Posted on 06/17/2011 11:35:01 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
A proposal to replace 835 oak, sycamore and walnut trees with 199,000 new interment spaces at a prominent Hollywood Hills cemetery near Griffith Park is at the heart of a controversy over the future of what little remains of the Los Angeles area's undeveloped wildlife habitat.
Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries wants to develop 120 acres of its grounds because its existing expanse of carefully manicured lawns has nearly run out of room for interments in grassy havens with names like "Ascending Dawn" and "Vale of Hope."
On Wednesday, as families in mourning gathered around grave sites overlooking the San Fernando Valley, Forest Lawn President and Chief Executive Darin B. Drabing said the proposal aims to meet a pressing need.
"There have been no new regional cemeteries built in 50 years, yet most people want to bury their loved ones close to home," he said. ..
The 63-year-old cemetery serves about 3,000 families annually.
The new facility would cost tens of millions of dollars and include 108,000 grave sites for casket burials, and 91,500 spaces for above-ground interments.
Drabing also pointed out that the new development would only affect about 2% of the greater Griffith Park natural habitat area. In addition, Forest Lawn has contributed 200 acres of wildlands to Griffith Park over the last 20 years.
The proposal, however, has ruffled the feathers of groups including the Friends of Griffith Park, the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council, the Sierra Club, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the California Department of Fish and Game. ..
The proposal calls for the removal of 632 coast live oaks, 59 sycamores and 144 Southern California black walnut trees across 18 acres of land through 2050, ..
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
A grave issue, indeed.
Leaves many to ponder their own demise.
The envirowhacko’s were reported to have said “over my dead body”
Hollywood tree-huggers intruding upon elites’ gravely. Life psychles for the rich and famous.
Well, there’s a Sycamore 2 miles from me at Brandywine Battlefield which saw action on that day and is over 300 years old. Having been to Forest Lawn, it is a beautiful cemetary. Not everyone aspires to end up in an urn.
For the envirowhackos I’m thinking of the book Xenocide by Orson Scott Card (the sequel to the famous Ender’s Game). Flay their hides open on the ground and let their corpse feed the growth of a new tree.
John Denver on The Tonight Show - Forest Lawn
http://youtu.be/7b2bXOA7kW4Oh lay me down in Forest Lawn in a silver casket
Put golden flowers over my head in a silver basket
Let the drum and bugle corp play taps while the cannons roar
And sixteen libertied employees sell souvenirs from the funeral store
I want to go simply when I go
They'll give me a simple funeral there I know
With a casket lined in fleece
And fireworks spelling out rest in peace
Oh take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn
Oh lay me down in Forest Lawn they understand there
They have a heavenly choir and a military band there
Just put me in their care I'll find my comfort there
With sixteen planes and a last salute they'll drop a cross in a parachute
I want to go simply when I go
They'll give me a simple funeral there I know
With a hundred strolling strings
And topless dancers with golden wings
Oh take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn
Oh, come, come, come, come
Come to the church in the wild wood
Kindly leave a contribution in the pale
Be as simple and as trusting as a child would
And we'll sell you the church in the dale
To find a simple resting place is my desire
To lay me down with a smiling face comes a little bit higher
My likeness cast in brass will stand in plastic grass
While hidden weights and springs tip it's hat to the
mourners filing passed
I want to go simply when I go
They'll give me a simple funeral there I know
I'll lie beneath the sand
With piped in tapes of Billy Graham
Oh take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn
Rock of ages cleft for me
Forest's lightly higher fee
Oh take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn
For real?
The tree or the beaty of Forest Lawn? If the former, check out Brandywine Battlefield’s site page-You’ll see the Sycamore next to Lafayette’s HQ’s.
Glad you found it!
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