Glen Alla Park lost one of its favorite climbing trees Thursday morning.
The coral tree located in the west quadrant of the park, off Glencoe Avenue near the rock slide in the Shanes Inspiration Playground, was cut down because it cracked in half overnight and fell on part of the playground fencing.
Carlos Perez is an employee for the city and part of the crew that cut the tree down. He said that the city had been watching this tree for a few months because it appeared to be compromised by a huge crack down the middle of the trunk.
morning may have struck the final blow for the tree. Neighbors living near the park said that it felt like a sharp snap, waking many residents abruptly.
Perez said it smelled like sewage when they were cutting the tree down, so perhaps it was "already deteriorating." The city workers were finished cutting the tree down by 9:30 a.m. and all that remains is the stump and the sawdust. Another company will be hired to remove the stump, according to Perez.
Coral trees are the “official Trees” of Los Angeles, and many are in danger of collapsing because they aren’t being trimmed often enough by the city, according to arborist Lisa Smith in
Smith told Brentwood Patch that “because coral trees are tolerant of drought conditions, they grow more quickly when they are growing in turf zones that are consistently watered. This heavy irrigating can also encourage a heavier canopy and thus more limb failures.”
The trees are native to Africa and are susceptible to overwatering and overgrowth.
“The city doesn’t have the funds to adequately maintain them, and hasn’t for a while,” Smith told Brentwood Patch.
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