Oaks and sycamores take over as Los Angeles declares war on palm trees

[XemaSab]

The palm trees that line the well-appointed streets of Beverly Hills and frame the view of the Hollywood sign have just become an endangered species.

The Los Angeles City Council decided last week that it would no longer plant emblematic fan palms on streets and other city properties, because they are expensive, prone to disease and provide almost no shade in a city suffering a glaring shortage of greenery.

Adding insult to injury, the council suggested in its resolution that palms weren't real trees at all, but "technically a type of grass" - to the irritation of the thousands of local business owners with the word "palm" in their name.


http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1996348.ece


Also discussion in California forum:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=141x25870

[Donnachaidh]

1. they are also homes to rat families

::::::::::shiver:::::::::::::::

I remember seeing three rats crawl along a power line to get home. They nest in the dead foliage at the top of the tree. If owners don't keep that stuff trimmed, all sorts of critters nest in them.

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

2. Tell the natives acorns are just undersized

coconuts. I am sure some will buy into it if you repeat it enough.

DBDB

[Wickerman]

3. First time I was in LA I laughed at the Palms next to the evergreens

on UCLA campus. Seemed so very odd to me. Makes sense to stop planting the shadeless weeds.

[kestrel91316]

4. YAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!

I hate the blasted things (except for the lovely, regal Queen Palms). I have a Mexican Fan Palm in my front yard and it is a MAJOR pest. It seeds prolifically everywhere and the seedlings are almost impossible to eradicate, even if mowed weekly (they are in the frigging LAWN). And the damned dead fronds come flying out of the tree in windy conditions and woe to the poor person who gets hit by one. They have rows of huge teeth along the edges and act like a SAW. My landlord won't pay anybody to remove the dead fronds. Hell, I wish he would just remove the POS.

Oh well, I will be moving sometime after the new year and two Persian Palaces will be going up here. I suspect every plant on the lot will get bulldozed.

[Porcupine]

5. Well it'll take about 50 year before the oaks start dropping limbs

Then LA will cycle back. I've seen a large oak drop a ton of wood onto a house from just one major limb. It happens all the time here. Of course the shade is what makes Chico livable in the summer. Newer areas without the large shade trees just BAKE in the summer.