Neighborhood grows greener

Alicia Robinson

Sometimes it just takes a little nudge to get a neighborhood

improvement effort to blossom.

In one Costa Mesa neighborhood, that nudge was provided by Dan

Worthington, a community activist, who is on the boards of the

Friends of Costa Mesa Libraries and Costa Mesa Sanitary District.

He’d heard residents complaining about the lack of foliage on

Baker Street between East Mesa Verde Drive and Royal Palm Drive, so

he went door to door to tell them they could ask the city to plant

trees in city right-of-ways between the sidewalks and the street.

That part of Baker Street is relatively bare, because over the

years, trees have been removed for various reasons, Costa Mesa

maintenance services manager Bruce Hartley said.

The city’s policy is to plant a tree every 30 feet for any

resident who asks, but it’s rare to have a whole neighborhood request

trees together, he said.

Residents first applied to the city last fall, and by Wednesday

most of the 40 or so crape myrtle trees to be planted were in place.

They look like a glorified bunch of twigs now, but residents

already are imagining the benefits the trees will someday provide.

“It could shade our house,” said Rudy Correa, a registered nurse

who lives in the 1500 block of Baker Street. “It makes it more

beautiful and cozy.”

A few people who live on nearby side streets also signed a

petition asking for trees. One of them was Manuel Rios, an artist and

retired rehabilitation engineer who lives on Labrador Drive.

“It helps the looks of the whole area,” he said of the

tree-planting effort. “I’ve been waiting a long time [for new trees],

but I kind of gave up hope a few years ago.”

Another hope is that the trees will help solve what residents say

is a chronic problem of people speeding down their stretch of road.

The speed limit is 30 mph, but cars routinely drive at least 40

mph and hit the gas to try to make the stoplight at Royal Palm Drive,

said author Marilyn Scott-Waters, who lives a few doors down from

Correa.

She and her husband fenced much of their front yard for the safety

of their son and to help block out the noise of traffic.

“Seven thousand cars drive past our house every day in the morning

and another 7,000 go by at night,” she said. “If it looks more like a

residential area, maybe it’ll encourage people to drive slower.”

Worthington is excited about the new trees but won’t take any

credit for the movement he sparked, insisting he just wants to spread

the word about the city’s tree policy.

“A lot of times people can do things for themselves as a

neighborhood that they don’t think they have the power,” he said.

“It’s just doing things when they know about them that can make a

difference.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626.