Eva Rodriguez, a first-year student at Cal State Fullerton majoring in psychology, was stopped by a woman while walking with friends around Uptown Whittier, the City’s historic tree-lined district, which gives the town its unique identity and sense of character. It was late March, and Rodriguez and her friends had just finished participating in a rally.

They explained to the woman that they were against the Whittier City Council’s recent decision to cut down over 108 trees in Uptown Whittier all at once. This woman had seen Rodriguez and her friends holding signs and was asking questions about what was happening, wondering if they had a petition she could sign. It hadn’t even occurred to Rodriguez and her group that no one had made a petition yet, so they decided to start one. 

I recently had a chance to interview Eva Rodriguez about what motivated her to make an online petition, why she joined the “Save Our Trees Whittier” campaign and how the group of concerned Whittier residents plans to convince the Whittier City Council to change their minds. Since it was created on March 29, 2024, Rodriguez’s Change.org petition now has more than 2,980 signatures.

“As of December 12, 2023, the Whittier City Council decided to remove 108 trees on Greenleaf Avenue all at once, disregarding their prior plans to gradually phase out the trees slowly while their replacements grow,” said Rodriguez. “The original plan would maintain the shade that the trees currently provide while they renovate the promenade. However, the Council voted in favor of a project that would cost 20 million more than the previously discussed proposal. [City experts said that the roots of such old trees interfere with the underground infrastructure of local businesses, and there is concern about liability.]

The Council eliminated a phased-in approach to tree replacement that had been discussed with the community for the past five years. To show the Council that their beliefs are not aligning with the people of their community, my friends and I created a petition to ‘Save the trees.’”

According to the “Save Our Trees Whittier” website, after residents found out about how Whittier City Council voted to remove the 108 mature trees in Uptown, they began to organize and show up at Council meetings to express their opposition, anger, and disbelief about the Council’s decision. 

On Saturday, March 16, a “Save the Trees” rally was held, beginning at Whittier City Hall Plaza and quickly transitioning into a march of impassioned residents carrying ficus-green signs. Residents of the area who participated in the rally walked up and down Greenleaf Avenue, chanting “Save Our Trees” while carrying signs and informing anybody who would listen what the City Council had voted on.     

Rodriguez said, “I heard about the first Save our Trees Whittier rally through my friend, who has been helping me organize the petition and making flyers. He was working at city hall during the primary elections, and he met Conny McCormack, who introduced us to the tree issue. The ficus trees in Uptown Whittier are one of the highlights of what makes it such an inviting, walkable environment in which to hang out. There are few spaces for people to hang out without spending money as it is, especially places with fully grown, shady trees, and I think we should fight to preserve that privilege.”

A Whittier resident and one of the organizers behind “Save Our Trees Whittier” said, “We’re hoping the City realizes they made a mistake, and we just want compromise. We are not unreasonable. We want to go back to what they promised us for four and a half years, which was to phase in the tree removal and replacement. 

“Originally, the City planned a one-block renovation back in 2019 for about three and a half million dollars, and then COVID money came in, and they started looking at more possibilities, including putting a new water main down the middle of Greenleaf Avenue. And then it sort of went from a beautification plan to a public works plan to tear everything out to put in the water main and plant all-new small twigs [118 young trees], and we’ll lose our beautiful canopy of shade that we need so badly. The City Council wants to replace the mature trees with new trees that will take years to reach their full height,” said McCormack.

According to Rodriguez’s Change.org petition, “The City Council wants to replace the mature trees with new trees that will take years to reach their full height. If this plan is approved, it will cost $20 million to remove the mature trees all at once, just to be replaced with baby trees that do nothing for Uptown’s infrastructure.”

Rodriguez’s petition to “save Whittier’s historic urban forestry” will remain open as the group continues to gather signatures, which they plan to present to the Whittier City Council to show how many people are against their new promenade plans. To find out further information about the “Save Our Trees Whittier” group, please visit http://www.saveourtreeswhittier.com. Rodriguez’s petition can be accessed via Change.org.