The LAUSD plans to remove two oak trees on the playground at Carthay Environmental Studies Stem Magnet after deciding that no viable options exist to save the trees and complete the project. (photo by Edwin Folven)

The Los Angeles Unified School District held a meeting on May 7 to inform the community about plans for an ADA improvement project at Carthay Environmental Studies Stem Magnet at 6351 Olympic Blvd.

The plan includes the removal of two mature oak trees currently located on the playground, which resulted in objections from many people in the community who want the trees saved. LAUSD representatives held a public meeting on March 21 and postponed the project plans until other options were considered to keep the oak trees in place. After nearly two months, the school district reported that the two trees will have to be removed to accommodate an elevator that will be built to provide improved access in the 100-year-old school building.

“We do not take it lightly when we have to remove trees. But in this case, the elevator and the isolation of the elevator pit and the need to remove the soil out past these trees [required removal],” said Roland Mueller, facilities asset development director for the LAUSD. “There were a couple of ideas we explored just trying to come up with anything we could to get around having to remove these trees and we just couldn’t get [around] it. We always came back to this.”

Mueller said the district worked with an arborist and considered moving the trees to a different location on the playground, but the idea was deemed too risky, as the trees would likely not survive the move, Mueller said. The district plans to replace the two oak trees with four new mature trees on the playground.

In addition to the elevator, the project includes new ramps, a wheelchair lift and additional landscaping, as well modifications to three restrooms, doors, hardware, handrails and fencing. The $10.1-million project is expected to start soon and be completed in the second quarter of 2025.

More than a dozen people who participated in the May 7 meeting, which was held in-person and via Zoom, spoke in opposition to the tree removal. Many said they felt the district did not take their concerns seriously. Brent Kidwell, president of the Carthay Circle Neighborhood Association, expressed his feelings about it in a message to the community after the meeting.

“It quickly became clear that there was not a single chance they were ever going to hear us, care about our concerns, care about these historic oak trees, care about our HPOZ or give a rat’s ass that a big part of our community was upset about this. And to me, worst of all, it was apparent that the scheduled work is probably the cheapest and quickest way to implement the disability ramps and elevator,” Kidwell said. “They should have presented … three plans, with different price points, different alignment options, and shown us some sort of thoughtful workaround. Since the first public meeting where they heard [we were] upset, they could have come back with something different … a compromise, an adjustment, anything. They did nothing in an entire month towards working on any kind of alternative implementation. Zero. [The meeting] was just an attempt to placate all of us. Not a single thing more than that.”