Pasadena city council meeting preview: trees and irony

The feature of tonight's meeting looks like it will be, once again, the decision on how to go forward with a plan to remove ficus and carrotwood trees on Colorado Boulevard and replace them with ginkgo and palm tree (if you have not yet heard about this, read about it here).

We left off last week with a decision to put a hold on any removal, and a promise to reconsider it as soon as possible. Tonight will be the night. The staff's recommendation is to remove about 20 carrotwood and London Plane trees and replacing them with palm and ginkgo. Then when those have grown to a reasonable size, the staff advocates taking out 11 ficus trees.... presumably 11 out of the 11 to 13 the staff say are causing problems for sidewalks and sewers with their roots.

Now for the irony. This same city which has been arguing itself in circles on how to handle the trees on its main thoroughfare (does the value of the shade outweigh the destructive tree roots, the need for orderly landscaping, etc. etc.), while simultaneously admitting it has not followed its own tree ordinance that directs it not to remove healthy, shade trees, is applying for a grant which will help it to "educate the public on the specific and direct benefit of trees in the urban environment." It appears to me that the public, by writing angry letters to council members after the initial decision to remove the trees, was actually the one educating the council on the specific and direct benefit of trees in the urban environment.

Also at tonight's meeting-

-A discussion of a leaf blower ordinance which would incentivize the use of lower emissions and low noise leaf blowers by offering a rebate equal to the value of an annual city business license.

-A recommendation that the city spend $6.4 million on getting a deal for the Annandale Canyon Estates done- that land, once slated to be developed, would be preserved as open space and developed with trails. The city could expect to recoup all but $2 million of the money eventually, by getting some money from the county, and the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy, and also from taxes that will be paid by the newly-created Annandale district in the neighborhood around the canyon.

-A $144,000 city redevelopment loan to the Hudson Oaks senior housing project at 1267 N. Hudson Avenue

-A schedule for talks on the 2010 budget that will take place this spring

-An update on the city's water plan, which will come before the council in March. I wrote about it recently.