The Vine Street Tree Vandal was a topic of conversation at the November 11, 2014 meeting of the Sunset-Vine BID as he or she has been for so very long now.¹ Sarah Besley reported that, despite her announcement last month of an imminent arrest, the tree vandalism continues.

Just as she did last month, Besley claims that there will be “more to report next time.” You can see even earlier discussion of the Tree Vandal in boffo security king Steve Seyler’s reports to the Joint Security Committee. The investigation has been about to produce results for an awfully long time now. If we hadn’t seen the damage with our own eyes we’d be starting to wonder if the Tree Vandal might not be named Emmanuel Goldstein.

We suggested previously that the vandalism might be an act of protest against the repressive atmosphere the BIDs create in Hollywood. Here’s more circumstantial evidence that this is the case:

Behold an unvandalized street tree on Cahuenga Blvd! We’re not exactly sure when it was put in, but it’s been over a year. It has never been vandalized. And what is the difference between this tree and the repeatedly vandalized Vine Street jacarandas? It’s not in the BID!

Aha! You say. The Vine Street Tree Vandal may not be a traveller. But this unvandalized tree is under 100 feet from the BID border, and one mere block from vandalized trees on Vine Street. We have noted before the salutary effects of BID-freeness on life in Los Angeles. This is just one example among many.

And finally, you can listen here as Sunset-Vine BID Board member Fabio Conti proposes putting the trees in cages to protect them from vandalism. They’re already in a cage, Fabio: the prison of the Sunset-Vine BID. You need to take them out of the cage to protect them. If you love your trees, set them free!

1. You can watch the whole discussion here but there’s really nothing new going on so we’re not going to bother to transcribe it.

The image of the unvandalized tree is ©2014 MichaelKohlhaas.org. The google maps screenshot showing its location is not subject to copyright protection for the usual reasons. The Emmanuel Goldstein image appears under a fair-use claim.