PORT HUENEME : Not All Root for Sycamore as City Tree

The flower may be noncontroversial, but choosing an official tree has the city of Port Hueneme sorting through the leaves of history.

A suggestion by Hueneme Beautiful, a group dedicated to improving the city’s appearance, to make the sycamore Port Hueneme’s official tree has created a battle of historical facts.

Hueneme Beautiful’s choice of the sycamore was motivated by the tree’s dominant presence on Ventura Road, said group President Laura Prueter. Sycamores were originally planted by a member of the Bard family on a portion of the thoroughfare, then known as 4th Street.

At Wednesday night’s City Council meeting, City Manager Dick Velthoen noted that historic landscape plans show the coral tree as Port Hueneme’s dominant shade provider. In addition, he pointed out that some of the trees along Ventura Road are not actually sycamores but London Plane trees.

Dorothy Ramirez, chairwoman of Port Hueneme’s Historical Commission, asked the council to choose the sycamore rather than the coral tree, despite the latter’s historical significance.

“I’m out there every morning sweeping up sycamore leaves,” she said.

The City Council decided to ask city staff to investigate the trees’ history and return with a report on which arbor should officially reign supreme.

City officials at Wednesday night’s meeting seemed to have no questions, however, about the choice of the pink hibiscus as Port Hueneme’s official flower.