Eucalyptus

The Newport Beach Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission plans to vote Tuesday about which trees should replace the eucalyptus removed from Fourth Avenue in Corona del Mar. City staff members recommended gold medallions, dwarf southern magnolias and African tulip trees as suitable replacements. Currently, the Hong Kong orchid is the designated tree for replanting along Fourth Avenue, but a staff report says that it grows too slowly in some areas of the city. Homeowners would be able to chose one of the three new species to plant in front of their homes.

I live just outside a large Eucalyptus forest. Out the window, across my garden and over the fence I can see hundreds of old, 50- to 75-foot-tall Eucalyptus. The trees dominate the neighborhood. Underneath these trees the soil is often bare and the landscaping sparse. I'm sure you've heard it before: "Almost nothing grows under Eucalyptus. Their leaves have a toxic compound in them that poisons the soil. " And, finally, "A Eucalyptus forest is a poison forest. " Unfortunately, gardeners are surrounded by a wealth of myths and folklore.

COSTA MESA — Family and friends of a Tustin woman killed about two weeks ago by a falling tree have created an online memorial. Visitors to the Dignity Memorial can view a photo gallery of Haeyoon Miller. The 29-year-old died Sept. 15 when a 10-ton, 50-foot eucalyptus inexplicably fell from a median and landed on her car as she waited at a red light. "The photos paint a picture of a wonderful person who truly lived a full life," George Osorio, Miller's longtime boyfriend, wrote in an email.

June Casagrande NEWPORT BEACH -- City officials are demanding $8,000 in compensation for two towering eucalyptus trees that were cut down illegally. Police on Dec. 15 responded to a call that two of the 15 or 20 eucalyptus trees lining Holiday Road had been removed. Though the trees were in the frontyard of a home, they were on public property -- a strip of land running between the homeowner's portion and the road. What's more, the eucalyptus were designated as protected trees because of their age and their size -- about 60 feet high.

The father of a woman who died in September from a falling tree has tapped a Beverly Hills law firm to represent her family ahead of possible litigation, an attorney from the firm confirmed Thursday. Sunyl Chung, father of Haeyoon Miller, 29, hired the law offices of Richard D. Hoffman, Daniel Boasberg said. Boasberg did not discuss the legal avenues the firm is exploring, but the law requires that the family must first file a claim for damages with Newport Beach, which was maintaining the tree under an agreement with Costa Mesa, before it could pursue a lawsuit.

Paul Clinton CORONA DEL MAR -- Growing up, Mary Porter's children decorated the family eucalyptus trees outside their home. As she stood on her front lawn Thursday morning watching city workers remove one of two behemoth trees with a chain saw and crane, Porter fought back tears. "There are so many memories here," Porter said. "It's killing me." The tree had to go, said Dave Niederhaus, the city's general services director, because it was a risk to the people and homes in the neighborhood near the corner of Larkspur Avenue and 4th Street.

For me — and I can speak only for myself — it’s a mystery shrouded in a conundrum clothed in an imponderable. No, it’s knottier even than that. It’s downright existential! I speak of that ultimate question: “Where have all the squirrels come from?” The squirrels I refer to are the furry ones that inhabit Costa Mesa (not the nerds who debate matters of database management). According to my research, they’re of the ubiquitous red squirrel variety (though they’re actually brown)

The city's first revitalization projects may be delayed because of limited capital funds, City Manager Dave Kiff said in anticipation of Tuesday's City Council meeting, when three of the initiatives are set to be reviewed. Proposed landscaping and other streetscape improvements in West Newport, Santa Ana Heights and Corona del Mar are expected to cost more than $10 million to build and more than $100,000 per year to maintain. "We don't have the resources to bite them off all at once," City Manager Dave Kiff wrote in a newsletter previewing the meeting.

BRYCE ALDERTON Clear skies for a majority of last week offered golf courses in Newport-Mesa the chance to wring out the oodles and oodles of rainwater that had fallen for the first few days of the new year and give the people who work at these places an opportunity to take a deep breath and reflect. The rains took their toll on both environment and the employee. Excessive amounts of water swept sand out of bunkers and sent trees falling to the earth while some employees lost wages because of reduced hours.

Don Cantrell The recent earthquake up in the Seattle area brought back a big laugh from Mel Smalley when he recalled one past visit to the Space Needle in Seattle. For many, the Space Needle can prompt many folks to back off and find other tourist events. And that almost included Smalley, a former fleet Newport Harbor High halfback who scored 104 points in the 1949 season. Most friends would assume he feared nothing from his football days. But, he was quite uneasy about the Seattle Space Needle.

The Newport Beach City Council will return from a brief hiatus Tuesday to discuss outsourcing the city trash service, waiving the bond requirement for the AERIE condominium development project and removing a protected eucalyptus tree. Trash Pickup Newport Beach is the only city in Orange County that uses city employees to pick up residents' trash. In an ongoing discussion of whether this service should be outsourced, city staff will present to the council the proposals solicited in May from outside companies willing to do the work instead.

Crews have begun planting African tulip and date palm trees on a stretch of Irvine Avenue in Newport Beach near where a woman was killed a year ago when a eucalyptus toppled onto her car. "The African tulips have already been planted and [project manager Iris Lee] expects the date palms to be planted later this week," said Newport Beach city spokeswoman Tara Finnigan. Work on the $308,075 replanting project started on July 30 and is expected to be completed in early November, Finnigan said.

The parents of a motorist killed after a tree fell on her car have sued the cities of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, and the tree maintenance contractor. Haeyoon Miller's mother and father filed separate lawsuits within the past week alleging that the two cities and West Coast Arborists were at fault regarding the Irvine Avenue median and its trees. Aside from medical and burial expenses, they are suing for unspecified damages. Miller, a 29-year-old Tustin resident, was waiting for a red light on Irvine Avenue at 17th Street, near the Newport-Costa Mesa border, in September when a blue gum eucalyptus fell and crushed her small sedan.

The city's first revitalization projects may be delayed because of limited capital funds, City Manager Dave Kiff said in anticipation of Tuesday's City Council meeting, when three of the initiatives are set to be reviewed. Proposed landscaping and other streetscape improvements in West Newport, Santa Ana Heights and Corona del Mar are expected to cost more than $10 million to build and more than $100,000 per year to maintain. "We don't have the resources to bite them off all at once," City Manager Dave Kiff wrote in a newsletter previewing the meeting.

The Newport Beach Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission plans to vote Tuesday about which trees should replace the eucalyptus removed from Fourth Avenue in Corona del Mar. City staff members recommended gold medallions, dwarf southern magnolias and African tulip trees as suitable replacements. Currently, the Hong Kong orchid is the designated tree for replanting along Fourth Avenue, but a staff report says that it grows too slowly in some areas of the city. Homeowners would be able to chose one of the three new species to plant in front of their homes.

NEWPORT BEACH — Work crews cut into a concrete median and pruned tree roots where a eucalyptus stood before if fell and killed a motorist in September, according to construction records released by the city. On at least four separate occasions, including one project in 1994 where the city cut the Irvine Avenue median in half, workers likely incurred into the soil near the tree's roots. Independent experts say if the ensuing space is so tight between a tree trunk and the curb, a full-grown eucalyptus may not have enough room to anchor.

NEWPORT BEACH — Despite opposition from some residents, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to remove 18 eucalyptus trees on the West Bay neighborhood's Holiday Road. Officials overturned a Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission decision from earlier this month that determined the trees should stay, and that the city should look at alternatives. Since a large blue gum eucalyptus fell on a car near the Newport-Costa Mesa border in September and killed a motorist, Newport officials have moved swiftly to analyze the city's other similar trees and cut down those they deem hazardous.

Stepping into the contentious issue of dangerous eucalyptus trees, the Newport Beach City Council may vote Tuesday to remove about 20 of the blue gum variety. But doing so would overturn a parks commission decision to keep the trees on the West Bay neighborhood's Holiday Road. That issue pits the city's staff and independent arborist against some residents who wish to keep their decades-old landmarks. A city-hired arborist found that 14 of the trees have a high risk of falling, and four were deemed a moderate risk.

The father of a woman who died in September from a falling tree has tapped a Beverly Hills law firm to represent her family ahead of possible litigation, an attorney from the firm confirmed Thursday. Sunyl Chung, father of Haeyoon Miller, 29, hired the law offices of Richard D. Hoffman, Daniel Boasberg said. Boasberg did not discuss the legal avenues the firm is exploring, but the law requires that the family must first file a claim for damages with Newport Beach, which was maintaining the tree under an agreement with Costa Mesa, before it could pursue a lawsuit.

NEWPORT BEACH — Before one of them came toppling down and killed a motorist in September, the city's tree-trimming contractor knew that some eucalyptus trees on Irvine Avenue were infested by beetles and termites, public records released Monday show. Still, West Coast Arborists determined that the fatal tree was safe to stand, according to the contractor's records. However, it was unclear from the records if the fallen tree along the Newport Beach-Costa Mesa border was infested by the insects or just standing among other infected trees.