The Los Angeles City Controller’s office is investigating after several trees were felled near the Universal Studios lot – trees that provided shade and protection from the blistering heat striking members of the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA.
City Manager Kenneth Mejia announced the bureau’s investigation on Twitter on Tuesday, releasing before and after photos of the trees – the before showing fuller trees with leaves and the after showing the trees’ bare branches.
“Our office is investigating the pruning that took place outside Universal Studios, where workers, writers and actors are exercising their right to picket lines,” Mejia wrote. “The trees felled are street trees managed by LA City.”
Members of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, the union representing thousands of Hollywood actors, are on strike after unions and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents television studios and streaming services – including Paramount Pictures with CBS News Part of Paramount Global – could not agree on new contracts.
Residual wages and the use of artificial intelligence were key issues for the unions.
In a statement to CBS News, NBC Universal said the company did not prune the trees to harm the pickets or create obstacles in their path and that it will cut down the trees near its property every year. Mejia said the trees should only be pruned every five years.
“We understand that the safety pruning of the ficus trees that we performed on Barham Blvd resulted in unintended challenges for the protesters, it was not our intention,” NBCUniversal said. “Working with licensed arborists, we’ve been pruning these trees at this time of year every year…We support the WGA’s and SAG’s right to demonstrate and are working to provide some shade protection.”
The trees in question are the responsibility of the city and are maintained by StreetsLA, which can grant pruning permits to the company.
Mejia tweeted Wednesday that no editing permits had been granted in the past three years, including the last edit this week.
Los Angeles City Council Member Nithya Raman said the Urban Forestry Division and StreetsLA are “researching whether a subpoena can be issued.”
According to Mejia, the trees were vital in keeping Angelenos cool during the extreme heat the region was subjected to. Temperatures in Los Angeles hit the mid-90s this week.
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Simrin Singh
www.cbsnews.com
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sag-aftra-strike-trees-trimmed-nbcuniversal-investigation/
