Last night's big confab with Caltrans and city officials regarding the El Camino Real renewal project was eye-opening for a lot of people. Probably not regular Voice readers since we have discussed it in 2021 here and here. The most eye-opening statement made last night was during the Q&A when Caltrans was asked how many of the giant Eucs were scheduled to be cut down. The answer was "about 9% will remain". There are about 390 of the historic ones in the 3-mile stretch.
The other way to phrase that is 91% of 390 Eucs will be taken out. That's 355 giant trees. Buried in the details of compacted soil, broken sidewalks, retaining walls, sight triangles, sulfur fungus, poor trimming around the power lines, etc is the lead: 355 eucalyptus trees are history--well, we thought they were historic since the grove is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but really they're just history. There will be 35 survivors who will stand in testament to their fallen brethren and to the ECR that once was.
There were a number of long-time B'gamers there and one that I had not seen in at least 6 or 7 years came over after the Q&A and asked the Big Questions. He asked "how many people know about this? And what are they gonna do when they find out?" I've been asking myself the same question. Another knowledgeable long-time local has asked 30 people if they are aware of the tree situation over the last few days. General awareness is close to nil.
This project has been in the works for years. Maybe Caltrans and the city hasn't had a good idea of how many trees would have to go, but they do now. In the interest of transparency, shouldn't the city send out the short, to-the-point notice that this is coming? You bet. Then wait for the outrage to arrive.
I'll double back with more on the proceedings soon. There were numerous displays and a tabletop exercise looking at the Hillside and Bayswater intersections with measurements, planning tools and tree options. In the meantime, here is Mayor Brownrigg introducing the B'gamers who are on the ECR task force with some Caltrans people seated behind.
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