Posted on 07/19/2023 12:04:34 PM PDT by nickcarraway
: LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia revealed in a tweet Wednesday that no permit was pulled to trim the now-infamous Ficus trees outside of Universal’s Gate 8.
He added in a thread that “The City of LA’s Urban Forestry Division (UFD) will coordinate w/ StreetsLA’s Investigation & Enforcement Division (IED) to confirm if this case warrants the issuance of an administrative citation or hearing. If issued, the administrative citation fee starts at $250.”
Mejia had previously tweeted that the trees — which had provided shade for picketers during the ongoing strike before they were pruned over the weekend — are LA City managed street trees.
City Controller Kenneth Mejia has vowed to look into the newly pruned ficus trees outside of Universal’s Gate 8, after picketers drew attention to their thinned branches while marching in 90-degree-plus heat. Pine trees on the opposite side of Barham weren’t touched, and neither were a row of pepper trees behind the Universal fence near the production gate.
In a series of Tweets Tuesday, Mejia said his office is investigating what happened to the Ficuses on Burham Boulevard, which he said are “LA City managed street trees.” WGA picketers drew attention to their thinned out ranks on Monday. Universal owned up to trimming them but said in a statement it was done for “safety reasons” though it “has created unintended challenges for demonstrators, that was not our intention.”
“Trees are essential to providing Angelenos with significant environmental and public health benefits, especially during a heatwave,” Mejia said in a tweet. “Public Works’ Bureau of Street Services (StreetsLA) is responsible for maintaining the City’s 700,000+ trees in the public right-of-way.”
He went on to say in a thread that “code enforcement for street trees (including the pruning or removal of trees without a permit) is the responsibility of the StreetsLA Investigation and Enforcement Division. Violations can result in code enforcement citations.”
Related Stories SAG-AFTRA Strike SAG-AFTRA Strike Photos: Actors Hit The Picket Lines Including Rachel McAdams, Debbie Allen, Susan Sarandon & Bette Midler
How The SAG-AFTRA Strike Could Upend This Year’s Movie Release Schedule & Box Office Separately, the fight over the studio’s construction on Lankershim Boulevard and its impact on the ongoing strike just got even bigger: The WGA and SAG-AFTRA today filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board over the lack of safe pathways available for union members to picket.
“Within the past six months, [NBCUniversal Media] has interfered with, coerced, and restrained employees in the exercise of their rights under Section 7 of the [National Labor Relations] Act,” the Writers Guild of America, West, said in its filing (read it here).
Said interference includes but is not limited to “interfering with lawful picketing activity by designating as picketing locations areas where the public sidewalks have been covered up with construction fencing, forcing picketers to patrol in busy streets with significant car traffic where two picketers have already been struck by a car and by refusing to provide K-rail barriers to establish pedestrian walkways for picketers to use after Los Angeles Police Department advised the employer weeks ago in the interest of public safety to do so.”
SAG-AFTRA’s complaint reads in part: “On or around Thursday, July 13, 2023, the employer, through its agents and managers, instructed SAG-AFTRA to send its members to picket at the unsafe crowded location, exacerbating the dire public safety situation to interfere with striking members’ right to engage in the protected, concerted activity of picketing and patrolling outside the employer’s premises during a lawful strike.” Read the full filing here.
In response, an NBCUniversal spokesperson released this statement today: “We are aware of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA complaints. We strongly believe that the company has fulfilled our legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and we will cooperate with respect to any inquiries by the National Labor Relations Board on this issue. While we understand the timing of our multi-year construction project has created challenges for demonstrators, we continue to work with public agencies to increase access. We support the unions’ rights to demonstrate safely.”
The WGAW filing also cited “the egregious and flagrant nature of the employer’s illegal conduct and the irreparable harm, including the threat of bodily harm, caused by the above-mentioned violations of the Act.”
Erik Pedersen contributed to this report.
You need a permit in LA to trim trees?
Insane.
They need a ‘permit’ to trim trees?.............................
I was wondering about that, but from the picture these may be trees on public land.
The “argument” is that the trees are not on Universal property. They are on city owned land, so any modifications or trimming must be done by the city, or have the permission of the city.
So give them their citation/fine and be done with it.
If the maintenance staff at NBC could wire up a door switch so that Matt Lauer could molest women in his office, they could certainly handle trimming a few trees to harass striking workers.
They did that?
permit was pulled...
I wonder if a permit is needed to hose the crap off of the sidewalks.
.
There was a tiny lot near downtown Tallahassee. It could not be developed because it had two “heritage oaks” situated in the only entrance and exit locations that were possible given the size of the lot and where the building had to be and permissible legal locations. The construction proceeded and the contractor went to insane lengths to ensure the trees and their roots were not disturbed. Doing so would have immediately resulted in protests and pickets from Tallahassee’s tree nuts. (Tree nuts are humans, not a fruit that grows on trees.) The lot was paved up to a few feet from the barricades set up to protect the trees. Then, a week before the building was to open, and over a Sunday, the trees were removed and the stumps ground down. The lots were paved to the street and not a bit of sawdust remained. Seriously, they vacuumed the area. The tree nuts went crazy. The city fined the builder. But there’s a bank there now. I’m sure the fine was built into the cost of the construction.
The thing is the contractor avoided having to deal with people blocking every piece of machinery that had to go in and out. It was brilliant. BTW, the trees, although huge, were not very attractive and probably not even very healthy. Their roots had been popping up pavement for at least a few decades and they’d been repaved over several times.
You need a permit to trim city-owned trees, yes.
The sole exception is if the trees are intruding over your property line. Then, you may trim to your property line.
Meh. Universal can afford to pay the fine. Might as well chop the trees down. Sure, you’ll get another fine, which is meaningless to Universal, and the city will replant them, but the protestors won’t be getting much shade for a decade or so.
They can say that maybe counter protestors did it.
Yes, Matt Lauer had a switch by his desk so he could remotely lock the door of his office after people entered.
I suppose maybe he rigged that up himself, but the way the unions work in that business, it’s not very likely.
The one problem is the studios trimming public trees on public property.
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/11/about-that-secret-button-in-matt-lauers-office/547106/
I don't see Lauer being very handy.
Actually, a lot of cities are instituting rules for tree pruning & removal. Even on PRIVATE property. The city I gladly left had done that. You had to get a permit to trim your own damn trees!
"Why didn't I have some of these doors when I was president?! The Vast Rightwing Conspiracy deprived me of this!"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.