Cutting down trees near NBCUniversal's Hollywood site
Universal Studios is accused of cutting down trees to expose picketing actors and writers to the heat.
Ficus trees along Studio Street and Los Angeles provided shade for the picket on Friday after Hollywood performers voted to join the striking writers during the first industry-wide shutdown in 63 years.
But when the workers arrived on Monday morning to continue their strike, they found that the trees had been cut down to reveal the sparse branches. The move comes amid extreme heat waves hitting parts of California and much of the southern US.
Trees before pruning. was held ahead of “high wind season,” adding that it did not intend to create “problems” for the protesters.
But on Wednesday, Los Angeles City Superintendent Kenneth Mejia said the investigation “found that no tree-cutting permits had been issued for this location outside of Universal Studios in the past three years.”
“The city has not issued any tree pruning permits for the last tree pruning,” he said.
Thanks to the good folks at @UniversalPics for pruning the trees that gave shade to our picket right before 9 0+ degree week. pic.twitter.com/aZvvPYQ23i
— Chris Stephens (@ChrisStephensMD) July 17, 2023
Comedian and television writer Chris Stevens shared a photo of the bare trees on social media on Monday, thanking the company “for trimming the trees that shaded our picket line right before 90° [F] week.”
Mr. Stevens told The Washington Post that it “looks like a deliberate move to make life a little more uncomfortable for everyone, just at a time when pressure has mounted.”
Eric Heywood, Gild board member and Writers of America, said, “You don’t prune or prune trees in mid-July at the height of the heat. These trees have been cut down.”
UPDATE:
In collaboration with the Bureau of Street Services, we have discovered that no tree pruning permits have been issued at this location outside of Universal Studios in the past three years.
In addition, the City has not issued any tree pruning permits for final tree pruning. https://t.co/8ge7LElRao pic.twitter.com/JChoiNvHhW
— Los Angeles City Supervisor Kenneth Mejia (@lacontroller), July 19, 2023
A spokesperson for NBCUniversal said the company cut the trees, but they had no “intention” to make the picket line inconvenient for striking actors and writers. made on Barham Boulevard. created unintended problems for the demonstrators,” the spokesman said.
The firm said the pruning was done “in collaboration with licensed arborists” and they are pruned “every year at this time of year.”
He added that he is working to offer shade to the strikers via pop-up tents, as well as provide water.
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