Important Stuff
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The circus guys on the high wires
I thought I should add to my post below that the LA Department of Water and Power has more of a true safety issue than Street Services: they have to trim trees that come too close to high-power wires. The story they have repeated to me several times is that once a palm frond touched a high power wire and 25% of Glendale had no power for several hours. Well, ok, I can see that, even though the power goes out here at least once every year anyway, when there are strong winds on the towers, or hail. The wires make a big cracking sound just before they go out,…
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Los Angeles needs more tree plastic surgeons
Someday, whether you like it or not, LA Street Services or the LADWP will send uneducated, unskilled men, with no supervision, to steal from you. They will take thousands of dollars from the value of your home and your neighborhood, dirty your air, make the street hotter and your air conditioner work harder, uglify your view, and sometimes make you cry. Sometimes they kill; they always maim. Your tax dollars will be paying these men, and in Southern California they are often illegals. Of course, I’m talking about tree cutters! Many of these unfortunate men are city employees, but I think the city subcontracts at least half of the work.…
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How to get $50 million dollars. (The lottery?)
It’s kind of like The Secret. You just say it over and over to yourself, and think good thoughts. Or you tell reporters about it, that works, too. The park was hurting, hurting bad. As I was grieving, the news that the park would be getting $50 million in emergency relief and recovery from the state gave me one small hope; that money would FINALLY be put to good use in its wildlands, like a sprinkle of good rain. From Daily News: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced a $50 million emergency repair plan for the park over the next decade. “I’m someone who loves this park,” Schwarzenegger…
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After the fire: erosion and jackasses
The fire was long over, but the senseless tree-cutting continued. I was quite upset. I just couldn’t accept that the best thing for a park that had lost thousands of trees, would be to tear out 1000 more trees. Not to mention the growing erosion problem. And I felt like a wimp because I hadn’t crossed the forbidden barriers and gone into the burned areas, scout-like, on my own, to find out exactly what the Forestry Division was doing up there… photo by Martin O. Garcia, taken May 10, 2 days after the fire, on his daily hike. His own caption: “Griffith Park, AFTER.” Griffith Park Master Plan Meeting No…