'Treegate:' Universal's Picket-Line Tree Triming Yields City Investigation

LOS ANGELES, CA — Universal Pictures faced backlash this week from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA for trimming trees that had been offering shade to picketers. Now, the city controller says Universal did so without the permit needed to trim trees planted on public sidewalks — and the studio may face disciplinary action from the city.

At issue are a row of ficus trees planted on the sidewalk along Barham Boulevard, outside one of Universal's gates. Striking actors and writers arrived at the area Monday morning to find that they previously dense tree canopy had been drastically reduced on one side of the street — making the picket line much more hostile as temperatures hovered around 90 degrees.

Our Office is investigating the tree trimming that occurred outside Universal Studios where workers, writers, and actors are exercising their right to picket.

The trimmed trees are LA City managed street trees.

(Before and after photos below) pic.twitter.com/xczw0bTdh9
— LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia (@lacontroller) July 19, 2023

Some strikers quickly pointed fingers at Universal as Deadline termed the incident "Treegate."

“It’s just been very frustrating, trying to get people to come out here and picket these gates,” striker and WGA board member Deric A. Hughes told Deadline. “It’s just very suspect. If this was done by the city, why didn’t they trim the trees on that side [of the street]?"

It turns out they were right. LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia got on the case; he said in a tweet Tuesday that his office was launching an investigation into the tree trimming.

Meantime, Universal said it did indeed hire crews to trim the trees, which it does every summer, a studio rep said in a statement distributed to media outlets.

“We understand that the safety tree trimming of the Ficus trees we did on Barham Blvd. has created unintended challenges for demonstrators, that was not our intention. In partnership with licensed arborists, we have pruned these trees annually at this time of year to ensure that the canopies are light ahead of the high wind season. We support the WGA and SAG’s right to demonstrate, and are working to provide some shade coverage. We continue to openly communicate with the labor leaders on-site to work together during this time," the statement reads.

But Universal broke city rules by doing that, Mejia said on Tuesday.

"We have found that no tree trimming permits have been issued over the last three years for this location outside Universal Studios," he tweeted. "Also, the city did not issue any tree trimming permits for the latest tree trimmings."

The city's Urban Forestry Division will work with StreetsLA on an investigation to determine if this case should be the subject of a hearing or citation. If cited, the fee starts at $250, according to Mejia.