After a man used a chainsaw to cut down a dozen trees in downtown Los Angeles last month, City Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado joined conservation groups and residents Friday to plant new ones.
Jurado, who represents downtown L.A., held a tree-planting ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Friday on South Hope Street with members of the DTLA Residents Association, DTLA Alliance, Bureau of Street Services, as well as nonprofit North East Trees and LA Conservation Corps.
“When I look at this crowd, I just get so excited because this is what community looks like to me,” Jurado said. “And this is what I mean when I say co-governance in action. This is what gets me excited, and why I ran.”
“I’m so proud to be here in the presence of other doers who come together when difficult times are present, and thank you to the city family for a quick response,” she added. “Now, let’s go plant a tree.”
The councilwoman previously announced North East Trees and LA Conservation Corps would help replace the lost tree “two to one.” Elizabeth Tam, senior director of operations for Arizona State University, said they will pay for the trees.
“Students from ASU FIDM, the Sidney Poitier New American Film School and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications are learning and working in downtown Los Angeles every day. Many are also downtown residents,” Tam said. “That is why we were disheartened like so many others by the incidents a few weeks ago.”
According to Ana Tabuena-Ruddy, Bureau of Street Services assistant director and chief sustainability officer, downtown will receive oak trees, desert willows and Catalina cherry trees, as well drought-tolerant trees.
Leslie Ridings, co-founder of DTLA Residents Association, said they are fighting to make downtown a great place to live.
“So thank you to Councilmember Jurado, to everyone at the LAPD and Bureau of Street Services and the DTLA Alliance for all that you’ve done to not just replant the trees, but to affirm that downtown matters, that our home matters and that this coalition has a power to create a better DTLA together,” Ridings added.