A Growing Problem

In a move uncharacteristic of a town that promotes its roots, city workers soon will begin chopping down the floss-silk trees that line the historic downtown area along Harbor Boulevard.

Planted in the 1970s as part of a beautification campaign, the trees have grown far bigger than expected, pushing up portions of the sidewalks, cracking curbs and gutters, and creating a hazard for people strolling or shopping along the strip of shops, restaurants, taverns and salons.

Citing costly repairs and liability concerns, the City Council last week adopted a plan to replace 54 of the 73 floss-silk trees by 2005. People who shop and work downtown, however, are rallying to the defense of the trees.

“This city is always trying to preserve its history, and the trees are an important part of it,” said Delayne Bond, a local resident who works at a pub on Harbor Boulevard. “The whole attraction is the atmosphere that these trees create.”

Bond, along with downtown business owners Christian and Delma Burke, are leading the campaign to rescind the council vote. Other merchants are signing up, and tree preservationists say they will lobby council members and post “Save the Trees” fliers to make their point.

“The trees are so important to the look here,” said Walt Johnson, owner of a sporting-goods store. “I’ve been here for 30 years, and people now are starting to comment on how good downtown Fullerton looks because of the trees.”

Robert Rasmussen, who has a clothing shop in the area, said of the trees: “I wouldn’t want to walk down here when they’re gone. I had a store in downtown Orange, but I closed it when they removed the trees there.”

Others say it does not make sense that Fullerton, a self-proclaimed “tree city” that has spent millions of dollars on downtown preservation projects, would rip out the floss-silks.

But Gretchen Beatty, the city’s risk manager, said that since 1992, four people have filed claims against Fullerton after tripping on uneven sidewalks and being injured in the resulting falls. One claim was settled for $15,000, she said, and the other three are pending.

Maintenance costs are another concern, city officials said. Robert W. Savage, director of maintenance services, said the city has spent $100,000 in the last two or three years to repair damage done to sidewalks by the trunks and roots of the trees, which are now 30 to 35 feet tall.

“They are only about one-third to one-half the size they can be,” Savage said. “The diameter of the trunks can reach 10 to 15 feet. If we leave them there, they will continue to cause extensive damage.”

The trees, whose botanical name is Chorisia speciosa, have grown popular because they are a colorful part of the boulevard. They have twisting, thorny lime-green trunks and bright pink flowers that resemble orchids and measure 3 to 5 inches across.

The city’s plan is not to remove all of the trees, officials emphasized. Only those along the sidewalks of Harbor between Commonwealth and Chapman avenues will be removed, and they will be replaced with smaller trees such as pink tababuia, which have thinner trunks and grow no taller than 40 feet.

The floss-silk trees in the median will remain, according to the plan, and continue to be decorated as they are now: with strands of tiny white lights that come on nightly.

That has eased the concerns of some residents and downtown shoppers.

“Those trees in the middle are what make downtown Fullerton,” longtime resident Connie Codispoti said. “Those are the ones that everybody loves. Nobody even notices the ones on the sidewalks.”

Former Mayor A.B. “Buck” Catlin said that when the trees were planted 20 years ago, officials had no idea how much damage they could cause.

“As the trees began to grow, they were obscuring the business signs, and people were upset,” he said. “But after a while, they cleared the signs and established a character that the public loves.

“What people don’t understand now is the maintenance problem,” Catlin said. “As long as the trees are replaced, the concept will remain. Of course, I don’t think everybody is going to be happy with that.”