Activists fight to save ficus trees

Determined to save 54 ficus trees in Santa Monica, activists on Thursday appealed a judge’s ruling allowing the city to remove the trees along 2nd and 4th streets as part of an $8-million beautification project.

At issue is the legal question of when activist Jerry Rubin and others should have filed the lawsuit challenging the city’s plan, said the group’s attorney, Tom Nitti. A lower court judge sided with the city, ruling that the group should have sued within six months of the October 2005 approval of the streetscape plan. Instead, the group sued last year.

Nitti said the City Council’s approval was based on faulty information provided by staff, who said the trees were exempt from environmental regulations when they were not. As such, he said the time limit should not apply and the city should be prohibited from removing the trees, 23 of which are slated for destruction, while the lawsuit goes forward.

“People don’t go to council meetings with law books,” he said.

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-- Evelyn Larrubia