Editor,
There has been a pattern developing downtown for the last 10 years or so which lately seems to be picking up speed. It is the pattern of patches of cement where trees once were. In the last decade or so we have lost 32 trees by my count just in three blocks downtown.
Six years ago the city removed 11 trees “by mistake” and promised to replace them that fall with trees “twice the normal size of usual replacements.” So far only four have been replanted and one of those has died.
A couple of weeks ago one of the most beautiful trees on Forest Avenue was cut down and cemented over. And where was the yellow “warning ribbon”? That makes seven trees just on Forest alone. And after 60 years of being full, beautiful, mature trees, the two old beauties next to Hotel Laguna have been “trimmed” to within in inch of their life at the request of one greedy restaurant owner to improve his view.
Please do something about our vanishing trees. A friend of mine recently remarked that Corona del Mar and Dana Point are both starting to look greener than we do. Ouch!
Jason Pannell, Laguna Beach
