Downtown Los Angeles has seen more than a percentage of insults in recent years.
The pandemic has seen office vacancy rates rise as the masses of in-person workers stayed at home and many restaurants and businesses closed. Homelessness has skyrocketed amid an interconnected economy, mental health and drug crisis.
And although Downtown has seen some developments since then, there remains a sense of looming confusion and decline. After the thrilling announcement of the 6th Avenue viaduct, the hype quickly gave way to an unruly street acquisition and copper burglars wirestring the lights.
Even as the skyline expands, Angelenos’ attention focused on two skyscrapers that Tagger was almost entirely covered in graffiti.
Tagger sprayed graffiti on at least 27 floors of downtown Los Angeles skyscrapers in February 2024.
(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
So the shocking act of vandalism this weekend is why we removed the city’s six mature trees.
“It hit a chord,” said Kathy Horton, a 37-year-old downtown resident. “It really likes flies in the face of everything we’re trying to do [to revitalize] The community, and someone to go around…and backed up the small advances we already have… truly, really upset and hurt. ”
In addition to safety, Green Space is one of the biggest concerns of almost 100,000 people living in downtown, so attacks on some of the small trees in the area have particularly angered people.
“That’s a bit more than that,” says Assn, a resident of downtown Los Angeles. said Horton, who works for the board of directors. “A lot of the problems we face when we talk about homelessness and mental health and open air drug use and all of these things — they feel really bothering and complicated. But something like this becomes a bit of a rallying cry for people in downtown.
Many of the fallen trees were found on Saturday morning. At that time, images of the laid-back trunk and its giant fallen branches were lit up by online bulletin boards and went viral on social media.
On Wednesday, LAPD announced the arrest of Samuel Patrick Groft, 45, on suspicion of felony vandalism. Investigators say the suspects have been tied to 13 fallen trees in five locations around the city, with hints on additional trees continuing. Groft reportedly used surveillance footage using an electric chainsaw and was shot on surveillance footage to reduce trees for several days or more days or more weeks. The oldest confirmation date was April 13th.
LAPD has released this image of the suspect Tree Cut, captured on surveillance video.
(LAPD)
Streetsla, the city department responsible for maintaining street and urban forests, said the team saw a total of six trees that were discarded downtown last weekend. These large shaded trees along South Grand Avenue were cut at the base or several feet above the pavement. He did not immediately respond to questions about cut trees in other parts of LA
The Streetsla team “responded and cleared the shards from all six locations right away,” says Halden. He said they are still assessing the damage and the total cost of the potential replacement.
For many, this blatant rude act represents the latest failure by city officials to prevent further deterioration in Downtown, highlighting the feeling of Los Angeles’ mind falling to the roadside.
“It shows a lack of respect,” said John Sischo, a longtime downtown developer. “That’s because no one really cares me… This kind of thing happens when there’s not enough people.”
Sischo said it would be difficult for individuals and businesses to return to the area if they don’t have personal and perceived safety concerns. He said Turnaround needs to deal with homelessness through enthusiastic and aggressive government, working in partnership with business and local leaders. He hasn’t seen it yet.
The office of LA Mayor Karen Bass has issued a statement calling for tree vandalism “beyond understanding.”
(Carlin Steel/Los Angeles Times)
In many ways, Paul Kaufman, owner of Downtown Small Businesses, agrees.
“There are several areas of progress, but it seems to be very halting,” Kaufman said. “Something seems really great, and then it’s withering. …The truth is that I feel safer working downtown is that there are more people out there.”
Downtown offices remain vacant by about a third, with the impact of the pandemic still looming heavily, according to CBRE Real Estate Brokerage. Crime rates in the area appear to be relatively stable over the past few months, according to available data from the LAPD central division, covering all of downtown. (However, it is difficult to comprehensively assess how much crime has changed over the past few years, as LAPD has recently reviewed how it records such statistics.)
But there was an area of progress and resilience. Downtown apartments remain relatively full. A new restaurant is open, Metro regional connectors are in operation, and several new high-end retailers and hotel spaces are making their debut. Additionally, there are plans to revitalize the LA Convention Center and prepare for the 2028 Olympics.
And perhaps that’s what this violent attack on the community tree was “really nerve-wracking,” said Nick Griffin, executive vice president of the DTLA Alliance, previously the Downtown Center Improvement District.
“Downtown in the LA community is working to bring downtown backwards. [are] It focuses on improving the public sector in particular. This seemed like such a pointless attack. ” said Griffin.
Homelessness was a permanent issue in downtown Los Angeles. Here the man repairs the bike along 5th Avenue on Skid Row.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
But he and other local organizers hope that concerns about the trees and that it means what it means about the state of life in downtown.
“In some respects, one of the important things we focus on is building the communities and coalitions that we need to revitalize places like Downtown,” Griffin said. “We don’t have silver bullets, and there’s no organization that can do that.”
Ricardo Sebastian, an entrepreneur who lives and works in downtown, is trying to change the perception of his neighborhood through social media and marketing campaigns, but unfortunately he feels that the incident could hurt those efforts.
“This actually perpetuates the stereotype that Downtown is dirty, dirty and unsafe,” Sebastian said. “We can paint, prime, build storefronts and bring in some really interesting businesses. … But if there are people who come to town with chainsaw wielding or tainting people. [buildings] …We have to work that hard. ”
For some, that’s the plan.
Horton and other board members of the resident group are calling for immediate action from city officials to replace trees and retain the perpetrators for accounting to “change the anti-social and chaotic trajectory of our neighborhood.” The group said they look forward to working with Councillor Isabel Jurado, who represents downtown, to show that the loss of these trees will mark the beginning of the end of ongoing corrosion in the public sphere of DTLA.
“We need a champion. We need people from LA to care about downtown and see it as the heart of our city,” Horton said. “It’s where we convened, where we protest, where we go. …Some of our elected leaders are beginning to step up and support us, but our challenges are serious.”
In an official statement, Jurad’s office said her team was in “close communication” with LAPD over the ongoing investigation and submitted a move to increase the penalty of the local government code for tree injury violations in the hopes of blocking future incidents. The statement thanked the community for drawing the issue into the attention of officials, saying, “This is exactly what the co-rulers in action look like. Stay tuned for updates.”
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has issued a statement calling for acts “beyond understanding.”
“The city’s public works crew are assessing the damage and are planning to quickly replace these damaged trees,” Bass spokesman Zach Seidl said in a statement. “The person in charge must be accountable.”
But while some viewed the incident as a sign of a major downtown problem, there is a clear environmental loss to losing the tree. Provides shade, rainwater, pollution control and habitat for birds and other small animals. It has also been found that urban trees slow road degradation and reduce crime.
“It’s a huge hit,” said Lee Coffee, who lives and works in downtown Los Angeles. However, he called the whole ordeal “some kind of random.”
“The cleanup was very fast,” Coffee said. “I’m not aware of any other events like this.”
Times staff writers Roger Vincent and Clara Harter contributed to this report.
