VENTURA : Artists, Writers Mark Loss of Ficus Trees

Clumped in a small grove outside a Ventura cafe, they swayed slightly as they talked, settling into character and readying themselves to pay tribute to the fallen ficus trees along California Street, silent casualties of the downtown revitalization plan.

The 12 local artists and writers walked the two blocks quietly and took their places next to the stumps that were capped with orange safety cones.

The artists were painted green. They had leaves. And branches. And for a couple of hours Saturday morning they were, well, trees.

“This is a mourning, a sense of closure and a bridge between the emptiness and what’s coming,” said Kevin Boyle, a 23-year-old Ventura writer with a lengthy red goatee made all the more noticeable by his green-painted face.

As couples, families and people strolled through the nearby Farmers’ Market, many cast bewildered glances toward the artists, who said they organized the event in memory of the trees and to provide, in the words of one “tree,” a “human Band-Aid.”

It was not, they said, a protest. “It’s not a political statement, although it could easily be seen as one,” said Zoe Pietrycha, a 25-year-old Ventura actress, as she stood on the corner of California and Santa Clara streets, her face a dark forest-green. “(The loss of the trees) is a drastic change, and I need to stand out here as a tree for a while.”

If the reaction of passersby was any indication, the event succeeded in marking the change and raising awareness.

While some in passing cars swiveled their heads wearing bemused and puzzled expressions, many others stopped to vent their displeasure that the trees had been cut down.

“They’ve ruined the city,” one woman said. “It all looks like a plucked chicken,” another passerby said.

City officials, hoping that the four-month, $3.6-million project will attract more tourists, have readily conceded that the face lift is now in its ugly-duckling phase. But when completed, downtown will boast sidewalk dining, new street lights and palm trees.

But the idea of 20-foot palm trees, which will replace the ficus trees, was not greeted Saturday morning with thunderous applause.

“Terrible, absolutely terrible,” said Terri Holmes, 36, of Ventura. “I hate them. They fester rats, and palm trees to me are very dirty. It’s not like we live in Miami.”

“To me it’s obscene,” said Wayne E. Scott, 57, of Camarillo. Scott said he makes a ritual most Saturdays of coming to Ventura for a stroll through Farmers’ Market, breakfast and a visit to a bookstore. “When I saw the picture in the paper (of the treeless California Street), I thought it was a small Texas town.”

Chuck Staniland, a retiree and 50-year Ventura resident, viewed the ficus removal and revitalization with measured skepticism. “I hope the end results justified the means,” he said. “But being here as long as I have, I don’t anticipate that. I’m leery.”

As he climbed into his pickup truck parked in front of a tree stump, he gestured to the sidewalk, where the bushy ficus trees once stood. “All this for sidewalk cafes, so people can eat on the sidewalk,” he said. “I can’t believe it.”