TREE TRIMMING : GROWING PROBLEM SOWING DISCONTENT.Byline: Beth Barrett Daily News Staff Writer From the Westside to the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , the most common citizen complaint is the lack of tree trimming caused by a backlog of 80,000 unclipped trees, 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 city's chief forester, Robert W. Kennedy. In many communities, it has become a sort of metaphor for the city's inability to perform the simplest of tasks. 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. , once a desert, now lies within the nation's largest urban forest, with nearly 700,000 trees made up of about 1,000 different species lining city streets. But it also has become a rather ragged woodland - with some trees unshorn for years. The city was trimming trees at a rate of once every seven years until the 1990s, when funding cuts pushed the schedule back to once every 26 years in many places, Kennedy said. The council increased the budget this year by $2.9 million, which will put the city back on a 7.4-year trimming cycle - but it will take about two years to catch up. The city plans to trim 80,318 trees this year, nearly half, or 42,569 of them in the Valley, where some of the thickest stands are located. An inventory to identify exactly where the most crape myrtle crape myrtle: see loosestrife. crape myrtle Shrub (Lagerstroemia indica) of the loosestrife family, native to China and other tropical and subtropical countries and widely grown in warm regions for its flowers. , Canary Island pines The Canary Island Pine (Pinus canariensis) is a species in the genus Pinus, family Pinaceae, native to the outer Canary Islands (Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Gomera, Hierro, La Palma) in the Atlantic Ocean. , eucalyptus, American sweet gums, honey locusts and the myriad other varieties are located is a couple of years away, he said. That isn't much consolation to people like Ida Hicks Hicks , Edward 1780-1849. American painter of primitive works, notably The Peaceable Kingdom, of which nearly 100 versions exist. and her Crenshaw cren·shaw also cran·shaw n. A variety of winter melon (Cucumis melo var. inodorus) having a greenish-yellow rind and sweet, usually salmon-pink flesh. [Origin unknown.] neighbors who have watched the carobs in front of their homes grow so lush that they now hang low over the curb and sidewalk, interfering with pedestrian traffic, trash pickup and street sweeping. Hicks said the city told her she could have the work done herself, but that first a city inspector would have to drive out to decide whether to issue the proper permit. The retired accountant said that didn't add up. ``If they were paying the money for the inspector, why couldn't the city (pay to) trim the tree?'' Hicks asked. Kennedy said about half the time the inspector determines that the trees don't have to be trimmed, and in other cases will issue instructions so that the gardener doesn't ``mutilate'' and kill the tree. In emergencies, the inspector also can order a city crew. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: The unmanicured trees lining Ida Hicks' Crenshaw nei ghborhood interfere with her garbage getting picked up and street sweeping. Myung J. Chun/Daily News |
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