Destruction of Public Property
By Public Works Personnel

The needless slashing of Beverly Gardens Park's wisteria vines, to replace its pergola, exemplifies the lack of communication between the City's Recreation & Parks and Public Works departments.

Once again, the City's public works dept. has destroyed the very wisteria vines they should have conscientiously saved, by placing them on scaffolding, while replacing the deteriorating wooden beams of the pergola.

At the same location, they similarly destroyed a magnificent 60-year old wisteria decades ago. This is on the north side of Santa Monica Bl. at Alta Dr. in the 22-block Beverly Gardens Park.

This parkland runs from the Doheny entrance to Beverly Hills, from West Hollywood, to its border with Los Angeles at Wilshire Bl. and Whittier Dr.

Approximately 14 years ago in an effort to restore this historic lavender vine, I located several beautiful bare-root wisteria vines and the City purchased them. Then, Friends of Beverly Gardens Park, along with the mayor and council members assembled at the Alta Block for a ground-breaking and planting ceremony. This was all duly reported, including photos, in the local newspapers.

In 1931, Beverly Gardens Park was a gift to the City by the residents living north of Santa Monica Bl.

Is there no institutional memory in Beverly Hills City Hall? Are there no notices of intent by one department to inform of pending actions by another department? Not even the neighbors of this block were noticed, much less the rest of the citizenry.

This destruction of public property values is unconscionable. Some procedure needs to be instituted by management to assure no further inexcusable degradation of Beverly Gardens Park.

Included in such public discussions must be the public works department's intent to shave off five feet from Beverly Gardens Park to dedicate to traffic. As it is, most of Beverly Gardens is only 85 feet deep.

Ellen Stern Harris
Executive Director, Fund for The Environment
Editor of BeverlyHillsCitizen. org
P. O. Box 228 / Beverly Hills, CA 90213