Your turn to help me –
To make de-car-ing more popular in L.A. we need pleasant sidewalks — but the city doesn’t make it easy for neatnik pedestrians. Steve Lopez’s latest column in the L.A. Times tells the story of one Boaz Hepner and his long quest to get some sidewalk trash cans in his neighborhood. The guy spent a lot of time calling the city and waiting on hold, pounding the pavement to get local businesses to sign on to the Adopt-A-Basket program, and organizing a neighborhood cleanup day with his city councilmember.
About a year later, he’s still waiting for some of the trash cans to arrive — and recycling bins aren’t even an available option.
The story’s both disappointing (due to the slowness of the city) and heart-warming (due to Boaz’ persistence), but what really caught my eye was a comment that Boaz left on his story:
When i mentioned the complaint of dozens of businesses that their requests to trim their storefront trees have been ignored for YEARS, the councilman’s office told me that it’s unfortunate but the city simply doesn’t have the money for it. That’s the true reality.
That comment reminded me of the tree jails I saw while walking down Washington during the Great L.A. Walk in November. Below’s a photo of one:
For a while Esther of e*star LA, H.C. of L.A. and O.C. Foodventures, and I pondered why each sidewalk tree had a costly-looking green cage around it — green cages that matched the green trash cans, but still lent every tree a sad, jailed, dont-you-dare-hug-me appearance.
The money and effort invested in these cages seemed a waste to me at the time — especially if that money and effort could have been spent trimming trees that desperately need trimming. But for all I know, perhaps the cages were necessary. Perhaps there’s a history of tree vandalism in the area?
Does anyone know the story behind the tree jails? I was going to call 311, but having just read Boaz’ story, I though asking you readers might be faster –
Okay — I just realized it’s Wednesday — but I’m putting this post up anyway.
