Edith de Guzman calls Santa Monica ‘the gold standard’ for urban forestry | Sustainable LA Grand Challenge

Katerina Jowid
October 07, 2022
SLAGC News and Blogposts

Publication: Santa Monica Daily Press

UCLA Expert: Edith de Guzman: Ph.D. Candidate, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability; Director and Co-founder, Los Angeles Urban Cooling Collaborative

Synopsis: Residents of three houses on Georgina Avenue are believed by city officials to have hired a private contractor to cut the tops off of the trees to prevent them from dropping small fruits, which they produce several times a year. Without evidence, officials say it will be hard to enforce municipal codes against the illegal work that damages municipal trees.

UCLA News: For years Santa Monica has been viewed as the “gold standard” for urban forestry, said de Guzman. “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.”