Less shady then usual…
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As an Angeleno, I actually suspect Universal is telling the truth here. LA is really bad at tree trimming, they do it, but they can go years between doing it. Trees can get dangerous before then. Pulling permits takes forever and enforcement is virtually non-existent. I’m not defending Universal - they should be fined for not getting a permit. But, their story sounds correct.
You missed one. 
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Those don’t look like trees that have been properly pruned, though. Instead, it looks like they stripped foliage. If they were cutting back dead branches as a preventative measure, you’d see isolated limb stumps.
This would harm, and possibly kill, any trees, because they’re preventing them from getting proper sun over the next 3 months, before fall and winter set in. With a ficas in particular, trees which are notoriously subject to going into shock, they’re likely going to kill it because they pruned well over 10% of the canopy in July, rather than fall or spring.
The licensed arborist who did this better have been paid some fat stacks, because this is the equivalent of malpractice on their part.
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Any sufficiently wealthy billionaire is indistinguishable from a cartoon villain.
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The mayor called bs on this claim on camera
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Corollary:
All billionaires are sufficiently wealthy
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Came here to wonder exactly this!
It’s also surprising that the studio is so civic-minded that they’d take on this task without (or in spite of?) checking that the City would do it for them. That certainly must have eroded some small portion of shareholder value! Isn’t that a breach of the executives’ fiduciary duty?? They should be fired, and competent management installed!
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Foliage is also how trees keep cool in summer. The evaporation from the leaves helps the trees cool off.
These trees are probably going to die. I think CA does tree-trimming licenses but not arborists. Every company that participated in this should have their license revoked.
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They never specified that the arborists were licensed in arborism…
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I hope the trees don’t die.
But if they do, let us look to NJ for inspiration:
Sure, that amount would be couch-cushion money for the studio, but it’ll get their attention and is a TERRIBLE look.
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Remember kids: a fine just means it’s illegal for poor people to do it.
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Yep, this is why there was never a doubt in my mind that this was a deliberate retaliatory move against protesters. No reputable person who works with trees would ever strip them back this far. What a shame.
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Universal will wish they hadn’t orc-hestrated this butchery.
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Not that they are inclined to think that.
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From a speech by John Bogle (founder of Vanguard Group):
Here’s how I recall the wonderful story that sets the theme for my remarks today: At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, the late Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, the author Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch 22 over its whole history. Heller responds, “Yes, but I have something he will never have . . . Enough .”
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More like barbarism, eh?
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Basically it’s a drop in the bucket for them
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