Call it a case of not seeing the forest for the trees.

Over the past five years, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's touted Trees for Tomorrow program has overseen the planting of 26,408 trees citywide.

To reach the mayor's goal, the Department of Public Works alone planted 8,420 trees at a cost of $7.76 million.

The program calls for the department to spend $1.1 million a year for the next three years to maintain the new trees and another $570,000 a year to an outside contractor to water them.

Meanwhile, roughly a third of the DPW's tree maintenance crews - nine laborers, four gardeners and four line supervisors - were laid off Friday because of budget cuts.

That means there will be 17 fewer people to maintain older city trees, street medians and any other public space maintained by the department.

"Unfortunately, this year, we've had to cut frontline staff," said DPW spokeswoman Christine Falvey. "Services are going to be impacted, but we'll continue to protect the investment we've made in the young trees we've planted."

And hey - we made our goal.

Roadkill: Oakland kicks off a program Monday that the city says will make it easier to instantly retrieve your booted car. The question is, can you afford it?

Under the new program, drivers whose cars have been booted for outstanding tickets can simply call an operator and pay on the spot with credit card or e-check. Bingo, they're given a six-digit code to unlock the SmartBoot.

The bad news: It will cost you an extra $140 service fee to PayLock, the friendly folks behind the SmartBoot contract, plus a credit card processing fee that can run as high as $175 for more than $5,000 in unpaid tickets. (Don't laugh. Some people manage to pile up that many citations.)

And that's on top of the $125 the city already takes for its troubles.

Plus, of course, the ticket costs.

And by the way, if you don't pay for the new "convenience" within 24 hours, you're also looking at an additional $170 towing charge and $60 a day for storage - and you're on the hook for all those other fees.

San Francisco, incidentally, took a pass on this program precisely because of the extra fees.

No deal: Looks like Nedir Bey - a onetime associate of the defunct Your Black Muslim Bakery, whose leader has been accused of ordering the slaying of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey - won't be getting a contract after all to install energy-efficient lights at the North Berkeley BART Station.

As we reported the other day, Bey's year-old Solar Eclipse firm was awarded half of a $1.4 million BART contract to install the lights - but the deal was contingent on his providing proof of licensing and bonding.

On Thursday, Bey's firm missed the deadline to come up with the required documents. Instead, Bey sent a letter to the transit agency asking for more time and saying BART "has a lot to gain in showing minority contractors that BART is serious about increasing the number of minority businesses" to which it gives contracts.

Despite his plea, Bey is out of luck. BART spokesman Linton Johnson said "the contract automatically terminated" once Bey missed the deadline.

Now, BART is scrambling to see whether the electrical company that was awarded the other half of the contract for similar work at Oakland's City Center/12th Street Station can legally pick up the job.

If not, BART may be out about $750,000 in state grant money - all because the deadline has lapsed for spending the dough.

Keep the wallet open: Jerry Brownis counting on the single biggest cash haul of his exploratory gubernatorial Wednesday night when Hollywood A-listers and their friends gather for a $5,000- to $50,000-a-head cocktail reception at the Bel Air home of producer and former talent manager Sandy Gallin.

In addition to DreamWorks founders Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the two dozen co-chairs for the event include such very deep-pocketed folks as Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, Larry Ellison, Reed Hastings and Wallis Allenberg.

PC pot: It had to be the most politically correct grow house the cops have ever seen.

Acting on a tip from neighbors, San Francisco police raided a house on Los Palmos Drive, in the Miraloma Park neighborhood near Mount Davidson, where they found 200 budding marijuana plants.

Grow houses are notorious for being hot-wired fire traps, so the cops did a check. Not only was the wiring fine, it led to a row of solar panels on the roof - making it truly a "green" grow operation.

EXTRA! Catch our blog at www.sfgate.com/matierandross.