It has finally happened. After two years of haggling with the Urban Forestry Division of the City of Los Angeles, the Brentwood Community Council was finally able to plant ten trees along the historic San Vicente median. Original designs included redesigning the irrigation system, planting succulents, and mulching the base of the Coral Trees.
All of these steps would have helped to maintain the trees and cut down on water use, but none of our ideas were accepted by the City—a city that exists in the middle of a drought plain. In the end we were allowed only to replace trees that had previously fallen. It should be noted that the BCC was willing to design the median, purchase all materials and pay for all installations. The City’s lack of cooperation simply boggles the mind! But wait—read on:
It was a major effort to obtain the approval of Urban Forestry to plant ten new trees. First, we had to source Coral Trees that the City would approve. This was a challenge because they would not approve any trees on site at the nursery; instead, trees have to be approved where they will be installed. Then, before we could put anything in the ground six different agencies/utilities had to approve the plan as well.
Did you realize that a major gas line runs six feet below the center of the median from Burlingame to Gorham? The City would not allow anything except tiny trees to be planted there. They persisted in this despite the fact that many of the existing Corals are thirty or more feet tall and present no threat to the gas line.
What this means in practical terms is that almost all of the the trees look like little bushes. The selected trees then had to be hauled from Riverside to Brentwood with the possibility that they might not be approved by Urban Forestry, and have to be hauled all the way back to Riverside if they did not.
Despite this potentially costly and ridiculous policy we managed to get through the red tape of Urban Forestry. Most of the credit goes to Valley Crest Nurseries who selected trees that passed the inspection. We began to exhale when it dawned on us that new trees need a lot of water. So, we asked the City to water the trees.
We thought that was a reasonable request, but — no — we were turned down! They would not provide additional water, tree care or even a water truck on a timely basis. The BCC had to step up and once again hire Valley Crest to water the new trees.
Given all this effort we hope you enjoy the new trees. And remember that “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.â€
