With storms blowing down trees
elsewhere in Venice,
the VSA has initiated a tree trimming and thinning project to protect the 21
Italian Stone Pines around the Venice Post Office.
“These pines are in dire need
of care,” said Darin Morris, a Grand
Boulevard resident and landscape architect.
“All the canopies are quite dense and severely top heavy, which puts them
at extreme risk of blowing over in El Niño storms.”
Morris added, “Italian Stone Pines need proper
pruning to grow to the majestic beauties that
they can become, which will create a grand,
inspiring streetscape.”
Mark Ryavec, the president of
the VSA, said, “Jim Murez, Ed Barger and I led about 200 volunteers to plant
these trees about 20 years ago. I remember that we named all the trees
and that the one I helped plant is named after my great-aunt Lucy. I feel
a personal sense of stewardship.”
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| Campos Green View Tree Service trims trees. | | |
Ryavec, Morris and Erin
Sullivan have raised $4,500 of the $5,000 needed to pay for a licensed
landscaping firm to perform the trimming. The VSA is seeking donors to
contribute the remaining $500. All donations are tax deductible.
“Many
have asked why the Post Office or the City is not paying for the trimming,”
Ryavec said. “We’ve checked with both and neither have the funds for
the trimming now, while there is urgency so we don’t lose any of these trees
in the coming storms.”
Sullivan, Morris and Ryavec
initially proposed to the Postal Service and the City to widen all the tree
wells to better accommodate the tree roots, to install decomposed granite in
wider tree wells to allow more precipitation to reach the roots, and to replace
sidewalk sections where they have cracked. The Postal Service pled budget
shortfalls and the City’s Division of Urban Forestry pointed out that before
the tree wells are widened and the sidewalks repaired, the trees should be
pruned first – and the Division was unsure of when it could fund this.
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| First completed tree on Grand and Riviera |
The Venice Neighborhood
Council’s Neighborhood Committee reviewed and approved the VSA application for
the $5,000 but the VNC Board ignored their own committee's recommendation,
electing instead to fund projects that appeared to be personal favorites. Morris
said, “It was sad, as they missed the long-term value of the trees as a
community asset. If they receive proper care these trees have the
potential to outlive all of us.”
Donors to the trimming project
include Erin Sullivan, Russ Cletta, Darin Morris, Janne and Jack Kindberg,
David Hertz, Scott Spector and Ralph Ziman.
