How ironic that Santa Barbara has just been renamed a Tree City USA. 

In a letter to the editor last week, I informed the public about the then-upcoming hearing at the Historic Landmarks Commission meeting.

My letter should have included an agenda item to discuss the Historic Landmark Italian Stone Pines on East Anapamu Street, which had been requested by commission chairman Anthony Grumbine on May 22.

However, the Parks & Recreation Department refused to comply with the request, and the staff did not schedule the item. The public did not learn of this nonscheduling until the afternoon of May 31 when the agenda was already posted.

Instead of appearing in person, the Parks & Recreation Department issued a statement that was hurriedly read aloud by a staff member.

The statement informed the Historic Landmarks Commission that a representative would not appear until July 17 and detailed its plans to follow.

As you might imagine, that message was not well-received, and the frustration among commissioners and the public could be felt in the room.

Several of us spoke during public comment, and in our allotted two minutes at 1:30 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon, not exactly a convenient time, but we were able to show up.

We shared our thoughts about the situation.

There is an old saying, “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”

That’s what Dr. A. Boyd Doremus did more than a century ago. He lived in a magnificent home and garden at 601 E. Anapamu St.

He owned the whole block — much of it used as a nursery where he grew seedlings, including stone pine trees — from seeds he imported from the Mediterranean, where they flourish.

I live on that block; Doremus likely planted one of the trees in my front yard, along with the stone pines named for him on East Anapamu Street.

Ordinances forbid me from cutting down that tree without a comprehensive review. But a block away, a stand of trees — an official City Historic Landmark since 1997 — has been decimated without the input of the Historic Landmarks Commission.

Doremus was Santa Barbara’s first park superintendent; a visionary who planted trees to provide shade that would long outlive him.

Today, no one from that department will speak here about the ignoble end of that iconic canopy.

Dozens of the original landmarked trees are long gone. Several more have been recently reduced to stumps and logs and ground into sawdust.

Those marked with Xs await the same fate.

How far away we are from the Santa Barbara that honors history, tradition and forebears like Doremus, Francesco Francheschi, Lockwood de Forest, Pearl Chase, Mike Pahos, Dan Condon, Don Sharpe, and countless others who have done everything possible to advocate for preservation and protection of those trees.

Today, completely ignored. Without accountability for the destruction of a living landmark. 

History will long record what has happened here — who spoke for the trees, who clear-cut them, and how we proceed.

There’s another saying we should heed: “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second-best time is now.”

In memory of Dr. Doremus then, we must now act to honor our heritage. Let us have the vision to plant the next great stand of Italian Stone Pines for those who will sit in their cooling shade in the decades to come.

And care for them in a way befitting a City Historic Landmark.