A row of tightly trimmed ficus trees along a stretch of sidewalk outside Universal Studios has become a hot spot in the face-off between Hollywood studios and striking screenwriters and actors.
Some members of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA unions — along with sympathetic local politicians — think the studio purposely pruned the trees in an effort to remove a source of shade for workers picketing under the hot Southern California sun.
Some members of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA unions — along with sympathetic local politicians — think the studio purposely pruned the trees in an effort to remove a source of shade for workers picketing under the hot Southern California sun.
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00:28 We're trying to investigate what happened and why.
00:32 So first and foremost, this plot of land is part of
00:36 Council District 4 in Los Angeles City. The council member there is
00:40 Nithya Rahman, a good friend of mine. She's amazing. She has confirmed that there was
00:44 no permit. She looked in her office, she's digging through paperwork.
00:48 We don't see any permit filed for the trimming of trees.
00:52 Especially in July, you'd think it would turn some heads.
00:56 Normally you don't trim until October. And in fact,
01:00 the exact same style and type of tree, about 200 feet
01:04 this way, are not trimmed. But those aren't providing shade
01:08 to the picketers, are they? So, I've been informed
01:12 our wonderful City Comptroller of Los Angeles, Kenneth Mejia,
01:16 is investigating this. This guy is amazing. He is an attack dog.
01:20 Do not mess with Comptroller Mejia. We're going to get
01:24 to the bottom of this. We're going to find out what's going on.
01:28 And if there's a violation, Universal, you're on notice.
01:32 [cheering]
01:36 There are no movies, no TV shows without writers.
01:40 So we don't know who made the order. In fact, we can't find any
01:44 work orders done for this particular tree trimming, which is
01:48 problematic because in Southern California we have a lot of laws
01:52 governing trees, where to plant them, what you can do to them.
01:56 So the fact that there's not a lot of paperwork or a paper trail here
02:00 is highly problematic. So we don't know what's going on, and that's a huge problem.
02:04 Well, we know that this entire area is run and operated by
02:08 Universal Studios. And so all I have to say is
02:12 Universal, get your ducks in order. We don't want to see
02:16 any more shady nonsense because the people are watching.