The City doesn't plant trees anymore: no money. For trees to be planted, the Owner has to do it themselves or work with a nonprofit funded by Federal gov't (Feds won't give it directly to Oakland - ha!). Under the Fed/nonprofits' programs, the Owner has to sign a promise to water the trees weekly for 3 years. Either way, the Owner (or an agent of the owner) is the responsible party for watering trees that get planted these days. The City doesn't plant trees anymore. I hope whoever arranged for those trees to get planted sees what a horrible caretaker they worked with. I know a guy that works with Sierra Club -- the nonprofit that does the liaison with Owners for planting trees in Hoover Foster: I'll tell him about this.

Thank you for contacting Sierra! I was thinking, however, that these might be from the city in preparation for the bike lanes they are installing on MacArthur. They will be removing the island.
(By the way address is actually on MacArthur at MLK)

I got a Reply from the Sierra Club folks: those trees are not theirs, but they will check into those trees. If it's part of the MLK corridor improvement plan, the contractor is getting paid handsomely and should be held accountable for required maintenance of new trees.

The City of Oakland fixed this issue on 11/21/2016, service request #681718.