Leucadia-4:35pm, January 30, 2009.
Jobless hippy kid climbs "tree" in Orpheus Park in weak attempt to stave off tree trimmer's axe.
Apparently, Drew (the tree climber) doesn't read the Leucadia Blog.
At first I wanted to tell the kid, "Dudebro, don't you read the Leucadia Blog? There are trees that provide community value on L101 that are being cut down without adequate justification. Heck, the cypress tree is being cut down because there is some dead canopy and that is not a complete argument that the tree poses a liability or that it suffers from a terminal illness."
Then I realized that I didn't want this kid to have anything to do with the L101 trees.
Local media coverage:
Coast News, Protester goes to great heights
NCT, Tree-sitter blocks removal of park tipu tree
SDUT, Jru tree-sits, children chant as trees fall in Leucadia park
Encinitas and especially Leucadia is becoming ground zero for dorks from far and wide. What is there a dork beacon that calls them here. Maybe we need a big dork zapper to stop them.
ReplyDeleteDoes it coincide with the amount of yoga studios in town?
"...without adequate justification."
ReplyDeleteI would rather not have trees removed. But, it seems there is adequate justification. There have been two reports and L101 arranged for an independent opinion that pretty much agreed with the first two. There have been no reports contradicting the results.
I think he city his handling this misfortune well.
We can't re-plant new trees until we know where they are going to be. There will be more trees that will fall before the streetscape is developed. If we can come to a consensus on the streetscape plans, we would know where we can plant trees NOW. Altering a good streetscape design around trees that are at the rear end of their life cycle is something aviod.
There is a reason we have long been called Qualudia.
ReplyDeleteAnon 6:42- there is no excuse for the COE to NOT water the trees they planted just a few years ago, nor the flower beds. Neglect is the only answer. If the trees and flowers were children they would have been taken from the city long ago.
ReplyDeleteWater the existing trees and flowers, no excuses!!
THAT dude's been smoking to much homegrown man
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ReplyDeleteanon 6:42,
ReplyDeleteYour response is understandable. I'd like you to understand why I haven't been as comfortable, and ask a few questions to clear some things up.
1. The three sets of opinions were not fully consistent. There were a number of important differences in the recommendations.
2. Now, I have to admit I don't know what the arborists were asked to do. You can't tell by their analysis (or lack there of). Were they asked to do a risk assessment? Were they asked to do establish a health prognosis? Where they asked, "do you think we should cut those trees down? or, How can we save those trees? Actually, it is pretty clear they weren't asked the last question.
3. Sure, the justification looks good on the surface, but when you look closely at the reports they are pretty thin on providing justification for the immediate removal of the trees. There is no real risk assessment, no structural analysis, or real biological analysis which explained why the trees needed to come down NOW. I don't doubt that such an analysis could result in a conclusion that some of the trees should come down promptly, but I remain highly suspicious for many of the trees.
4.Why do each of these trees have to come down now? You won't find the answers in the reports. [The trees are a the number one asset on 101 and their great size makes L101 fairly unique. The city should make sure that question was addressed. ] That was worth repeating.
5. We have two reports. That doesn't mean that we have two reports that are good enough. The fact that the reports say we should cut down a tree simply because it has some dead canopy should make you want to see a complete analysis of the trees' prognosis.
6. Why do you say the trees are at the rear of their "life-cycles"? What is the evidence? I don't even think the tree trimmer made that claim.
7. You seem to have some knowledge of the situation. How was the outside arborist selected? Did the city hire him or did L101 hire him? He seems to be a bit of a self-promoter and some sort of reinvented landscaper/broker. I don't know that he brings engineering skills or perspective or biological skills or perspective. That is probably fine for most of the things he works on, but if he is not producing an analysis and instead he is just creating straight practitioner's opinion, we should keep that in mind.
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ReplyDeleteJru or whatever your name is, please just go back to Oceanside. You are not helping.
ReplyDeleteLighten up, and look at the Big Picture. I was there tonight at 10pm, and there were about 50 people and half were kids, under 13. Climbing all over that tree with the Tree-sitter and having the time of their lives. Best education they could get.
ReplyDeleteNice to see parents and children doing something besides SOCCER.
Why is he hurting. At least he is bring attention to the senseless destruction of Trees throughout Leucadia. Stop the downing of trees. Its not needed or wanted.
ReplyDeleteWe were there tonight and it did help.
ReplyDeleteI hope this is the start of Leucadian's pushing back, so the city will stop cutting our trees.
The 4th grade teacher had NO business taking kids out of class to participate in a protest demonstration. Public schools at their worst, promoting propaganda and groupthink - disgusting.
ReplyDeleteThe trees in the park are being cut to provide views for condo residents. Sounds like them playing favorites. Or kickbacks.
ReplyDeleteThere is no reason to cut down any euc's on 101 except someone is getting enjoyment from us getting upset and mad.
To anon 12:45 and 11:17,
ReplyDeleteThis kid should lighten up. It is just a weedy tree and what he is doing is not educational. He didn't have a clue what was going on.
How did being there help? Is it going to save the trees in the park or on the 101?
How did it help?
ReplyDeleteToday it was on the front page on the Union Trib.
That can not hurt in increasing awareness and may help.
This guy is trampling on all of our rights.... Cut the tree down with him in it!
ReplyDelete"The 4th grade teacher had NO business taking kids out of class to participate in a protest demonstration. Public schools at their worst, promoting propaganda and groupthink - disgusting."
ReplyDeleteWhat? I like that that she showed the kids to doubt government actions and engage to make change happen.
The government slackers are retards and do way more harm than good.
Look at the economy. At some people will wake up and demand your government to be accountable.
There is no good reason for all the downing off trees throughout Leucadia.
If you want to focus on minimizing liability, focus on something real like the deathtrap at the RR.
The city is planting the "replacement" trees in a different part of the park. The trees that were removed provided shade in the grassy play area and over the tot lot. The replacement trees are in an already shady part of the park.
ReplyDeleteI the city tears down my neighbors house I will have an ocean view.
ReplyDeleteIronic that the city wants 3-story mixed-use buildings in downtown Cardiff. After they are built, can we cut them down to preserve our views?
ReplyDeleteThis is what I was referring to when I spoke of "passive resistance" many months back. Ask yourselves this: "Why does the City of Encinitas honor an agreement, that isn't even documented, (and who gave that employee the right to make the commitment to these homeowners anyway), when it doesn't usually honor most citizen requests? The Hall Property comes to mind. Or the Brown Act is another example. There is more here than meets the eye IMHO. And, I am not a believer in conspiracy theories so do no even go there with me!
ReplyDeleteYou may not like Drew's actions, but look at the result of his actions? Leucadia, and the plight of all trees is finally being looked at by the media. Therefore, the City might just be a bit more cautious in cutting down any more trees, anywhere. Also, the City managers might now realize that citizens are tired of them doing as they will without any consequences to them. The Council didn't even know about these trees coming down. What does that say about how this City is being run? I would love to post my name on this, but I don't like hate mail all too well. Some of you already know who this is anyway.
It is one thing for a teacher to take students to see a protest and another for the teacher to use their students to create a protest.
ReplyDeleteWould you bloggers be cool with the teacher taking the class to demonstrate against homosexual marriage?
anon 907,
ReplyDeleteor maybe now when people bring up the highway 101 tree issue they will be painted as uniformed tree hugging kooks like Drew.
Wouldn't his efforts and energy have been better spent working to elect new council members.
What are the results of Drew's actions? His effort will not save one tree on the 101 or in the park. Has one media outlet connected the 101 trees to Drew's protest? How has Drew guided the media to pick up shady dealings with the homeowners? Was he even aware of those shady arrangements?
We're already looked upon as kooks. The SD Union Trib said we held a candlelight vigil for the felled Cypress in Roadside Park which is a lie-I know, I was there. Yeah, there were 4 or 5 candles that were blown out after 1/2 hour. Hardly a "vigil".
ReplyDeleteComparing a teacher and students protesting the unnecessary cutting down of trees in a public park to protesting homosexual marriage is ridiculous. One is a local issue most people would agree on, the other is a strongly polarized national issue based on religious beliefs and charges of discrimination.
ReplyDeleteThis brouhaha has got legs. It is being widely covered by local media. The TV stations have jumped on it. I agree with anonymous at 9:07. This can only be good to bring attention to our city government. KUSI reported this morning that the protester is still in the tree. The media love this kind of story, and it makes our city officials look silly.
There seems to be one blogger bashing the tree huggers. I'm proud to call myself a tree hugger. All plants produce oxygen through photosynthesis. We wouldn't be here without them.
Think of the bigger picture. This is not about Drew! Because of his action, the media came. It was on the front page of the NCTimes. The media needs photos and a story. This gave them both. So what if a few people think we're kooks. A lot of people thought Martin Luther King and M. Gandhi were "kooks" as well. Hell, most people thought Jesus was a "kook". They all called for "passive resistance." Perhaps this small protest will morph into more citizens getting involved in the politics of Encinitas and someone progressive and will step up and run for Council in 2010 and 2012. The residents of Encintas are fairly educated and intelligent. We do not need to be a bunch of sheep. Our City government needs to recognize that they serve us, not the other way around. And, as far as the property values of those condo owners being an issue, the last time anyone tried to get the City to stop because the project reduced their property value, lost their appeal. They were told that loss of property value could not be used as an argument against the project. (Lorri Greene vs. Marion Ross 2002). So, now why all of the sudden does that reasoning work? And the only person who remembers the "deal" is Jim Bond? That is actually pretty funny. Nothing in writing, only Jim's recollection of this "deal", and voila-the tress are cut down. What is wrong with this picture? Come on folks. Let's use this not diss it.
ReplyDeleteKevin C. made 7 points above that should be the focus of everyone that cares about Encinitas in general and Leucadia in particular. Whatever Urban Forest plan gets approved by the City Council should provide for a fairly dispassionate consideration of the pro's and con's of leaving or removing a tree with a chance for the public to be heard. Hiring arborists and not asking for useful information should be a thing of the past if the new policy is written right.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is unfortunate that some nice, mature shade trees were removed from the park, it is crazy they were ever planted in the first place. When those condos were built, there was nothing growing to the south that would have ever blocked their views. Along comes the city and they kindly put in a beautiful park. Maybe they could have done a better job of selecting and siting trees so this didn't have to happen?
It certainly seems that with these trees in the park and the median trees on 101, the city seems to be in a hurry to get out the chainsaw and drop as many trees as they think is warranted before the Urban Forest policy is approved. The new policy will be a bit encumbering. That is the nature of accountability.
If you are not outraged, then you are not paying attention. When are you people going to march on city hall with pitchforks and flaming torches?? Enough is enough!!
ReplyDeleteanon 1035,
ReplyDeleteIs it fine to take your child to a protest and have them participate if the teacher believes it about a local issue and that the teacher decides most people will agree with the protesters? The teacher gets to decide?
By the way, the majority of californians voted against homosexual marriage, so I guess what you really mean is that the teacher just needs to decide if the issue is local.
I think you think it is fine for students to be induced to protest because you happen to agree with the message. You would think differently about the educational value of that activity if you didn't like the message and you have missed the point of anon 558.
The teacher should have just taken the student to observe the protest and then asked to reflect on the situation. That would have been educational.
I was tehre when Drew called the media himself. The city is planting more trees. 2 trees for every 1 they remove. Drew is violating the parks hours of operations. Why was he wearing a mask all day yesterday? I hope he stays up in the tree forever. Don't come down! Atleast there we know where his he is. Way to try to force a situation. It didn't work. They will cut down the tree when you leave. No hurry though.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher can not take the kids off of school grounds without the permission of their parents. That's where the teacher went wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe media frenzy only makes Leucadians look foolish, and the tree kid is from Oceanside! From a marketing standpoint this is bad. The media was going to cover the 101 tree removal anyway, now we just look like stupid Bezerkley hippies. In my opinion this is a major backfire for those of us who really care about the Hwy101 tree canopy corridor.
ReplyDeleteStaff is currently controlling city business in Encinitas: a popular Council Member, Teresa Barth, asked for delay so there could be Council discussion of the trees that were cut in Orpheus Park, Leucadia, and City Manager, Phil Cotton, said NO!
ReplyDeleteMaggie Houlihan, as Mayor, could have “stepped up to the plate,” and directed Parks Director Chris Hazelton and City Manager Cotton to wait for public discussion. Instead, a private contractor, West Coast Arborists, is making decisions without due diligence and public input, playing favorites, and using any excuse to cut down trees. This private contractor has financial incentive to cut, as it is paid by the tree. Current policy is slowly denuding Leucadia of our precious tree canopy.
The City is creating ill will and causing public distrust. I also support "Jru" and the children, and our beloved trees! Litigation has shown that views are not protected. If there was no agreement in writing to protect the view, then it easily can be renegotiated. Verbal property agreements are not binding. The president of the HOA involved doesn't remember the specific agreement, and was NOT asking for tree removal!
9:09- I'd be phfine with it.
ReplyDeleteThe kids at Central get enough brainwashing about global warming (a hoax) and multiculturalism (overrated) without being told to make signs and then taken off school grounds to a protest to participate. This is coerced behavior by a representative of the government and is ILLEGAL! Try teaching them to read (in ENGLISH) and let them make up their own minds, or is that too much to ask? Signed, A Disgruntled Taxpayer who doesn't want to live under the Democrats' brand of socialism.
ReplyDeleteOh, and by the way, some of the retread 1960s style hippies around here are some of the most narrow, predictable, small minded people ever. Step away from the bong - what was annoying about you in your twenties is all the more so now that you're middle aged.
ReplyDeletePeaceful protests should be part of every child's education....what, you'd rather they just watch TV and learn how to protest with violence? Phil Cotton is a joke == what kind of City manager would authorize spending our money to cut down healthy trees that benefit park patrons and wildlife based upon a back room deal -- oh yeah, the kind that served the Detroit mayor and Blahblahjovich -- the bought kind.
ReplyDeleteIf all of you young people are so smart, how come the only tree still standing is the one Drew is in. And Feb. 1 they may not be able to cut that tree down because of the new law. Encinitas is known for the meth capital of the country. Think I will stick to my water pipe and you meth-heads can settle all of the City's problems on your own. Remember most of us own our homes. How many of you can say that? So, we will still be here after you have to move. Now I know why they call you the self centered generation. And I thought we had screwed it up. You make us old folds (no, we are not middle aged, we are old) look like the smartest generation that ever lived. You complain and do nothing. At least Drew is attempting to do something. Then you laugh at him because he isn't doing it your way. Good grief, how self centered is that?
ReplyDelete29 palms is also known as the meth capitol. Encinitas has a lot of pot. It does have some meth yes, but it's not huge.
ReplyDeleteWhat new law?
ReplyDeleteno, we're the "Heroin" and "medz" capital of California. The COAST NEWS said so. And judging from the election results in this town, I would say that this is true.
ReplyDelete