Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski takes storms in stride, like the recent blow, after which neighborhoods all over the borough were littered with huge branches, and trees that crushed cars and took down power lines.In addition to managing 7,000 acres of parkland, from tailored playing fields to wetlands and wilderness areas, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (DOPR) maintains the tens of thousands of street trees in Queens.
“We’re the borough of trees,” Lewandowski said, expounding on the Borough’s official moniker as “The Borough of Homes.”
To add to the burden, for the last few years DOPR has been forced to collect fallen timber down to twigs half the size of a quarter, due to the invasion of the tree-killing Asian Long Horn Beetle.
“We’ve been very fortunate that under the Bloomberg administration, we’ve added 116 full-time park workers, gardeners, maintenance workers and ‘climbers & pruners’” she explained.
The latter are the agile souls who, as the title implies, scamper up the borough’s green giants and keep them trimmed and healthy.
As the existing tree stock ages, and the mayor’s “million tree” program advances, the need for experts in the field will increase. “Unfortunately,” Lewandowski laments, “The standard pay scale for horticulturists may be attractive in Montana, but it isn’t here in New York.”
Still, she’s upbeat. “When I took over in the Borough we were on a 10-year pruning cycle for municipal trees - we’ve got that down to seven years,” she said, “so we can respond to some requests before they become hazardous.”
There are other storms brewing.
In the southwest corner of Queens lies the Ridgewood reservoir, which long ago ceased to be a water source. Much of it has grown over into a wilderness, and many residents surrounding it are advocating loudly, for a wilderness, or for playground space.
Naturally, the loudest advocates are taking Lewandowski to task for what they see as a lack of progress. “There are so many civic and park-related community groups,” she observed, “You can’t please everybody - so you just try to keep the dialog open.”
Lewandowski explained that the old reservoir is divided into three basins, more or less east to west. “Basin one is really valuable woodland which borders on the national cemetery and two is an incredible water body. They should be permanently left alone,” she said.
However, Lewandowski explained, “left alone” has its limits. “The area has to be fenced and made safe,” she said. That means fences and paths which have to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). “ADA compliance is a mandate,” she said.
“People have been using the area for paint ball games and All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) use,” she revealed. During the recent warm weather, two ATV operators got summonses and one ATV was confiscated.
The third basin is where the most work would be done. “There are wetlands in the southern end - the rest would be good for passive recreation with a small area of active recreation [ball fields] at the northern end,” Lewandowski observed.
“The thing is that we’re very early in the process,” she said. DOPR must seek public input, not just from the immediate neighbors, but everyone within a reasonable distance. “That includes some people from Brooklyn,” she said.
Lewandowski said she’d love to see a park conservancy group spring up, “not just for the reservoir, but for the area including Highland Park.”
She has drawn fire from some circles who claim she was somehow “favored” with promotion, but it’s hard to discern that from her record.
Lewandowski, who has a degree in Horticulture and a Bachelor’s in Business, was in the very first group of “Urban Park Rangers,” college-trained experts the city recruited in 1979 to rescue the parks from their decline.
A photo of that “first class” shows a smiling Lewandowski in her ranger hat, standing in front of classmate and current New York City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.
After eight years in the Rangers, where she rose to be their Director and set in motion the revitalization of Crotona Park in the Bronx, Lewandowski took the title of Bronx Park and Recreation Manager, where she supervised the borough’s pools and Orchard Beach.
In 1990, Lewandowski was promoted to Deputy Chief of Operations in Queens, where she worked until returning to the Bronx in 1994 as Chief of Operations and, in 2002, was appointed Bronx Parks Commissioner by Benepe.
Lewandowski returned home to Queens, where she was raised and currently lives with her husband and son in Middle Village, as Borough Parks Commissioner in 2004.
“My job is to service the parks and stay focused on the job at hand,” she responds to detractors.
