Hollywood Junipers Destroyed:

May 5th, and I still have a lot of catching up to do...

A month ago, on April 5th, Santa Monica City Council yet again sanctioned the destruction of healthy, useful trees for "design" purposes- this time 45 Hollywood Junipers- so named because they have been very popular and successful in the area.

When I first came to Santa Monica I was immediately attracted to photograph these crazy trees (described by one person as "Drama Queens"!), their dark green colour and mad misshapen, sculptural shapes making a great visual note in an urban setting.

These particular ones bordered Reed Park's tennis court on Wilshire Boulevard, between Lincoln and Seventh Street and I always enjoyed walking past them. However, the powers that be decided to re-design the park and this involved the removal of the trees, in spite of the fact that they are drought tolerant as well as environmentally invaluable- and have a life expectancy of 300 years! They were to be replaced by vines growing up the tennis court fence.

When Santa Monica's Treesavers learned of these plans they immediately took action, gaining the support of the local Wilmont Neighborhood Group as well as many individuals. City Hall's reaction was to say that these trees were a threat to pedestrians who found them "spooky", providing shelter for homeless people. Apparently, the trees obscured visibility of the tennis courts and area from the police- which seemed strange, as they were high upon a bank, with a clear view of the courts between their trunks...Next, it was decided that the Cities' own severe pruning had made them lose their structural integrity...



Although the battle was lost, at least the City climbed down in that it asked the Designers(!) if three trees could be incorporated in the design. This was a agreed, and 3 out of 48 trees were spared. Regardless that this was a nesting time for birds, the 45 Junipers were felled on April 5th...by Santa Monica, Tree City USA, in the Year of the Forest...

I just cannot get my head round this: every day we are made aware of the necessity of our tree canopy to fight global warming and yet every day City Councils all over the World- for no good reason- destroy them.



And who can seriously think that a few vines climbing up this fence will compensate for the loss of the Junipers?


First 4 photos taken by Cosmo Bua and 5th by Monica Mejia