The unkindest cut of all
Monday morning, Lynn Kleinn and her neighbors put their bodies on the line for the protection of vegetation that serves as a natural barrier between her Alvarado Road neighborhood and the Claremont Hotel parking lot.
Kleinn described it as “bodily standing amongst the trees,” forcing the workers to stop chopping down the myrtles and rose bushes in the thicket. The Claremont Hotel is “pushing their agenda on how they’re going to mow over the neighborhood,” she said.
Ted Axe, vice president and general manager of the Claremont, however, says that his company is just following the directions of the Oakland fire inspector. The hotel sits mostly on the Oakland side of the Oakland-Berkeley border.
Axe said that the area owned by the hotel was in violation of the law and was a potential fire hazard.
Kleinn said that the neighborhood intervention was short-lived because the workers went back to their chopping just as soon as they left.
Axe said that Oakland Fire Inspector Camille Rogers walked through the area with contractor Arthur Young and pointed out exactly what she wanted done.
He said she called for removal of “select vegetation.” He said he thought the law called for the removal of any dead vegetation or plants 6-inches above the ground, known as a “fire ladder” because a fire could start in the small brush and work its way upward.
Axe said that he hopes to compromise with Rogers on behalf of the neighbors, and said she is supposed to come to the site Tuesday morning to determine what stays and what goes.
Kleinn fears that it will all go.
“They’re not removing select vegetation, they’re removing vegetation wholesale,” she said.
Monday afternoon, the crew had stopped work by 3 p.m., after trimming a small portion of the area 10-feet back from a chain-link fence that runs along Alvarado Terrace.
“We’ve just removed grass and dry stuff in this area,” said Antonio Ramas, an employee of Arthur Young’s Debris Removal. “We’re waiting for the Fire Inspector to tell us what to do with the rest.”
Ramas said the plan was to clear out the entire area 50-feet from the fence.
Contracting with Young’s Disposal Service instead of an arborist is another indication that the Claremont Hotel doesn’t care about their concerns, Kleinn and her neighbors say.
Another neighbor, Barbara DeZonia wrote to Axe, contending that the workers showed up and began “totally denuding (the area) with no consideration for the aesthetics, privacy, ambiance or ecological conservation of the neighborhood.”
“No prior thought or planning was given to noise considerations from your lot, overview/ecological impact or the fact that the neighborhood as a whole considered this area a lovely natural landmark of the area,” the letter says.
Kleinn said that the East Bay Conservation Corps had trimmed the area in the past, and said that EBCC Project Manager Betsy Reeves told her that she had been asked to place a bid on the contract by Rogers, but wasn’t chosen.
Axe said Rogers also asked Young to bid.
“They are simply carrying out the mandate,” he said.
Axe said he wants to do what he can to compromise with the neighbors. Besides asking to meet with Rogers, he said he is willing to put up a screen or a meshing along the fence to block the view of the lot and plans to have meetings with the neighbors so he can address their concerns.
