Build The Light Rail, But Spare The Trees

"The plan is to remove the 110 palm trees during construction, then return them to the same stretch on Central Avenue. The cost of removal, nursery storage and replanting is $3,000 per tree. 'Historic properties are not just buildings,' said Barbara Stocklin, the city's historic preservation officer. 'Sites, objects and streetscapes can be historic. If this were the halcyon days of urban renewal in the 1960s, the trees would simply be knocked down in the name of progress.'"