Silver Lake's polka-dotted Sunset Triangle Plaza just got a little less shady, and that's not good news. The trees growing on the little grassy section of the plaza have been vandalized, says the LA Times—the victims of a chop job done without any of the required permits by a crew hired by Outfront Media, a company that has a billboard to the west of the park. "These trees were trimmed to make the billboard visible, and that was the only consideration that was made," says Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell, who reps the area. Locals are livid that their once well-shaded neighborhood park has been on the receiving end of this "hatchet job."

The park's trees are in critical condition post-chop. City officials say that three of the trees were so badly harmed by the trimming that they'll have to be removed and replaced. Six other trees were clipped so much that it'll likely take several years for them to fully grow back. That might not sound like a lot, but this is a small park. That's basically all of the trees on the little triangle.

A rep for Outfront confirmed to the Times that his company had hired the crew that did the overzealous trimming, and added that they were fired for cutting the trees without getting the right permits. As it stands, billboard companies trim trees around the city all the time. They're allowed to clip street trees near their ad space, provided they get the right permits, get the consent of the property owner, and trim the tree in accordance with city regulations, a rep for the Bureau of Street Services said. Anti-billboard activists say that even that's not really enough regulation. "They didn't get a permit in this case. But they could have. They could have just walked right in there and gotten a permit without anything, without any city oversight, any regulations," prominent activist Dennis Hathaway tells LA Weekly.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the hack job, angered Silver Lakers have started a petition aimed at Outfront and turned up for a meeting with O'Farrell to voice their outrage. The councilmember "plans to introduce a motion [today] to make sure such incidents do not happen again." But a resolution to this situation still seems far off. O'Farrell tells the Times that Outfront was going to replace some of the most mutilated trees and provide some amenities like umbrellas for the tables at the plaza, but a rep for Outfront says that the company hadn't committed to anything yet.

The Bureau of Street Services is looking into whether or not the tree hackers "damaged public property." If it's concluded that there was wrongdoing, the City Attorney's office plans to prosecute. As a misdemeanor, that would mean a fine of as much as $1,000 or six months in jail.

· Billboard company admits it hired workers who cut back Silver Lake trees without permits [LAT]

· Billboard Firm Illegally Hacked Trees in a Silver Lake Park to Improve View - of Its Billboard [LAW]