The Whittier City Council voted on the final passage of a controversial ordinance suspending the city’s Parkway Tree Manual and the related law governing protections and rules for the city’s parkway trees.

The Tuesday vote was preceded by objections from residents, including leaders of the Whittier Conservancy , which sued the city in December to block the removal of 108 trees in Uptown Whittier.

Mayor Joe Vinatieri and councilmembers Fernando Dutra, Octavio Martinez and Cathy Warner voted to pass the measure, after also approving an urgency ordinance that contained the same provisions and went into effect on Oct. 28.

“We love our trees, we are a Tree City USA,” said Mayor Joe Vinatieri, alluding to the city’s designation from the National Arbor Day Foundation in 1984. “But we have

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