Santa Monica Street Improvements: Chop Down All the Trees
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 09.24.07
Nice Trees. Urban street trees do a lot of good; they provide shade to pedestrians, reduce the heat island effect, hold moisture, act as carbon sinks and just generally make any street look better. These ficus trees in Santa Monica, California are particularly handsome.
However they are all being chopped down and replaced with dinky little gingkos, to "To make those streets more attractive to the shopping public." The city's notice doesn't say much: "The criteria for removal included but were not limited to internal decay, extensive root pruning, poor canopy structure, damaged canopies from oversized vehicles, design factors and too large for relocation."
It boggles the mind that anyone in this day and age would consider removing trees like this a "Pedestrian and Streetscape Improvements Project." We hope anyone nearby will support the group fighting this- there is a reason we are called Treehuggers. ::Santa Monica Treesavers
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