CITY FILES CHARGES IN FELLING OF OAKS.Byline: Terri Hardy Daily News Staff Writer The city's move Monday to prosecute Richard Dunn Richard Dunn (born January 19 1945) is an English boxer who unsuccessfully fought Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight title in 1976. Ali knocked Dunn out in the fifth round and this was the last knockout he ever scored. for cutting down two protected oak trees has the plaza owner, well, stumped. ``The city has a ton of problems, why do they need to contend with a little thing like this?'' said Dunn, owner of the Studio City Plaza City Plaza is a shopping mall in historic downtown St. Albert, Alberta, Canada. This shopping plaza features heritage architecture and a European small shop ambience. It is home to BITNETS, the award winning technology business, other upscale offices and boutique-style shops. . The City Attorney's office filed criminal charges against Dunn, accusing him of illegally cutting down protected oak trees without a permit, said Mike Qualls, City Attorney's Office spokesman. ``An ordinance was created to protect these endangered oak trees, which have been eradicated during development,'' Qualls said. ``We prosecute these cases as a matter of environmental protection.'' Dunn faces up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000 for each violation, Qualls said. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Municipal Code, it is a misdemeanor to destroy the valley oak and the California live oak without obtaining a permit from the city Board of Public Works public works pl.n. Construction projects, such as highways or dams, financed by public funds and constructed by a government for the benefit or use of the general public. Noun 1. . In April, chain-saw-wielding crew members hacked down all the vegetation growing in a natural drainage culvert behind the plaza - which residents said included oak, walnut and pine trees surrounded by brilliant purple morning glories. Dunn said all he was trying to do was rid the land behind the plaza of transients by clearing trees from the area. ``We decided to take everything out, because it was infested in·fest tr.v. in·fest·ed, in·fest·ing, in·fests 1. To inhabit or overrun in numbers or quantities large enough to be harmful, threatening, or obnoxious: with homeless people,'' Dunn said. ``They were continually harassing the merchants. We were trying to protect our property.'' But police, area residents and some tenants in the plaza have said that they haven't seen homeless people in the grove since the Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . began patrolling the area on bicycles. In a previous Daily News article, Dunn denied that oak trees had been growing in the culvert, saying the vegetation was ``just scrub.'' But a city forester, in an autopsy of sorts, examined stumps left in the glen and determined two endangered oaks had been felled. ``I didn't know about the oak trees. I guess they were there,'' Dunn conceded Monday. |
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