San Jose’s Circle of Palms is losing its iconic trees

Ice skating in downtown San Jose won’t be the same this holiday season, after losing its iconic namesake.

Crews began removing all 32 palm trees from the Circle of Palms on Thursday, after a city arborist found none of them were healthy enough to keep. Work is expected to continue for the next several days. Fifteen of the trees are dead or dying, and the remaining 17 are in declining condition ranging from moderate to poor, according to the city.

Rather than wait for the healthier trees to deteriorate, the city decided to take out all 32 at once.

“The decision was made to not wait for those to also decline into worse health before taking them out, but to mobilize our contractor and remove all 32,” Colin Heyne, spokesperson for the city’s Department of Transportation, told San José Spotlight.

The city has not determined what is killing the palms. Samples have been sent to a lab and results are pending, Heyne said. The city forester suspects it’s due to more than one cause. The trees also sit in a difficult spot for anything trying to grow.

“They’re basically in large planters, between the sidewalk above and a garage below, which can make them more susceptible to disease and pests,” Heyne said.

The city received an arborist report in late July and has been weighing what to do ever since.

“It’s a San Jose icon, we wanted to make sure we’d fully understood the data before city leaders made the decision to move ahead with the removal,” Heyne said.

The city is carrying out the work as an emergency removal, a technical designation that lets crews skip the notice normally posted on a tree slated to be cut down. That notice gives residents two weeks to protest. Heyne said the city bypassed the process because the palms pose an imminent risk of falling.

The Circle of Palms has been part of a California landmark since 1950 because it is located at the site where the first state capital was originally located. It wasn’t until the late 1980s to early 90s when the area was redeveloped that the palm trees were planted.

The area has been a centerpiece of community in San Jose for quite some time, including its most recent feature “Gaiascope,” a public art piece by artist Brooke Einbender that was on display from May 22 through Aug. 18. It ended two days before crews began taking out the trees.

“The Circle of Palms has been the backdrop for countless community and cultural activities over the years,” District 3 Councilmember Anthony Tordillos, who represents the downtown, told San José Spotlight. “Our city crews will be working carefully to safely remove the dying trees so we can once again enjoy art installations like ‘Gaiascope’ and community events like City Dance in this beloved space.”

What will replace the palms has yet to be determined. Heyne said the City Manager’s Office and the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs are leading that conversation.

“No specific plans have been announced,” Heyne said. “But I would be pretty confident that the community is going to be heavily involved in talking about the future of the plaza.”

Contact Gabriel Symkowick at [email protected] or @SymkowickGabe on X.