Mayor Villaraigosa signs final budget, highlights tree trimming

Outgoing Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday signed his final city budget next to an enormous ficus Tuesday, whose trimming became exhibit A for symbolizing a touted surge in city services.

The tree, on the curb in front of the Elysian Valley home of Maria Concepcion Guzman, 74, was a relative sapling when she moved in 35 years ago. Today, its untamed canopy stretches from the far side of Meadowdale Avenue well over the roof of her one-story, wood-sided, Spanish-style house.

Guzman said in Spanish that she has periodically asked the city to trim the giant, and had been told the city had a 20-year waiting list.

“I guess the time finally came,” said her son Fernando Guzman, who stood near a tree-trimming crew that was ready to saw. Guzman recalled a boyhood photo of himself next to a trunk that, at the time, he could easily put an arm around. He theorized that recent elections may have been a factor in finally getting the trimming spectacle. Every time someone stopped by asking for his mother’s vote, “my mom said, ‘I’d vote for you if you fix this tree.’”

The mayor said the recent recession resulted in difficult choices and cutbacks.

“We didn’t trim enough trees,” said Villaraigosa. “We didn’t repair enough sidewalks.”

But for the most part, the event was relaxed, celebratory and even nostalgic for the exiting two-term mayor, who signed the budget at a fold-out table with a flourish and a joke.

“As I go from ‘who’s who’ to ‘who’s he,’ you might want to keep some of these pens to remember me by,” said the mayor, who was accompanied by several City Council members.

Villaraigosa called attention to increases in road repairs, the hiring of more police, a recent end to layoffs and a reduction in the city’s structural budget deficit. And starting a business, he added, now involved calling one department rather than 14.

When the mayor learned that Guzman’s grandson, Noah, had graduated from Eagle Rock Middle School that morning, he called up the whole family for photos and hugs.

The event nearly was derailed over confusion about scheduling. Fernando Guzman said the city had told him that officials would be over Wednesday. They called him at 9 a.m. Tuesday, he said, asking the family to be ready by 1 p.m. that same day. Guzman quickly postponed a graduation luncheon planned for his son.

But Guzman looked forward to the promised trimming, which began as the dignitaries were leaving. The tree’s roots have begun to damage the street, which leads to flooding during heavy rains. The berries stick to the roof and it’s hard to keep the front of the house clean.

“The only good thing is that the tree gives you the best shade in hot weather,” he said. “It’s the best place to sit and have a lemonade.”

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Twitter: @howardblume

howard.blume@latimes.com