Trees Felled to Save City Sidewalks

It was buzz, whoosh and crunch Thursday morning as workers turned the last of a row of sidewalk-cracking ficus trees on San Fernando Road into neat stacks of branches and firewood.

Rows of shiny cars, vans and sport utility vehicles stood mute witness on the Rydell Automotive Group car lot between Chatsworth Drive and Wolfskill Street, where the trees met their fate.

Not a protester was in sight.

The city of San Fernando had ordered the trees removed because their roots were breaking up the sidewalks.

But on Feb. 23, Manuel Montanez, father of City Councilwoman-elect Cindy Montanez, was on his way to work and saw crews starting to chop down the trees. Montanez tied himself to one of the doomed trees, declaring “If you’re going to cut this tree, you’re going to have to chop me with it.”

He was joined by other protesters and family members, including his daughter Cindy.

But no one showed up on Wednesday when eight trees were felled, or Thursday when seven more went under the saw.

“By the time I heard they were doing it, most of them were already down,” Montanez said. “Those trees are gone now. There’s nothing we can do.”

Protesters presented their complaints at Monday’s City Council meeting, but the council decided to proceed with the project.

“We looked at the liability issue as well as the cost issue and decided to move forward,” said City Administrator John Ornelas.

The contractor will grind the tree stumps and the roots as deep as 6 feet down, to sawdust. The branches went to the dump. The rest of the wood, on a first-come, first-served basis, went to enterprising citizens.

Teresa and David Ruiz, retirees from Sylmar, positioned their white pickup truck at the curb and filled it with a load of wood.

“I hate to see the trees cut down, I really do. But we have a fireplace,” Teresa Ruiz said.

David Ruiz, whose vanity plate proudly announced him a veteran of the Korean War, 11th Airborne Division, took a pragmatic view of the tree he was loading.

“It gets a second life as firewood,” he said.

A total of 18 ficus trees are being removed, and will be replaced by 66 tulip trees.

“It’s a better species, better quality, better root system, overall a better tree for the parkway area, with the added bonus that it’s a very beautiful tree,” Ornelas said.

The broken concrete sidewalks will be replaced and new street gutters installed as part of the project.

Times staff writer Irene Garcia contributed to this story.