Ojai’s Oaks

In Ojai’s Libbey Park oak controversy, Mayor Suza Francina played an important and courageous role in helping to establish that the fate of the century-old heritage oaks is worthy of careful consideration by the public and by the city.

At the March 14 Ojai City Council meeting, Mayor Francina spoke eloquently of the importance of honoring and preserving all three of the trees in question. She advocated fencing them and moving the playground out from underneath them rather than cutting down the trees.

Mayor Francina addressed this difficult situation with much heart and grit, as she somehow managed to negotiate a way to save one tree while honoring the loss that she and many other Ojai Valley residents felt over the cutting down of the other two.

I deeply appreciate her impassioned efforts to save the three Libbey Park oaks, as well as her steadfast commitment to preserving the third tree. I consider Suza Francina a true guardian of this valley, and I think Ojai is fortunate to have a mayor with such vision, courage and heart.

JOHN CHRISTIANSON

Meiners Oaks