San Francisco Women Chain Themselves To Beloved Trees

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – Two San Francisco women chained themselves to neighborhood avocado and ash trees in protest Friday, attempting to derail plans by the parks and recreation department to remove the trees and replace them with a mini-park.

Jessica Evans, a San Francisco piano teacher who has lived in the neighborhood since 1996, and Holly Ormseth are upset over plans to cut the 50-year-old ash and avocado trees down.

"They (the two trees) are healthy," Evans said. "The city has topped them off (in the past) and they have rebounded back. I see them from my window…They want to cut them down and replace them with concrete."

The trees are located off First Street not far from the Bay Bridge amid an area where there are several buildings under construction. Plans call for construction on the mini-park to begin on April 15th.

"We doing this to bring attention to the plans of the park and recreation department," Evan said. "It's nice and quiet (in the neighborhood) and it's nice to have birds. There are birds in these trees."

The women want the trees to be declared a landmark.

"These need to be landmark trees," she said. "They are over 50 years old."