Landmark Commission can’t possibly have computed into their finding. Santa Monica has always been the perfect mix of cosmopolitan and small-town, and for the life of me, the life of those trees has something to do with that. • Trust me, they’re not all going to go off to the other side in one big now-you-see-them-now-you-don’t moment, leaving a bare-naked Border Grill next to a scantily-clad Benihana. Besides, killing trees today so they may live tomorrow just does not compute.

Council’s ambitious tree scheme is part of an $8.2 million streetscape improvement project that right about now should have them feeling a bit squeamish, what with looming budget deficits that have many city workers and at least 25 teachers in the district facing an axe of a different blade.

Do these guys have too much time on their hands or what?

Their recent activism is starting to come across as nothing so much as mischief born of idle time. It’s not like they’ve got nothing else to do, what with the gargantuan problems of homelessness, traffic gridlock, over-development and skyrocketing rents.

But here they are, with all the time in the world to rip the trees off our streets; and time to save our teeth by dumping a compound into our water that requires those who handle it to wear hazardous-material-protective-gear; and time to play Big Brother by installing intrusive cameras at our intersections to snare drivers who misjudge the yellow; and time to boot the long-standing cart-vendors off the Promenade on their loyal, hard-working behinds without so much as a good-bye. The hits just keep on coming, friends, and you want to talk about an idle mind being who’s playground?

With some of my own idle time, I’ve been musing on the lumber from those felled trees being milled into a plank wide enough for seven, a short plank placed at the end of our beautiful pier, off of which they will soon be asked to take a long walk.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 28, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/032808.pdf?ref=smdp.com)