SANTA ANA : Sit-In Saves Street Tree From Trim

Score another one for the Gillen family.

After spending early Wednesday morning on their front lawn in defiance of city tree trimmers, the Gillens again prevented the trimming of a 70-year-old cedar deodar tree in front of their house. The matriarch of the family, 71-year-old Kathryn Gillen, vowed to be arrested rather than let the city’s trimmers cut into the 50-foot cedar.

Doug Gillen, 43, and his wife, Deborah, 36, took the morning off from work, set up chairs on their front lawn on South Ross Street near Edinger Avenue and challenged trimmers to cut the tree limbs above their heads.

After Public Works Agency supervisor Clinton Jones saw the situation, which also was being observed by news reporters, he sent the tree trimmers away.

“They blinked,” said Doug Gillen, a production manager for an Irvine medical-equipment company.

Jones said Wednesday that he has no desire to fight the Gillens, who last week began a campaign to protect their street trees from city saws. “I think it can be resolved better than that,” Jones said.

The Gillens have offered to hire a service to trim the tree and pay all costs. That solution could be acceptable if the tree is trimmed to city specifications, said Larry Christian, Santa Ana’s maintenance service manager. Doug Gillen, who was joined in Wednesday’s standoff by his parents and his wife’s father, said the city trimmed too much off other cedars in the neighborhood, ruining the character of their tree-lined street.

After complaints to Public Works officials failed and trimming proceeded, they vowed to save the tree in front of their house.

Friday and earlier this week, the Gillens parked several cars in front of their home to prevent the city crew from reaching the tree in their front parkway, the grassy area between the sidewalk and the street. The tactic succeeded, forcing the trimmers to move on to the next house.

The city countered Monday afternoon by tying no-parking signs to the tree, which led to the Gillens planting themselves on their front lawn every time someone with a chain saw came around.

Although the tree sits on city property, its branches hang nearly to the roof of the Gillens’ white single-story home, making it difficult to trim the tree safely with people underneath.

In an attempt to resolve the situation, Christian said he will meet with the Wilshire Square Neighborhood Assn. and the Gillens.

All 252 trees in the Wilshire Square neighborhood have been trimmed except the tree in front of the Gillens’ and one in front of a house across the street where cars have often been parked in the way, Jones said.

The trees are being trimmed to remove dead wood, keep branches out of the way of street traffic and keep the trees healthy, Jones said. They were last trimmed about 10 years ago, he said.