The tree that ate the sidewalk: ficus
Bloomberg News has a nice news-feature today on the sidewalk-eating headache that is the ficus tree: "The bill is coming due for Los
Angeles, decades after ficus trees were planted to supply shade
for a city bathed in sunshine almost year-round. The thrusting roots of mature ficus are tearing up
sidewalks, triggering complaints and lawsuits."
I was particularly happy to see L.A. Land's tree expert, Pieter Severynen, quoted prominently: "Ficus trees are notorious supersizers,'' Pieter tells Bloomberg. "Almost everything grows in Southern California. It becomes a curse when the cute little tree you planted turns into a monster.''
More: "Los Angeles budgeted $8.4 million in May toward mending
4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) of damaged sidewalks, said
Victoria Villa-Agustin, an analyst at the Bureau of Street Services. It paid about $415,000 to settle 99 claims involving
tree mishaps from July 2007 through April 2008."
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Photo Credit: Bloomberg News.
Hat tip: JJ, via e-mail.
There was some plan afoot -- I think it's dead now, mercifully -- to make L.A. home sellers responsible for repairing sidewalks in front of their homes before close of escrow. Sort of the way they are now responsible for low-flow toilets and gas-shut off meters. We love those trees, but...
Posted by: sfvrealestate | July 01, 2008 at 01:19 PM
Ficus tree's look far better than palm tree's.
Posted by: Mark | July 01, 2008 at 03:08 PM
Are you effing kidding me? Its a curse when a tree grows huge and healthy, requires little to no water or maintenance? The rest of the world would kill to have the lowly ficus tree. Only in LA is a large, healthy, zero-worry tree considered a curse. Re-route the damned sidewalks, keep the trees.
Posted by: Politicus Finch | July 02, 2008 at 04:29 AM
Ficus trees are giant weeds. But don't try to cut them down, or the tree-huggers will cry.
Posted by: markie post | July 02, 2008 at 07:42 AM
There is a tree in France that owns itself.
That's right. It is the legal owner of itself. It appears the last human owner willed the ownership to the tree itself.
I think that's a small, yet promising beginning where we see trees, rocks and animals, including us, as just one big sister/brotherhood.
Posted by: MyLessThanPrimeBeef | July 02, 2008 at 03:59 PM