Letter: Developers don’t care about the trees

I wanted to express my appreciation to your paper and reporter Sara Cardine for last week’s tree-ordinance article. I am sure that many La Cañada residents were not aware that the city’s tree policy had changed and were surprised to learn that most trees regardless of their size can now be cut down.

I believe that this change will result in the removal of many trees especially by developers who need to maximize their return on investment. According to public records, local developer Mr. Seung Choon “Mario” Lim paid all cash for two investment homes on my street, La Forest Drive. Similar developers are making all-cash offers on other properties and this recent uptick in investor activity will have long-term implications for our city.

Today, it is difficult for young families who are attracted to our neighborhood for the schools to compete with such investors. It is too bad that they are being squeezed out. I believe that if such a family had purchased the house next door owned by Mr. Lim they would not remove all the trees. Why? Because they would be moving to our lovely street for the same reason many of us did — the beautiful trees.

Lorrie Buchanan Alves
La Cañada Flintridge