A Pasadena 17-year-old spent eight hours in a school oak tree marked for removal, and her mother told the City Council on Monday, June 15, that desperation drove the act after city, state and school district officials each deflected the family’s pleas.
Paloma Muñiz Ochoa told the council she had spent the day in the oak, one of the trees marked for removal by PUSD in a massive soil remediation project,
“Being in that oak tree, I connected with it and it’s clear that it’s holding a lot of life and that it means a lot to the environment and to the animals and plants living in it,” she said.
She said she did not think it was fair that the oaks were being taken down.
Her mother, who identified herself as a Pasadena homeowner, taxpayer and physician, told the council the protest was “very scary, but I thought very necessary.” She said the family had been unable to get a response from anyone with authority over the trees.
“We have been trying to reach the state. The state refers us to Pasadena Unified School District. The Pasadena Unified School District refers us to the state and we are stuck,” she said. “We are so desperate that we are putting our children in oak trees that should be protected.”
She urged the council to have its planning department re-review what the district had submitted to the city and to let the city attorney examine it, saying she believed there was “a process here” for which the city bears responsibility.
She put the duration of her daughter’s tree-sit at eight and a half hours and warned that the family “will continue to take desperate measures.”
The protest capped a string of public comments urging the council to halt the Pasadena Unified School District’s removal of 193 trees across 11 campuses, a project that speakers said was already underway and that the district has tied to soil remediation needed after the Eaton Fire.
Several speakers alleged the state has not ordered the cutting. Jessica Richards, a member of the city’s Urban Forestry Advisory Committee speaking in a personal capacity, said the science does not support removing the trees to remediate soil and that the Department of Toxic Substances Control had told her in writing it does not mandate removing all of them.
Richards argued the district had sidestepped Pasadena’s tree-protection ordinance by invoking an exemption for hazardous trees.
Reading from the city code, she said no permit is required to remove a protected tree only when it has been determined to be hazardous and immediate action is required to protect life or property.
“No one is arguing that these trees are hazardous. PUSD has not claimed that,” she said, contending the district needs permits for all 193 trees.
Tim Martinez, also an Urban Forestry Advisory Committee member and a former district student, said the city appeared to have let the project bypass the normal tree-permit process under a provision written for trees “about to fall down on top of your garage or on top of someone’s head.”
He drew a direct line to Altadena, where he said soil scientists and residents have been remediating soil and saving mature trees using bioremediation rather than removal.
A district two resident, Suzanne York, told the council some of the tagged trees are more than a century old, said some of the soil tests behind the project were done more than a year ago, and asked the city to stop the work until the process is more transparent.
Reacting to the comments, Councilmember Tyron Hampton, a former school board member, called the district’s communication with neighbors lackluster and said its removal notices were “cookie cutter” form letters.
Hampton asked whether the city could halt the process pending a review of whether the district must seek city approval, noting that private businesses in Pasadena seeking to remove protected trees must give exact reasons.
Speaking to Muñiz Ochoa, Hampton said he would not advocate trespassing or sitting in a tree, “but in that case, that was a good reason to do that.” He added, “We are a Tree City for a reason.”
Councilmember Rick Cole pressed the jurisdiction question. He said ‘the city’ had been quoted in the Pasadena Star-News as saying the school district’s tree removals were exempt, but that Cole was aware of no state law clearly establishing that exemption. He asked the city to move quickly to resolve the issue with the district.
Cole noted the city has a lease on at least one PUSD site where no students are present, giving Pasadena a clear interest, and said “whoever is ‘the city’ does not speak for this city council.”
Mayor Gordo said the city manager’s office is reviewing the jurisdictional question and the distinction between the education code’s authority for educational purposes and the city’s authority over environmental matters, adding that more information is needed.
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