You might live there or have driven by--if you've been to Cantura St., you know it's a beautiful place. It is one of the most unique and impressive streets in Studio City. Lined with 90-year-old, 100 foot high Sycamore trees planted when the area first began to bloom, people across the Valley now hail this wonderful canopy as an urban oasis.

I learned that the trees on Cantura St. may be at risk when numerous residents expressed their concerns to me. As properties have been purchased and rebuilt on the street, at least five of these treasured trees have been cut down in order to comply with city building codes that require wider driveways for new construction. Residents rightly want to protect the trees now and in the future--so do I.

Last Friday, I introduced a motion to begin the process of designating the Sycamore trees along both sides of Cantura St. as a Historic Cultural Monument in the City of Los Angeles. If this designation is approved, removing a tree would require a much higher level of scrutiny than it does now.

I will also be working with the Dept. of Building and Safety to make sure that city standards are not compelling developers to remove these trees. Although today's building standards typically require wider driveways and driveway aprons, it doesn't make sense to put the historic trees in this particular neighborhood at risk.

The Cantura St. tree canopy is something worth preserving, and I will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that these trees continue to be the wonderful asset to this neighborhood that they have been for decades.