No palm trees in sight for Balboa Boulevard

Noaki Schwartz

BALBOA PENINSULA -- Nile Bloom became so fed up waiting for the palm

trees that were supposed to be planted in front of his house that he made

his own out of a broom handle, duct tape and flopping leaves.

He finished off the landscaping with some trash scattered at the base of

a cardboard sign reading: “Balboa Peninsula Beautification Association.”

The Balboa Boulevard Beautification Project began more than a year ago,

through the efforts of both residents and the city. Since then, the curbs

and gutters have been rebuilt, the streets repaved and cars and trucks

rerouted.

The palm trees were to be one of the finishing touches.

“Last June or July, they were going to redo the streets and left places

to plant trees,” Bloom recalled recently.

He added that his neighbors are particularly upset that their treeless

sand pit has been turned into a canine commode.

But Kay Mortenson, a spokeswoman for the Balboa Peninsula Point Assn.

homeowners group, said they’ve worked very hard to try to move forward

with their joint beautification effort with the city.

“There are more than 100 people on [Balboa] Boulevard behind this

project,” Mortenson said. “There are three to four people who have

[plots] waiting for trees. They represent a very small minority.”

The problem is this “small minority” got caught in the middle of the

effort.

After workers removed chunks of the sidewalk, the city learned the

utility lines were simply too close to the ground and would get caught in

the roots if palm trees were planted.

“Right where the gas line runs, it’s very shallow,” said Bill Patapoff,

the city engineer. “They found out they couldn’t plant there. They

thought the gas line would be three- to four-feet deep.”

Councilman Tod Ridgeway, who lives in the area, agreed that the palm

trees just would not work in certain areas.

“The utilities were a nightmare,” Ridgeway said.

The homeowner association came up with some landscaping options for the

areas where trees were not possible, such as planting bushes or putting

the trees in pots. Eventually, they settled on bushes, and less than two

weeks ago received the necessary approval of every resident. Although

there are no specific plans in place, the group hopes to begin planting

by spring.

Still, for Bloom, the eight-month lag has been too much.

“This isn’t Tijuana, for God’s sake. This is Newport!” Bloom exclaimed.

“If this dirt was in front of [a city official’s] house -- this would be

fixed tomorrow.”