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# Made in the shade
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/made-in-the-shade/
- Published: 2007-12-12T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T04:22:41.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Government & Politics, Downtown, #archive-import

*Ficus trees spared for the time being*

CITY HALL The ficus trees in Downtown Santa Monica — the root of controversy pitting environmentalists against city officials — got a temporary reprieve on Monday night from possible destruction and transplantation after the Landmarks Commission postponed a decision over whether to preserve the popular shade-providers.

The commission’s decision came after a lengthy public hearing filled with testimonies from the Santa Monica Treesavers contingent, pleading that the commission continue the discussion item until the ad-hoc group had some more time to compile research in defense of the 153 ficus trees on Second and Fourth streets.

“Because this issue is unprecedented means (the commission) should give the issue more time,” said Sal Greenberger, a Treesaver and life-long Santa Monican.

The commission’s inaction bodes well for the Treesavers, giving them more time to prepare their defense of the trees, which city staff members recommend not be landmarked because they hold neither cultural nor historical significance and do not meet any of the six criteria necessary for a landmark designation.

The trees are currently standing in limbo, unable to be touched while the whole issue navigates its way through the landmark application process. Meanwhile, construction for the $8.2 million streetscape improvement project — of which the tree removal is a part — kicked off in October. The temporary hold-up could have a detrimental financial impact on the downtown project, according to Assistant City Manager Gordon Anderson who requested the commission take up the designation that night.

“It’s not (up to) this commission to make an economic decision, but our reason does land squarely on economic reasons,” Anderson said at the meeting.

But the Treesavers maintain that pushing the issue off until January should have no effect on the financing of the project because construction halts in the Downtown district anyway during the holidays in order to accommodate the merchants.

Several of the commissioners supported postponing action once they learned from the Treesavers of a possible culturally significant fact attached to the planting of the ficus trees. Susan Hartley, one of the founders of the activist group, mentioned a woman by the name of Jacqueline Girion, who formed a women’s committee to work with the Chamber of Commerce and the City Council during the 1960s to beautify the Downtown area by planting trees.

“This was the embarkment of the environmental era and I think Santa Monica likes to tout itself as the environmental Mecca,” Hartley told the commissioners. “We have the beginnings of the environmental movement and we have women coming and leading that movement.”

The Treesavers argued that while city staff and consultants have historical resources at their disposal in compiling their reports, the environmentalists lack that same accessibility and should be granted more time to conduct their research. They added that the Historical Society archives are not available because of their impending move to the Santa Monica Public Library and an independent arborist the group contracted is currently suffering from a serious illness, keeping his services on hold.

While the majority of people who spoke at the meeting did so in favor of the trees, at least one person seemed to shock the largely Treesaver-friendly audience when he steered his comments in the other direction.

Bradley Cooper came to the meeting for an unrelated item and said he didn’t intend to speak on the trees, unaware of the issue until he saw a newspaper article about the controversy at a car wash.

Some members of the audience appeared under the impression that Cooper was speaking in favor of the trees, gasping when Cooper went on to say that the trees were overgrown and filthy.

“I imagine the majority of residents in the city would look at something like this and wonder why (the Treesavers are spending) so much time and so much effort on something that’s probably not worth it,” Cooper said.

The commission is expected to hear the matter at its meeting on Jan. 14.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 12, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/121207.pdf?ref=smdp.com)