Universal Responds To Complaints About Pruned Trees On Barham Boulevard: “Not Our Intent …To Create Unintended Challenges For Demonstrators”

Lynette Rice
·3 min read

A row of previously bushy Ficus trees on Barham Boulevard that were inexplicably pruned over the hot weekend has only heightened the frustration of WGA strikers at Universal — especially since construction on the Lankershim Boulevard side has made it challenging to walk the picket line.

On Monday, strikers who chose to walk the line outside of Gate 8 were surprised to see how the parkland trees next to the gate, which previously offered a shady respite to protesters, were completely cut back. Pine trees on the opposite side of Barham weren’t touched, as were a row of pepper trees behind the fence near the production gate.

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“It’s just been very frustrating, trying to get people to come out here and picket these gates,” admits on-site striker Deric A. Hughes, a co-executive producer on Quantum Leap who is also on the WGA Board of Directors. “It’s just very suspect. If this was done by the city, why didn’t they trim the trees on that side? [He points across Barham].”

After contacted by Deadline, a Universal spokesperson released this statement: “We understand that the safety tree trimming of the Ficus trees we did on Barham Blvd. has created unintended challenges for demonstrators, that was not our intention. In partnership with licensed arborists, we have pruned these trees annually at this time of year to ensure that the canopies are light ahead of the high wind season. We support the WGA and SAG’s right to demonstrate, and are working to provide some shade coverage. We continue to openly communicate with the labor leaders on-site to work together during this time.”

The spokesperson added that the studio has pruned the trees every summer for the last several years because of safety issues.

The issue involving the trees comes as the WGA struggles to find safer places to march on Lankershim, where construction on the studio’s perimeter fired up in May as part of an ongoing, three-year renovation project. According to a petition filed by the WGA, the Labor Relations Unit of the Los Angeles Police Department inspected the construction on June 6 and recommended the creation of a pedestrian lane of “K-Rail” barriers from River Road to Universal Hollywood Drive.

But change is slow in coming, partly because of the multiple agencies involved and how a lane of traffic has already been taken up by construction. The installation of a pedestrian pathway would impact traffic flow even more on the already busy street. Nevertheless, the spokesperson said, talks are ongoing.

SAG-AFTRA, in the meantime, is not recommending its members picket Universal and is, instead, sending them to Warner Bros. and Disney in the valley, instead.

The WGA picketers won’t be deterred.

“We’re on strike and we’re going to continue to show that we mean business so we get a fair deal until they come back to the table and actually negotiate with us,” continued Hughes. “They can they can cut down all the trees. They can rip up all the sidewalks, We’ll find a way to be out here.”

“We need a presence at every single studio,” added strike captain Darrin Dortch (Claws), after he was asked why continue to picket at Universal where it’s so difficult to even cross the street. “We are not leaving out anybody. Not a single studio. We are a very resilient guild. And this is not the first writers strike in our history. We’re not going anywhere. I know it’s a safety issue right now. But just speaking as a Black man now. Our people have survived slavery, the civil rights movement, Black lives matter. We can survive the writers strike. Period.”

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