Trees Throw Shade on Pico. The Good Kind!

JUNE17treesIf you were out on Pico and Hauser Saturday, May 13th, you would have seen Council President Herb Wesson’s tent and a lot of people digging holes and planting trees. Liz Carlin (Wesson’s deputy), members of the Pico Great Street Collaborative, and the crew from the Korean Youth & Community Center (KYCC) had garden tools, sign-in sheets and coffee ready by 8:00 AM, when local volunteers, ranging in age from 7 to 70, started showing up to work. 

People had a chance to meet their neighbors and to chat over coffee for a few minutes before the KYCC staff gave a brief training and formed several teams that went to work beautifying the boulevard. 

JUNE17tree2Around noon, Mayor Eric Garcetti and Council President Herb Wesson showed up ready to work and to support the ongoing projects related to the Great Streets Initiative. Garcetti and Wesson planted a tree together in front of C.J.’s Cafe, and then led the group to Sky’s Tacos in order to congratulate Barbara Burrell on the 25th anniversary of her restaurant. Garcetti and Wesson presented her with a certificate, and Sky’s provided tacos for all the volunteers. 

By the early afternoon, 15 trees had been planted. KYCC will continue planting, and by the end of June there should be 50 new trees planted along Pico, from Fairfax to Cochran. 


The tree planting was the culmination of months of the Collaborative working with the City’s Great Streets, Council District 10, City Plants and the Department of Water and Power. The KYCC is the organization doing the work on the ground; besides planting they will continue to water the young trees during the next 3 years with funding from CD-10 and the City of L.A. 

With the increasing awareness of the many benefits trees bring to city life, from much needed shade for shoppers in the summer months to water retention in the rainy season, to mention just a couple, the Pico Great Street Collaborative is hoping to create an urban forest by developing a continuous green canopy along the boulevard. They hope that the local residents will be motivated to extend this canopy into the neighborhoods adjacent to Pico Blvd. DWP’s City Plants (www.cityplants.org) offers to bring trees to your parkway and backyard for free, which makes this an easier undertaking. Their mission is to help “create a city in which people in every neighborhood have equal access to trees and their benefits.” 


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Established in August of 2008 by writerartist Dianne V. Lawrence, The Neighborhood News covers the events, people, history, politics and historic architecture of communities throughout the Mid-City and West Adams area in Los Angeles Council District 10.

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