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# Tree savers draft lawyer
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/tree-savers-draft-lawyer/
- Published: 2007-09-22T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T02:55:24.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Environment, Downtown, #archive-import

*Group selects legal help in their ongoing fight with City Hall*

DOWNTOWN A group of environmental activists pleading with City Hall to pardon more than 50 mature ficus trees on Second and Fourth streets have secured the pro bono services of a local attorney to help their cause.

Attorney Thomas Nitti is currently researching whether City Hall proceeded in a proper manner when it formulated an approximately $8.2 million streetscape improvement project that includes a controversial $600,000 line item to uproot 54 ficus trees.

City Council approved the project last month 6-1 with Councilmember Kevin McKeown being the lone vote in opposition.

Nitti explained on Thursday that he is checking to see if there were any procedural holes in the process, such as whether City Hall was required to file an environmental impact report, and if so, whether it did.

City Manager Lamont Ewell stressed that the project underwent an open public process all the way through in an effort to build a plan out of consensus, giving residents and business owners plenty of chances to provide their own two cents.

“I do get somewhat concerned that after that process others who may not have participated in it now come back and want to start the process all over,” Ewell said on Thursday. “The concern, for me, is it begins to undermine the hard work of people that did participate; it says it doesn’t matter about open government, it’s who gets to you last.”

The plan calls for the removal of 54 ficus trees from the project area, which covers Second and Fourth streets from Colorado Avenue to Wilshire Boulevard. About 23 of the ficus trees have been identified as diseased and will be turned to mulch while the remainder will be relocated to elsewhere in the city. Every empty plot will be replanted with two ginkgo biloba trees.

The project also includes beautifying the streets, including improved lighting, illuminating the remaining ficus trees and installing curb extensions.

Proponents have argued that the plan would bring much needed improvements to the two corridors while opponents maintain that removing the trees would do a great injustice to residents and the downtown area.

“Our hope is that people will remember why we’re doing this,” Ewell said. “The city is perhaps one of the most well known highly regarded sustainable cities and it’s not our intention to destroy active trees, but those that need to come down and must come down.”

The trees also represent a public safety issue, considering that more than a few of the specimens have roots that are overgrown, undermining concrete thus creating a tripping hazard for pedestrians, Ewell added.

The trees could stay put if one of the six city council members that approved the project requests bringing the matter back to the dais for another vote. Ewell said he doesn’t foresee that happening.

“I think council has a clear understanding of the process that we used and have all the facts in hand,” Ewell said.

But the so-called tree savers, which informally formed a group last week to preserve the trees, aren’t giving up hope.

The tree savers plan to hold a pep rally on Sunday at 2 p.m., congregating in downtown to tie bright green posters that read “save these trees” around the trees on Second and Fourth streets.

Architect Dan Jansenson, who spoke with Nitti last week and is one of the organizers of the tree savers group, thinks City Council will come around and personally doesn’t see a need to sue City Hall.

“We’re trying to be as positive and friendly as possible,” Jansenson said. “I’m not sure if a lawsuit route is anything we should be looking at seriously right now.”

Nitti’s offices are located on Sixth Street and Arizona Avenue, just two blocks away from the project area. He contacted Jansenson after hearing about situation.

“In my opinion, the city is terribly shortsighted and takes a Paul Bunyon approach when a more reason thought-out approach should be used,” he said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 22, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/092207.pdf?ref=smdp.com)