What were City officials thinking when they ordered the clearcutting of dozens of trees in Palo Alto?
(October 9, 2009) While I was minding my own business and working at home last month, the City of Palo Alto Public Works Department chainsawed 63 trees on three blocks of California Avenue, the city’s “other downtown.” That’s right: people working for a city named after a tree purposely mass slaughtered dozens of shade-providing holly oak trees on a street of shops, restaurants and a hotel. Within two days a vibrant shopping district of mostly independent, small businesses looked like a strip mall. Or a moonscape. Drivers turned onto the street and thought they were going crazy, because it looked so different. I didn’t see the results of what I now call the California Avenue chainsaw massacre until the following Sunday, when I walked across El Camino to the farmers market – shaking my head, catching my breath. Farmers reached for hats they hadn’t brought as they sold their produce in the hot September sun. Apparently some merchants and building owners complained about the oaks, and som
