Palm Sunday

With, you guessed it, Ari Dugarte:

Sunset Boulevard palms

NBC 7, San Diego, Is night falling on the towering palms on Sunset Boulevard in Mission Hills?

Nobody seems to know when, exactly, a stretch of towering Mexican fan palms were planted along one of San Diego's most iconic streets in one of its most iconic neighborhoods, but most would agree that the gently swaying giants, visible to the east as far away as the runway of San Diego International Airport, have come to be identified with the community of Mission Hills. So it comes as no surprise, then, that one local historian and some other concerned San Diegans were relieved, at least temporarily, last week when the trees lining Sunset Boulevard above Old Town were recommended for historic preservation.

Janet O'Dea, a founder of Mission Hills Heritage, told NBC 7 that she secured the designation for the towering palms back in 2009 but the paperwork was lost. She maintains that the trees were planted around 100 years ago at the direction of San Diego's original arborist, Kate Sessions, whose legacy to the city, among other contributions, includes the creation of Balboa Park. "One of the first things we did is, we got our home historically designated, and we've been researching the area pretty much ever since," O'Dea told NBC 7.

According to San Diego City Council Policy 900-19, the trees, which are mostly native to Baja California, can qualify for the designation if they are "50 years or older or have a connection to some historic event, building, district, or were planted by a historically significant individual." According to O'Dea, the trees satisfy all three criteria.

A majority of the members of the San Diego Community Forest Advisory Board agreed, 6-3, last Tuesday that the specimens of Washingtonia robusta along a several-block stretch of Sunset merited the historic designation.

Opponents of the designation included one board member who pointed out that palm trees are not even really trees but, rather, are members of the grass family, and San Diego's city forester, Brian Widener. "We haven't had any palm trees designated as protected trees in the city under this program — which I think has been going on for about 20 years — and we have about over 400 protected trees, so we just didn't feel like there was a need to protect these palm trees," Widener said.

Linked at the Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links.