Council Member Brewer introduces Intro 1073 for supplemental tree planting

Council Member Brewer, followed by Santos Suoso.

Thank you very much.

Intro 1073 is what I'm calling the supplemental tree planting.

We all want more trees in the ground, and the administration announced this.

Week that the city planted 18,261 trees in 2026.

That's a lot.

We want to build on the progress.

The city's urban forest plan says we need 30% tree canopy by 2040, up from 23% today.

That means we need more trees.

Parks'neighborhood tree planting program, I hate that program, prioritizes neighborhoods with the greatest heat vulnerability.

I support that approach, but under the new nine-year rotation.

Some neighborhoods, like mine, could wait nine years before we get a damn tree.

So we can fill the gap during those nine years.

That's what I'm saying.

Council members have allocated capital funding for additional tree planting in their districts.

I can do the same.

And I've already allocated half a million dollars in capital funding for trees.

But under the plan, Parks no longer accepts council funding or requests for new trees, eliminating a way to plant trees.

So I wrote to Parks, and many of you signed the letter, asking the agency to continue accepting council funding and requests for trees.

Parks did not make that change.

And that's why we have intro 1073.

It restores a supplemental pathway without changing the neighborhood-based program.

We can identify additional locations, and if it's feasible, we can plant a tree.

This is additional money for additional trees.

Parks can continue prioritizing neighborhoods with the greatest need, while dollars can plant a tree in other locations.

We all have to work together for this tree canopy, and we need every dollar.

Thank you to Chris Satori, Senior Legislative Counsel, for drafting this bill, and my Chief of Staff, Shula Puder.

And let's make sure that the program, the neighborhood tree planting program, is not the only program for planting a tree.

Thank you.