Edith de Guzman quoted in The Santa Monica Daily Press: Outrage over illegal tree trimming unlikely to yield prosecution

The residents suspected of organizing unauthorized and damaging work to nine city ficus trees on Georgina Avenue earlier this month are unlikely to face consequences. A spokesperson for the City of Santa Monica said that with lack of evidence there is little they can do to enforce the municipal code which states that “no person shall cut, trim, prune” a tree on public land without a city permit. 

For years Santa Monica has been viewed as the “gold standard” for urban forestry, said Edith de Guzman, a Ph.D. candidate at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability who has extensive experience in the field.

“The practices that [Santa Monica] has institutionalized in their urban forest management approach is far and beyond what most other cities in the region have done,” she said.