Los Angeles Wants Space Shuttle Endeavour, but Must 400 Trees Be Cut?
It was supposed to be a spectacular event including a two-day parade, but space shuttle Endeavour’s final 12-mile journey through the streets of South Los Angeles has some residents protesting, because 400 trees would have to be chopped down to clear the shuttle’s intended path from Los Angeles International Airport to the California Science Center.
Although the science center, or CSC, where Endeavour is to go on display, said would plant twice as many trees in their place, tree lovers are still not convinced.
Claudine Jasmin, a resident of South Los Angeles, said she goes to the CSC all the time and loves having it in the neighborhood, but does not think it’s worth losing the trees. She said they bring squirrels and a variety of birds.
“My parents have lived in this neighborhood since before I was born, and we have these big pine trees on our street, and I’m sure it took forever for them to grow. They are beautiful,” Jasmin said. “It would be really, really horrendous to see all these years of a tree’s growth completely diminished for one parade.”
