Concerned citizen trying to save unwatered trees at Vallejo parking garage

VALLEJO — The plantings at the Vallejo Parking Garage are dead or dying. According to the city, the irrigation water was shut off several years ago, and the Public Works Department lacks the funding and manpower to address the issue.

Now, the planters on exterior stairs and rooftop parking area house only dead plants and weeds. Four of the eight pine trees at the edge of the property are dead and the rest show signs of distress. The leaves of the ten palm trees at the front of the structure are dry and browning.

Vallejo resident Andreas Schmidt pulled up in a camper truck the afternoon of June 22 and hauled buckets of water to several of the palm trees, while a woman passed out flyers encouraging people to call the city to complain about the neglect of public infrastructure.

Schmidt said he has been a horticulturist since high school. “I have been driving by, and been so sad to see these trees die,” he said. “I think it's needless.”

City spokesperson Robert Briseño said in an email that the irrigation system serving the parking garage landscaping was repeatedly vandalized several years ago, ultimately requiring the water supply to be shut off. Funding to pay for landscape maintenance dried up when the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced parking usage. 

“The combination of irrigation issues, loss of parking revenue, and limited staffing resources has contributed to the current condition of the landscaping,”  Briseño said. “Public Works continues to evaluate options to improve the site as additional resources become available.”

Meanwhile, the city has obtained a U.S. Department of Agriculture Urban Greening Grant that has been earmarked for new planting and irrigation upgrades at Independence Park across the street from the parking garage. 

The location was selected during two public meetings held in January. Two additional meetings were held in June to get community input on preferred tree types, planting styles, and pedestrian elements. Deferred maintenance projects are ineligible for the grant.

But many in the meetings questioned the city’s ability to maintain the new landscaping once it’s in place based on the condition of the parking garage. 

Vallejo resident Paula Conley, who attended the public meeting on June 15, said, “What saddened me, is that instead of being hopeful and excited about the upgrade of trees to Independence Park, Vallejo citizens could only realistically lament on if they would be maintained and survive.” 

“Over and over, neighbors spoke about the dead plantings on downtown Georgia Street, the Capitol steps, the ferry parking building, Curtola Parkway and Mare Island Way,” she said. “Our city gets money for landscaping to improve our surroundings and then lets it die.”

Schmidt said he estimates that each palm tree would cost around $10,000 to replace. 

“It's just unbelievable that they're going to do this other project and not care about what's happening right in front of us,” Schmidt said. “You're looking at $100,000 of plants that are just dying, not counting what's on top of the garage. I'm upset about it, and every taxpayer should be.”

Schmidt noted that the parking garage is one of the first things that visitors to Vallejo see when they disembark from the ferry. 

“This is our gateway, so welcome to Vallejo. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead,” he said. “It's just so maddening to me. It was such a beautiful little space, and we need more of these types of spaces.”