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Indybay Feature

'Save Our Big Trees' Lawsuit Costing City $80,000

by Santa Cruz Progressive Newswire
On the consent agenda for the Tuesday, May 13 Santa Cruz City Council meeting is a resolution appropriating $80,000 in funds to cover the legal costs of the 'Save Our Big Trees' lawsuit which was filed by local residents shortly after the city revised its Heritage Tree ordinance in the Fall of 2013. Activists filed the lawsuit because they feel the ordinance does not adequately protect the city's oldest, most beloved trees.
heritage_tree_ordinance_legal_expenses_santa_cruz.pdf_600_.jpg
A report submitted to the City Council by the Parks and Recreation department indicates legal expenses to date in the lawsuit total over $50,000 spent, and the total legal fees for fiscal year 2014 are estimated to be $65,000 to $80,000.

The lawsuit against the city was filed by Wittwer/Parkinon, who represent a number of residents who want to stop the Heritage Tree ordinance. The city has retained the Remy Moose Law Firm in this lawsuit.

The group Save Our Big Trees is a grass roots organization of local residents who support protecting the City of Santa Cruz's Heritage Trees. In addition to the Save Our Big Trees lawsuit, the group is also currently working to protect a 110-year-old Red Horse Chestnut tree located at 407 Broadway in Santa Cruz, which has been cleared by the city for removal so that the owner of the property can build a new Hyatt Hotel.

Save Our Big Trees
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Our-Big-Trees/509203989181027
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by Razer Ray
> In addition to the Save Our Big Trees lawsuit, the group is also currently working to protect a 110-year-old Red Horse Chestnut tree located at 407 Broadway in Santa Cruz, which has been cleared by the city for removal so that the owner of the property can build a new Hyatt Hotel.

This IS at least one of the end results of TBSC's 'beautification program' for lower Ocean street. The residents of the neighborhood who blindly follow that commercial property interest group in disguise expected to just 'get rid of the junkies and hookers' but didn't know the trees, and soon-to-come, their ability to afford to live in that neighborhood under the gun of gentrification (for 'urban car-free lifestyle' non-residents the city desperately wants to pick the pockets of while they stay) were being jeopardized by their own involvement.

Many of them still don't get it.

It would be interesting to see who the 'local residents' Wittwer/Parkinon represents are. Could some (or all) of them be members of TBSC further disrupting Santa Cruz treasury while draining activist resources for a problem their blind allegiance to a front org for commercial property interest has caused?

Questions Questions... I await answers.

TBSC related Ps. Found a hypodermic needle on my ride into town early this morning. Not an imaginary "Bag o' Needles"... Just one. Right across the street from the SCPD's HQ in front of a fenced-in vacant lot. The 'works' looked almost new. Who the fuck would shoot up in plain sight of the police station with it's all-seeing surveillance cameras? No one.

I put it in the sharps box at the Metro bus station which hadn't been emptied for so long the needle would not go down the tube and I had to roll up a magazine to stuff it down with.
by Razer Ray
The only person I find as contact for this organization is "gillian mary rees" ostensibly from Santa Cruz, as noted on the organization's Farcebook page. A search for "gillian mary rees" Santa Cruz at google turns up absolutely nothing except a home sale in (wait for it!) Tarzana, with a another 'partner' named "Gillian Renaulat" whose name also turns up zip... ZAM! ZOWIE! "Mary Rees Santa Cruz" also turns up nothing

Who is this person?
Is it an alias Analicia or Dexter Cube uses?

Down the rabbit hole... I expect to find people associated with TBSC hob-nobbing with Santa Cruz useful idiot lefty 'activists' at the bottom of it.
by Bratton Fan
From Bratton Online:

SAVE THAT TREE. Gillian Greensite works hard to save our Heritage Trees. She was on my radio program last Tuesday night talking about one tree in particular…I asked her to write something about saving that tree. She writes…

“There is a beautiful tree at 407 Broadway, between the levee and Ocean Street, soon to be killed to make way for a Hyatt Hotel. It is a red horse chestnut, one of only three in Santa Cruz. Described as “sacred” and “a guardian of the property” by the original owners of the land, it is now being sacrificed in the name of profit by local developer Tejal Sood. Ms. Sood, her architect Peter Bagnall and Planning director Juliana Rebagliati presented the city council with misleading and incorrect testimony in order to secure their tree removal permit. By stating that the tree had a “very large root ball” and “very very sensitive roots” and is a “tree in decline” they managed to sway the council into believing that the tree could not be saved and was not worth saving.

By contrast, tree experts David Cox of Environmental Design and Barrie Coate, local, esteemed arborist, both inspected the tree and assessed it as “in excellent health” with a life span of many centuries, a “unique” specimen that could be preserved with a retaining wall and a planting space of 24 feet. Unfortunately such information came in after the fact and the Soods have their tree removal permit. It’s too late for legal action. The only hope left is to appeal to the Soods to spare the tree with a slight design modification which should have happened from the beginning if the city had followed its Heritage Tree Ordinance. Tejal Sood declares her family’s roots in the community and her desire to be a good neighbor at every opportunity. With only one week left before the tree will be killed, it may help if we all email Ms. Sood and respectfully ask that she do everything possible to save this beloved tree. Her email is tejalsood [at] yahoo.com

If we cannot convince Ms. Sood to change her mind, we plan to hold a demonstration on the sidewalk in front of the tree with signs for all to see who drive by. Nothing illegal. If you wish to be kept informed of developments- email me at gumtree [at] pacbell.net. Gillian Greensite, Save Our Big Trees.

http://brattononline.com/april-10-16-2014/
by Razer Ray
Now there's a name from the bad ol' days when women at UCSC were taught all men were rapists by a simplistically-minded alleged 'feminist' (her) while real ones like Angela Davis were speaking on topics that got to the root of the gender-class issue.

She's the "mouth", the PR hack, with a connection to the senile Bruce Bratton, and I believe the near-useless RCNV. Brucie Bratton, last I knew REALLY DESPISED homeless people in Santa Cruz, just like TBSC... He's the OG, 'the godfather' of TBSC's 'philosophy' if you would, and is probably enjoying the gentrification of the city as long as it puts money in his pocket.

So... WHO IS "Gillian Mary Rees", Is it an alias for Gillian Greensite? A 'married name'?

If so, why does she need the alias, and wtf's up with a twtter account with one lonely tweet? Why is she consorting with a now-unknown to any media except local media anti-homeless Bratton (and WHY is the Santa Cruz Patch still in operation after it was publicly announced with great fanfare on indybay that it was shutting down?)

I KNOW there were whines from all around Santa Cruz gentrified 'hoods over the fact the city could cut down the trees in front of the public library without question because 'the roots were damaging the building' (bullshit... They just didn't want anyone sitting at those benches which they also removed to 'landscape' the area expunging still more public space in Santa Cruz) and the 'average citizen' could not. I suspect this 'protest is a 'pout' along those lines more so than actually having any real interest in saving that Chestnut tree or stopping the development of that Hyatt hotel.

Although, like the TBSC's sheep and it's leadership. There seems to be the stench of 'hidden agenda' here so a last though before I stop wasting my time on this.

The tree IS right across the street from, or quite nearby to the RCNV isn't it? Could RCNV be that lame? To attempt stopping or modifying the development of a hotel near them by protesting over a tree and never mentioning, or perhaps not even having, an interest in stopping the development of the hotel itself? Just NIMBY...

Whatever public opinion will bear. I think Gillian and friends will find the people who've moved here... OVERWHELMED Santa Cruz, from LA and other urban ares would give a flying about that tree, or any tree, and that IS the crowd they're attempting to engage, not politically cloutless 'tree-huggers'.

The stench overwhelms. Where WERE these people when the public library's trees were cut and public space expunged? MIA. Like RCNV always is.
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