What the Hap is Fuckening

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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
cosmignon
jcrewguy

In a statement to The Post, a spokesperson for NBCUniversal claimed the tree work is simply an annual ritual at this time of year. “We understand that the safety tree trimming of the Ficus trees we did on Barham Blvd. has created unintended challenges for demonstrators, that was not our intention. In partnership with licensed arborists, we have pruned these trees annually at this time of year to ensure that the canopies are light ahead of the high wind season,” they wrote. “We support the WGA and SAG’s right to demonstrate and are working to provide some shade coverage. We continue to openly communicate with the labor leaders on-site to work together during this time.”

unpretty

Quick shoutout to the good people at @UniversalPics for trimming the trees that gave our picket line shade right before a 90+ degree week. pic.twitter.com/aZvvPYQ23i — Chris Stephens (@ChrisStephensMD) July 17, 2023ALT
OH SHIT SON THOSE TREES ARE CITY PROPERTY IT MIGHT BE TREE LAW TIME https://t.co/oaoFWQQaNv — Nome (@NomeDaBarbarian) July 17, 2023ALT
image
Here is the weeping fig at Plummer Park that has been left alone because it is in weho. The photo embedded in the tweet is of an absolutely enormous tree with a huge lush shade canopy planted between a sidewalk and parking lot. — lauren (@aptkr_) July 17, 2023ALT
laughingcatwrites

If those trees were pollarded annually, the cut areas would NOT look like that. There would be big knobs of old growth at the trimming sites. Not seeing any of that here. The way those trees were topped (not pollarded, which is a very careful process that has to begin when the tree is immature) is excellent way to kill them due to loss of hydration, open sites to infection and parasitism during the best time of year for both, lack of nutrition due to so little greenery and new budding growth being left, sunburn and other exposure damage, and a myriad of other possibilities. Plus, if they were topped annually, they would not have the lovely drooping branches seen in the other picture but would have tons of vertical suckers instead.

This is what an annually pollarded mature tree should look like:

image

If this was done by the city, the public works arborists should be protesting in front of city hall and screaming their heads off right now. I'm not hearing about that, so... Tree law!

vaspider

The Studios: *speak*

Botanists and other Tree Experts:


lying cat says "lying"ALT
sparkletindi

Update and confirmation of Imminent Tree Law:

Our Office is investigating the tree trimming that occurred outside Universal Studios where workers, writers, and actors are exercising their right to picket. The trimmed trees are LA City managed street trees. (Before and after photos below) pic.twitter.com/xczw0bTdh9 — LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia (@lacontroller) July 19, 2023ALT

He mentions later in the thread that not only do they not trim the trees annually, they’re trimmed at best once every 18 years. Supposed to be every five, and only in dormancy, which even my layman’s ass knows about tree trimming.

And yes, Universal can probably eat the fine. But it’s gonna be a whopper even if the trees survive (which is as mentioned kinda unlikely), California is a triple damage state for tree law, and it may increase dramatically if there were nesting birds in the trees.

All this to be a Captain Planet filler villain to some writers. And yes, it’s currently just the writers officially picketing there; SAG-AFTRA recommended against it for petty bullshit like this and the suddenly necessary sidewalk construction.

femmeboyant

I asked my dad— a retired arborist—about TREE LAW and he just kinda blinked and said (i paraphrase because Dad Tangents, amirite?):

"Worst and best case I ever saw was a guy who was caught in the act of cutting down a C&C tree by two Department of Urban Forestry supervisors while they were randomly driving around on a Saturday. Not only did he have to deal with the cops showing up and months of paperwork and bureaucracy, but he also had to pay the fines AND cover the cost of the tree removal + stumping + buying a new tree + planting the new tree + wages for the regular crew plus the extra workers they needed to get the jobs done. That tree ended up costing him upwards of $35K, and that was over 20 years ago."

So yeah, respect Tree Law or pay out the bootyhole.

unpretty

Regarding the tree trimming at Universal Studios -- after looking into the matter with the Urban Forestry Division (UFD), we found that no permit was issued for any tree trimming at this site. UFD and StreetsLA are investigating whether a citation can be issued. BSS Statement: the screenshot of the statement reiterates what is in the tweet — Councilmember Nithya Raman (@cd4losangeles) July 19, 2023ALT