Fallen, Unstable Trees Incite Neighborhood Concern in the Alphabet Streets

By LILY TINOCO | Assistant Editor

Neighbors in the Alphabet Streets expressed concern after at least two eucalyptus trees collapsed in recent weeks, causing property and vehicle damage.

Beverley Auerbach told the Palisadian-Post the first tree fell on March 1. It was rooted on the parkway of Kari Weaver and brought down a neighboring tree with it.

Two parked cars sustained “severe damage,” and a nearby fire hydrant was struck, causing a leak into the street for days thereafter.

A second collapse happened on March 14. The tree was smaller than the first, but incited a conversation between neighbors about eucalyptus trees in Pacific Palisades.

“The problem with the eucalyptus trees is that they are not native to California,” Weaver said. “And they’re fairly old. They have outgrown the parkways here and their roots are just too big for this area … because of that, they’re a risk to everybody and the properties in the area.”

Palisades Forestry Committee Chair David Card said the committee is aware of the downed trees—not just eucalyptus, but oak trees and others.

Eucalyptus are not more susceptible to falling than any other tree, Card explained, but the eucalyptus in the Palisades are very old.

“Some of them, historic,” Card said to the Post.

Eucalyptus were one of the first sets of trees planted when the Palisades was founded.

He explained there could be plenty of reasons for their falling, including perhaps they haven’t been taken care of properly and don’t have the space for their roots to grow out and down for stability, or potentially disease or pests digging into their trunks.

Card said concerned neighbors can reach out to the Los Angeles Urban Forestry Division, who would send an arborist to inspect public trees and trees in parkways—the spaces between sidewalks and curbs.

“The division is responsible for the inspection of street trees, determining street tree species and locations, responding to public rights-of-way tree emergencies, street tree trimming … and the enforcement of the city’s protected tree code,” according to a description of the department.

If a property owner would like a tree in their parkway removed, an application would need to be submitted to receive a permit to do so.

“You don’t want to cut down the big, mature trees because they’re the ones providing oxygen to Los Angeles,” Card said. “They should be considered … that’s why the city requires a permit to remove, or even prune, a tree that is in the public right-of-way.”

According to the division, reasons for potential street tree removal include “damage to sidewalk/curb/driveway that cannot be repaired without tree removal, installation of driveway that cannot be relocated, and development of public improvements conditions requiring street tree removal.”

For more information, visit streetsla.lacity.org/faqs-ufd.