Letter: Burbank tree sculpture leaves logic behind

Gigantic sculpture approved! Enormity makes it public. May it rust in peace. But, let’s not fall victim to the adage, “We can’t see the forest for the trees.” Whatever cooling respite its tin leaves may offer, be aware our city officials’ twisted designs to land a privately funded and maintained work of public art are just as shady.

This letter is about one Planning Board member’s, official, public, video-recorded decline of Burbank’s recommendation to build this and her cited legal reasoning to rightfully deny permission.

On Sept. 14 Board member Undine Petrulis recognized what I too had uncovered and find despicable: the need of the Community Development Department and planners to satisfy the codified requirement of finding “consistency” in “size, scale, proportion and location” with other similar “items, structures, and features” used real, living, trees to establish the mandated compatibility standards so that their drive to permit this project would prevail. Their ludicrous attempt renders trees “items, structures and features” bending their flexible branches into a twisted self-serving definition of lawn art.

Ms. Petrulis voted down the project saying, “When we look at the legal findings that we need to make I just don’t see how a metal sculpture is compatible with trees. The way the code and our findings are written I just can’t make findings.”

Except for Ms. Petrulis who listened to protesting residents, the other three board members not only ignored us but also had zero to say regarding Petrulis’ concerns.

Why? Because, as Diane Eaton said in support of the sculpture, “We need to push the envelope.”

But Burbank’s push comes to shove when we citizens are summarily dismissed and worse, when honorable members of its own officiating boards who condemn using such contrivances are willfully ignored.

Thomas Savino

Burbank