Dirtbike track of Yes

NY Post

Hundreds of freshly-planted trees have been ripped out of a Queens park by vandals to clear the greenspace for their DIY dirt bike track — and angry locals are calling on authorities to track down the “very selfish” bikers.

Some 300 shrubs and saplings, planted by volunteers last year not far from a cycling velodrome, were reported to have been uprooted at Kissena Park in Flushing on April 7, the Parks Department said.

“It makes me angry because I love this park. I have been living here for many years. It’s very selfish because this is for the public. They’re only thinking about their own pleasure,” Jane, a Flushing substitute teacher who declined to give her last name, told The Post.

The teacher, who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years, said she was worried that reckless off-road bikers could potentially hurt her dog, who she regularly walks in the park.“It can be dangerous if they’re going to be riding their dirt bikes here. They usually ride fast. They could run over my dog,” she added.

Photos of the destruction, which will cost the city approximately $15,000 to fix, show overturned soil near paths filled with deep tire tracks. The paths, which appear to have been used by off-road bikes, are littered with broken branches from trees above and plant roots.

Officials said the vandals dug up recently planted trees and cut down portions of other, more mature trees that were part of a larger reforestation effort across 5,000 square feet of the park.

The city’s parks department is working with the NYPD to investigate the crime, Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue said in a statement.

“Trees are so essential to our city – not just for beautifying our neighborhoods but also for cleaning our air, providing much-needed shade, and absorbing stormwater. That’s why it’s so unthinkable that someone would do this,” Donoghue said.

Gobind Singh Negi, 55, a former cab driver who takes daily walks through the park, was also angered by the destruction and slammed it as selfish.

 

Update by Queens Chronicle

Volunteers planting trees last Wednesday, April 10, in Flushing’s Kissena Park for a reforestation project were shocked to discover that 300 others they had put in the ground over the last two years, worth almost $15,000 according to the Department of Parks and Recreation, had been pulled out, tossed aside and clipped to make way for a new dirt trail.

Members of the volunteer group Kissena Synergy were joined at the same spot by Parks officials, NYPD officers and area elected officials Monday to denounce the vandalism and ask for help in finding those responsible. Leona Chin, a community activist leading efforts to plant more trees in the park, said the arborcide felt like “a betrayal.”

“It was devastating, it’s personal; our investment is our time,” Chin said at the event.

The trail cuts through land where 2,000 new trees had been planted as a part of a reforestation effort in the park by the Parks Department and Kissena Synergy that began in 2022. Though the purpose of the trail is unconfirmed, it appears to have been made to accommodate ATVs, dirt bikes or mountain bikes, as the path features a jump and a U-shaped turn common on bike trails. Tire marks could be found in the dirt on Monday.

Volunteers with Kissena Synergy, founded by Chin, work in the area five days a week, between Tuesday and Saturday. NYPD Assistant Chief Christine Bastedenbeck, the Queens Patrol Borough North commander, said at Monday’s press conference that the incident most likely happened sometime over the previous weekend. Chin said she believes the vandalism occurred sometime on Sunday, April 7, when the volunteers weren’t there.

Chin said volunteers had added branches, logs, rocks and other debris across the trail on Wednesday, April 10, to deter riders from using it. However, the debris was cleared up overnight when the volunteers returned to the site last Thursday to discover fresh bike tracks and a cleared trail. Chin said this felt particularly insulting.

“We’re just angry they thought it was their property to destroy,” she said in an interview. “And then, like I said, to come back and re-clear trails again ... We’re just pleading with the community [to report any new vandalism] because they were the ones that actually noticed, and we’ve had community members reach out to us to tell us things that they have seen.”

Bastedenbeck said law enforcement is looking into the incident. Specifically, she said, additional officers were deployed to the area and detectives were interviewing people in the park and the surrounding perimeter to gather more information on the incident. Bastedenbeck urged Kissena Park visitors and community members to report any illegal motor vehicles in the area.

“We were alerted to the damage in this park on Wednesday, this past week, and believe that the destruction may have happened the prior weekend. Our detectives are currently investigating this incident,” Bastedenbeck said. She encouraged residents to contact the police if they see anyone operating an ATV, dirt bike or moped in city parks.

Trees of strife

 

NY Post

A tree grows in Queens — in the middle of the sidewalk.

Astoria residents are baffled over four trees that were planted smack in the center of the sidewalk on 29th Street, off of Broadway, on Dec. 26.

One of them was placed right in front of 31-38 29th St. and Erick Elias, the superintendent of the building, said he first got word of it when a tenant sent him a photo.

“The day after Christmas, he sent us a picture of it that said, ‘Did the landlord order a tree?'” he told The Post.

“So I went outside and was like, ‘Holy crap, it’s real. There’s a tree in the middle of the sidewalk.'”

Elias, 39, said three others were also planted on his block that day, also in the middle of the sidewalk, on the other side of the street.

“And apparently I’m hearing that it’s happening in a couple of other places in Astoria and also in Sunnyside,” he said.

About a week and a half prior, he heard what he thought was construction in front of his home one morning.

“At 7 a.m. on the dot, we started hearing jackhammering. When we leave to go to work, we see this dirt patch right in the middle of the sidewalk and we’re like, ‘What the hell is this?'” he recalled.

“We’re all thinking pipework or something. None of us are thinking ‘tree’ because it’s in the middle of the sidewalk.”

Neighbors have taken to social media to express their concerns with the out-of-place plantings.

“Anyone know why they’re putting trees in the *middle* of the sidewalk on 29th St in Astoria?,” @vidiot_ posted on X on Dec. 29 along with a photo of one, which is across from Elias’ building.

The conversation on X included a link to the Reddit discussion over the tree planted in front of Elias’ building, which started with a photo and the caption, “All about planting trees, but this seems a little odd.”

A Reddit user even found the permit for the tree pit, issued in November.

“Who approved this brilliant idea ?!?!!! Trees in the middle of the sidewalk??? WTF” Debra Roy Vecchio wrote on the Facebook group Astoria Centric, along with a photo of one of the trees.

“Absolutely ridiculous. This requires a lawsuit,” added Maria Dourmas Hriso Mallis.

NYC Parks carpet bombed trees at Nicholas Demutis Park

A year after the de Blasio massacre of East River Park, NYC Parks is still killing trees for no reason. Even this modest little green space in Ozone Park, Queens, which is named after a cop who was killed on the job. Arborcide by "reimagining". 

Usually when the Parks Dept. does renovations they usually have a sign stating what they are doing, along with the names of the district's elected representatives on it. Not with this one though.

 

 

Queensway at Aqueduct?

 

 

Um, is the Aqueduct Station in Ozone Park being prepped for the Queensway linear park already?

It takes a village to raise zombie trees

Queens Chronicle

For decades there have been dead trees and an overgrowth of grass and weeds that has caused cracks in the medians that stretch from Springfield Boulevard on Hillside Avenue to 231st Street and Hillside Avenue next to Martin Van Buren High School in Queens Village, according to Kirby Lindell of Bell Park Manor Terrace, a housing cooperative for veterans within the neighborhood.

“It looks like a jungle now,” said Lindell. “Nothing gets done. The trees have been there for years, and they put up a couple of live ones and left the dead ones there. It looks like ‘The Addams Family.’ It is right in front of the high school and is not a good optic.”

Lindell fears that the dead trees and the cracks in the curb from the weeds are not only a possible safety hazard, but they could affect the property values of the area and might dissuade parents from sending their kids to Martin Van Buren High School, which has started to turn things around after facing possible closure in 2012.

“This is an ongoing thing year after year and they never clean up the weeds,” said Lindell. “If you are ever around that area, some of the weeds are 4 feet or taller — all over the median it looks like a rainforest. It makes the whole neighborhood look rundown and the city just ignores us. Other parts of the city, like Brooklyn, Manhattan and Western Queens, are taken care of, but it feels like we are forgotten over here.”

If nothing gets done now, Lindell fears it will take even more years to get rid of the unsightly weeds and dead trees.

“It took 10 years to get Braddock Avenue repaved,” said Lindell. “This is a very good middle class neighborhood, with a strong school system, but the city has left us ... maybe because it is Southeast Queens, I don’t know why they don’t help us.”

Lindell has reached out to 311 and Councilman Barry Grodenchik’s (D-Oakland Gardens) office, but fears that the elected official, who will not be running for re-election after a sexual harassment scandal in 2019, will spend the remainder of his four months in office as a lame duck.

City Council pruned budget for tree inspection and maintenance

 THE CITY

The city’s canopy of more than 2.6 million street and park trees will have to wait for scheduled prunings due to new budget cuts — a move slammed by a former Parks Department commissioner as “foolish” and dangerous.

The Fiscal 2021 Executive Plan includes a budget reduction of $7.2 million for tree pruning contracts, leaving about $1.5 million for the job. City trees are generally trimmed every seven to 10 years.

Park advocates and government officials, pointing to past incidents where people were severely injured — or worse — by plummeting branches, sounded the alarm over the cuts.

“The problem with not pruning is if a limb falls from a tall tree, it can cause tremendous damage. It can kill people,” said Adrian Benepe, who served as Parks commissioner from 2002 to 2012.

“It’s a meaningless cut that could cause damage both to the trees and to people.”

After the city slashed tree-pruning funding in 2010, tree-related injury claims soared. By delaying pruning contracts, the city saved $1 million — but settlement costs neared $15 million, records show.

“One bad tree limb fall wipes out all your savings,” said Benepe. “This saving is pennywise and pound foolish.”

During 2010, the city pruned less than 30,000 street trees — 50,000 fewer trees than the year before. Full funding for the Parks pruning program wasn’t restored until FY2013 when the 10-year pruning cycle was reinstated.

Claims for injuries caused by trees increased by 92% — from just under 400 claims to over 700 — during the period of reduced pruning and maintenance. In some community districts outside Manhattan claims increased by 590%, according to a 2015 ClaimStat report by City Comptroller Scott Stringer.

In 2015, Stringer told the City Council that there is a direct correlation between million-dollar legal claims and the amount of money the city allocates for tree pruning each year.

 

Reduced tree pruning isn’t synonymous with dangerous conditions, said Dan Kastanis, a Parks Department spokesperson. “Tree pruning is important, but inspections keep people safe, and proactive tree inspections are continuing in every borough, every day,” he said.

Queens is still the most powerless days after the hurricane

Gothamist

While crews with Con Edison have made progress restoring power to the five boroughs following the wind-related outages caused by Tropical Storm Isaias, more than 33,000 customers remain powerless in the five boroughs. And they're not expected to get their electricity back until 11 p.m. on Sunday night.

Manhattan stands as the only borough where full service has been restored to Con Edison's customers, according to a press release Con Edison sent out early this morning. Queens holds the largest number of outages with 19,000, with the Bronx at 9,700, Staten Island with 3,200, and Brooklyn with 1,400 customers still out. In Westchester County, 53,000 customers remain without service.

The storm on Tuesday packed a wallop, bringing gusty winds of 70 miles per hour in New York that caused widespread outages. At the height of the blackout, some 300,000 customers were left without power. That prompted Con Edison officials to deem the outage is the second worst next to Superstorm Sandy.

Con Edison has enlisted the help of outside utility companies to help restore power, with 1,230 contractors working alongside the 1,700 Con Edison workers. They say crews have been working "84 straight hours" since the storm hit, clearing out downed trees that became entangled in wires.

The New York City Office of Emergency Management has been managing tree removals across the city.

"Queens specifically has been the hardest hit," said OEM commissioner Deanne Criswell of the downed trees. "Right now, we have over 1500 people working on clearing trees across the city, and 153 of those are in Queens. We're continuing to bring in additional resources, and reassigning some of of other personnel from city agencies to help support the tree removal efforts."

Flushing, Bayside, Astoria, and Woodside are being given priority to have downed trees cleared. It will take next week to have all those trees removed.

The restoration also came when a pop-up blackout knocked out electricity to 180,000 customers on Friday morning. The incident--which cut off power to 187,000 customers in the Upper West Side, Upper East Side, and Harlem in Manhattan, and 77,000 customers in Maspeth, Queens.

Update:

CBS New York's report from Woodhaven, one of the men at the end of the video says it all about the city's and Con Ed's response.

The city will pay for sidewalk damage caused by full grown trees

Eyewitness News


New York City officials are getting at the root of the problem when it comes to cracked sidewalks.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday that the city will now pick up the tab to repair sidewalks damaged by city-owned trees, and the city will also ramp up sidewalk repairs under the "Trees and Sidewalks" program to address 5,500 priority sites over the next three years.

Previously, homeowners were responsible for fixing the damage under threat of fines.

"We're not just fixing broken sidewalks, we're fixing a broken system," de Blasio said. "We tripled funding for tree related sidewalk repair, but homeowners were still on the hook for problems they didn't create. As a homeowner, I know how frustrating that is. Now, if a street tree causes damage, we're taking care of it."
 

The city will stop imposing liens on one-, two- and three-family properties that have sidewalk damage caused solely by city trees, and while the DOT and the Parks Department will still inspect for dangerous sidewalk conditions, the city -- not the homeowner -- will be responsible for fixing them if they are exclusively tree related.

NYS DOT Kew Gardens Interchange and Urban Forest Denuding in Progress

Greetings Assemblywoman Rozic,

During a drive-by on Friday 1 March 2019 of the Phase 3 NYS DOT Kew Gardens interchange Project  I was absolutely shocked and appalled of what is viewed as the most egregious denuding and wholesale logging operation of recent years in central Queens by NYS DOT of our invaluable urban trees.   The actions of NYS DOT planners and engineers and that of their contractor Halmar is the deliberate elimination from the landscape of hundreds of invaluable large urban trees that have served as a vital buffer between the highly traveled and congested Union Tpke and the Grand Central Parkway (GCP) from the neighboring residents and community- now lost.  More removals of large trees are targeted in forthcoming weeks, eliminating the term "parkway" from the GCP.  I am sure you find this action by DOT similarly shocking.  And you should be shocked, if for anything but for the full range of human health and environmental benefits that these trees once provided and with significant ecological and monetary returns delivered for nearly a century.   

 

 What has occurred here is unacceptable especially at a time that so much is known about the urban tree organism as they exist in densely populated urban areas.  Current tree science has revealed that urban trees are vital to healthy living, improve and enhances quality of life, sequesters vast tonnage of carbon annually, captures harmful particulate matter (PM2.5) from vehicle exhaust etc.  That trees directly deliver these benefits to people, the environment and as habitat and to have been ignored by key players from NYS DOT is a testament that nothing has changed about environmental awareness, sustainability and resiliency in the City of NY or by the State for the Boro of Queens. It is business as usual.  

 

It is hard to imagine that an Environmental Impact and Analysis Statement by Region 11 NYS DOT that would have been required for this project for Queens did not set off alarms about the consequences by the loss of such massive volume of important tree canopy. But classic in its methodology and by indifference NYS DOT has fully ignored the importance of our urban trees, and instead has chosen to plundered what is our only important living natural resource across our urban space.  

A kind request that you inquire with NYS DOT for a copy of their project Environmental Impact Statement specific to the wholesale elimination of all of these public trees within the project footprint and pursue a halt to the ongoing denuding so that alternative design plans are able to reflect effective tree preservation rather than wholesale logging.  There is also legitimate purpose to pursue on behalf of the constituency and their "public trees", a restitution of the full value of the individual trees now removed along with the quantifiable dollar amount of the future benefits and services that those trees are no longer able to deliver.    

Bear in mind, that these large veteran trees can never ever be replaced..

Thank you and I await your reply.  

Carsten W Glaeser Ph.D. 

Residents wary of street trees

From NBC:

A survey in Queens drew 1,250 responses from residents voicing safety concerns about tree conditions. Roseanne Colletti reports.

Charles Park needs some NPS love

Frank Charles Park in Howard Beach is part of the Gateway Recreation Area and controlled by the National Park Service. The original idea was that people who might not afford a trip to a National Park would be able to just a short trip away. NPS controls thousands of acres of parkland in Brooklyn,Queens, Staten Island and Sandy Hook NJ. They are a tremendous asset to the city and as our city grows our parkland will be more precious.

In the past any problems at Gateway was usually met with "we are understaffed and under funded". Unlike NYC there is no 311 to call with problems,you can write them or leave a message and you might not get a response as is my case.

I've even wrote letters to local papers about the conditions of Charles Park and nothing is done. The condition of dead trees and dead limbs has existed for years and what would seem like a safety priority, isn't.

Recently a woman and her kids were clobbered by a branch in Central Park and the tree looked healthy and she's suing the city for $225 million. This is a cost effective measure for NPS, just hire a tree cutter now,this is an emergency situation.

My other gripe is that the bathroom which has just one bowl for men and one for women. This park has a children's play ground, tennis courts, ball fields, picnic tables and a beach, one bowl doesn't cut it.

Thanks Rich

Kew Gardens apartment complex carries out tree massacre

"Dear Crappie,

This is what the management company did to the tenants of a garden apartments in Kew Gardens, without a word. The residents awoke to the sounds of chainsaws and they are in shock and can’t really believe it happened. Mature trees that were there for many years and provided a beautiful green space for the residents including the birds and squirrels were gone in a day.

Many of the people are mad but there is nothing they can do. They were given no warning or reasons for doing this. Were the large trees a liability from falling branches? They could have been pruned. Were they causing structural damage to the foundation? Only those trees should be removed. Were they causing the gutters to clog? They could install screens.

The plan they posted is to make a formal English Garden with shrubs and sitting areas. This is nesting season for birds, hopefully many of them will relocate to Maple Grove Cemetery." - Rich
_______________________________

Unfortunately, any nestlings in those trees who could not yet fly were most likely destroyed even though some of them fall under the protection of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. You may want to contact your local congress person. - QC

Parks keeps butchering trees at Old Hickory Park

"For the third year in a row the trees that line the edge of Old Hickory Park have been cut back to nothing but trunk. These trees used to provide a barrier between the neighborhood and the tunnel. However the views of the billboards above the tunnel entrance seem to outweigh the value of our park. This horror is going on today and will probably continue into tomorrow. I have photos of the destruction as well as the city permit. This stinks of corruption." - Anonymous

Stay safe out there!

From PIX11:

A wind advisory is in effect throughout the tri-state area, where wind gusts could reach up to 50 miles per hour or higher and cause power outages Monday.

Winds blowing down limbs, trees and power lines are among the chief of concerns listed in the advisory, as well as isolated power outages. These winds will also make driving difficult, and light-weight outdoor objects such as patio furniture should be properly secured.

The New York City Department of Buildings issued a warning to builders, contractors, crane operators and property owners to secure their construction sites, buildings and equipment due to the high-powered winds. They will performing spot-check inspections of construction sites around the city. If sites are not secured, the department will issue violations and stop work orders.

NYC lacking in trees

From 6sqft via Metro:

In an effort to promote urban tree cover, researchers at MIT’s Senseable City Lab have developed Treepedia, a platform for mapping the canopies of ten different major cities. Using Google Street View panoramas to serve as a Green View Index (GVI) to compare and evaluate green canopy coverage, Treepedia provides a visual map of trees and vegetation in Boston, Geneva, London, Los Angeles, Paris, Sacramento, Seattle, Tel Aviv, Toronto, Turin, Vancouver and of course, New York.

Researchers chose GVI over satellite imagery so as to “represent human perception of the environment from the street level,” according to the Treepedia site. GVI is measured on a scale of 0 to 100. A city with a GVI of 100 would be completely covered by tree canopy.

New York ranked the third lowest of the ten cities, with only Paris and London having less tree coverage. With a GVI of 25.9 percent, Vancouver was found to have the most tree coverage.

Co-op wants to mow down trees for clubhouse

From the Times Ledger:

Windsor Oaks Tenant’s Corporation is seeking approval by the Board of Standards and Appeals to amend a variance between the co-op and the neighboring housing development so they may clear a wooded area for a new clubhouse and 98 new parking spaces, according to Steve Behar, legislative council to Councilman Barry Grodenchik (D-Oakland Gardens).

The variance to maintain the 100-foot wide section of trees goes back to 1951, when the co-op was built, and serves as a buffer between the two communities.

The land where the variance is in place is between Bell Boulevard and Springfield Boulevard and as many as 15 homes border the variance.

A Community Board 11 meeting in 2015 heard strong resident opposition to the plan to clear the woodland and the co-op’s application through CB 11 to amend the variance was shot down. In 2011, the Tenant’s Corporation had secured a loan to build the 5,000-square-foot clubhouse which was refinanced four years in a row without construction moving forward.

“In our last meeting before coming in front of the community board, it was suggested that we sit down with the residents of 77th Avenue and see where we could come together,” Windsor Oaks President Ronald Kaye said in 2015. “Sadly, they wanted no part of that. They just don’t want the project at all.”

But Behar said the co-op is not backing down from its resolve to level the trees standing between them and their future amenities.

“Over the years, they’ve cut down the trees, which they weren’t supposed to be doing under the variance, and now they’re asking the BSA to eliminate the variance,” Behar said. “This is a buffer between the cooperative and the homes. These people are up in arms because they bought their homes knowing that there was a variance, that they would be protected from this big co-op. We’ve also received a lot of complaints from people who live in the co-op, but don’t want this either.”

What exactly is a clubhouse needed for anyway? What hardship is associated with this?

R.I.P. Historic Wych Elm of Downtown Flushing

Cutting and removal of the historic Wych Elm (Ulmus glabra) on Franklin Ave, downtown Flushing by NYC Parks Forestry in early November was prompted by the continuum of allowed blatant and egregious construction impacts upon an invaluable public tree asset, the absence of effective interventions by those in charge when they had the opportunity to do so (NYC Parks Forestry) as well the use of legal action against the perpetrators of tree abuse when it was occurring (NYC School Construction Authority), despite a community rally with the then City Council Member Liu to ensure tree preservation by those agencies.

It is clear NYC Parks forestry operations are not in the public tree protection and preservation business despite their core mission statement that directs them to do so. No wonder we are loosing many of our most important and invaluable large public trees.

Who then speaks for the trees?

Attached: The last views of this aged rare historic street tree.

Carsten Glaeser

Forest Park's memorial trees rediscovered and rededicated

"The story of the Memorial Trees in Woodhaven. With music from musopen.org, royalty-free music. "Bullets and Bayonets" and "Comrades of the Legion" by John Philip Sousa. Special thanks to American legion Post 118; the Ladies Auxiliary; Junior Air Force ROTC of Franklin K. Lane Campus under the leadership of Air Force Master Sgt. Eddie Carr and Army Reserve Sgt. David Valentin; the St. Thomas the Apostle Woodhaven History Club led by teacher Patty Eggers; the Woodhaven Cultural & Historical Society; with special thanks to Allan Smith, Edwin Gardiner, Jr., CM Elizabeth Crowley, CM Eric Ulrich, Assemblyman Mike Miller, Senator Joe Addabbo, Pam & Walter Steffens, The Avenue Diner (Woodhaven), The Woodhaven Athletic Club, the NYC Parks Department, The Forest Park Administration at Oak Ridge and the Leader-Observer. Photos and video by Josephine Wendell."

(I apologize for not posting this yesterday. - QC)

Steinway Mansion owner won't comment on plans

From the Queens Chronicle:

Bob Singleton, of the Greater Astoria Historical Society and the friends group, said he wouldn’t comment before hearing from the owners, one of whom is Philip Loria of an Astoria-based law firm, but noted there is a great love for the structure.

Last May, when they bought the mansion, he said they don’t plan to tear it down.

“We want to create a win-win for everyone,” Loria said.

After multiple attempts to contact Loria, an employee at Loria & Associates said Wednesday that he does not plan to comment on the matter for a while.

Oh you want plans? Well, take a look. It ain't pretty.

The destruction of the Steinway Mansion landscape from a better perspective

And more from George the Atheist.