Council Votes on Tree Planting Notification « NYC Council Parks & Recreation Committee Blog

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On November 16, 2010, the New York City Council Committee on Parks and Recreation, chaired by Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito, met to consider Proposed Int. No. 311-A, A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring notification prior to tree planting. At this meeting, the Committee voted 6-0 in favor of the bill.

Proposed Int. No. 311-A was placed before the New York City Council at the November 18th stated meeting. Council Members voted in favor of the bill, which will now be reviewed by the Mayor. Mayor Bloomberg is expected to act on this legislation within the coming weeks.

There have been concerns that the sudden planting of trees can result in logistical stresses, such as safety concerns at certain institutions, such as schools and hospitals. Proposed Int. No. 311-A seeks to balance the need for a tree canopy with the needs of certain institutions to function properly and serve the interests of their clientele. Proposed Int. No. 311-A would require the Department of Parks and Recreation to notify a school or hospital between 30 days and 120 days prior to a tree being planted by the Department that would be located on a sidewalk within 100 feet of any entrance or exit of the school or hospital. The notification would be by personal service, facsimile or regular mail. The notice to a school would be to the principal or a designated representative. For a hospital, the notice would be to the hospital administrator.

Minority Leader James Oddo (Staten Island) is the lead sponsor for Proposed Int. No. 311-A

City Pledges to Nurture Sapling Grown from Acorn of Fallen Centuries-old Oak Tree by Lisa L. Colangelo - NY Daily News

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A centuries-old Queens tree, struck down in last month's violent storm, is getting a second chance at life.

City Parks Department officials pledged to nurture a sapling believed to have grown from the acorns of a massive red oak that stood sentry at the intersection of 112th St. and 84th Ave.

The tree, known by several names, including "Robin Hood," "The Grandfather" and "The Castle," captured the hearts and imaginations of its Richmond Hill neighbors for decades.

"The kids used to think it was magical," said Helen Day, 57, who has lived in a house across the street from the tree for 30 years. "My daughter always called it 'The Castle.'"

Day noted that the tree - which once stood almost 100-feet high - did minimal damage when it toppled over on Sept. 16.

"It just sort of plopped into the yard without hitting a person, a house or a car," said Day. "It fell in the best way possible."

Neighbor Clark Whitsett, who lives with his wife and three young children in a house near the tree, got the ear of city workers during the storm cleanup. He showed them the skinny sapling and they told him it was from the same tree.

"It's nice that this tree will have a chance," said Whitsett, a 33-year-old lawyer. "I've tried to take care of it."

Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski said the sapling will be moved to the department's greenhouse for special care.

"We are always saddened to lose one of our trees, especially a venerable one so loved by the community," said Lewandowski. "Eventually, the new tree will be replanted in the neighborhood or in a park for all to enjoy."

Ivan Mrakovcic, chairman of Community Board 9 who lives in Richmond Hill, said the neighborhood is "devastated" by the loss of the tree.

"I love the idea of carrying on its gene pool," he said.

But not all the people who lived in the shadow of the green giant were fans.

For 65 years, Marie Russo and her family lived in a home next to the tree, before moving out last year.

Her husband tried unsuccessfully to have the tree removed, worried that it would fall onto their property.

"During a heavy storm, you look at it and kind of pray 'Don't come down today, please,'" said Russo, 85, who lives with her daughter Bridget Curran.

At one point, it was slated for removal. But, Russo said, local activists persuaded the city to leave it alone.

"My dad always worried it was an accident waiting to happen," Curran said.

Crews Begin Cleanup in Queens After Windy Weekend by CeFaan Kim - NY1

NY1 VIDEO: Saturday night's windy weather is being blamed for scattered power outages and fallen trees across the five boroughs.

Assemblyman Lancman and Councilman Gennaro Join MS 217 Students At A Tree-Giveaway Event in Jamaica Hills

Students from MS 217 in Briarwood volunteered at the free tree giveaway, more than 200 trees were given out to the community over the two day event.

LIRR Took Wrong Track Clearing Brush, Locals Say by Nicholas Hirshon - NY Daily News

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A Long Island Rail Road effort to clear brush that blocks passing trains in Forest Hills has devastated a plentiful array of trees and shrubs that added natural beauty to the urban landscape, angry locals charge.

The stretch of decimated plant life - along the north side of tracks parallel to Austin St. from 71st to 82nd Aves. - reminded residents of a 2007 LIRR sweep that turned mighty trees into mere stumps.

"I was really hoping to prevent the mass clearing," said Nate Grove, 36, who lives in an Ascan Ave. co-op. "There's no ground coverage, there's no saplings and limbs have been removed from big, healthy trees."

Beginning April 24, railroad officials sent about 1,250 notices to locals to warn they would soon remove overgrown trees and vegetation that "interfere with safety and train service reliability."

The letter from LIRR President Helena Williams said tree branches and limbs often grow into utility wires and obscure train crews' sightlines.

The LIRR also notified the local community board and the Forest Hills Gardens Corp., a private company that owns and maintains an exclusive enclave that borders in part on the tracks.

Grove met with LIRR brass on May 8, and said he left the meeting realizing the work would result in a different look than he wanted.

But he said he was shocked at the extent of the clearing, which started the week of May 11 and ended last Friday.

"I thought they could have been a lot more generous with leaving more coverage," he said.

Residents of the Tennis View Apartments, a two-building co-op near the tracks, said the destruction was like déjà vu of a brush-clearing push two years ago on the other side of 71st Ave.

"They cut down 100-year-old trees," co-op president James Versocki said. "There were other alternatives. They could have replaced [them] with evergreens."

Another Tennis View co-op owner, Edward McGinnis, griped that the trees cut down in 2007 had provided not only pleasant scenery but also a train noise barrier for the adjacent West Side Tennis Club.

But LIRR spokesman Salvatore Arena insisted the railroad made efforts "to preserve a tree buffer where possible," adding, "Safety is always our overriding concern."

Help Save Some Habitat by Corey Finger - 10,000 Birds

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If you are a New Yorker join the walking tour of the Ridgewood Reservoir, Brooklyn, on Thursday, May 15, at 11 AM with Assemblyman Darryl Towns. Local folks (and birders) want “to prevent the Parks Department from destroying the historical integrity of the reservoir, to preserve the natural landscape of the area, establish a interpretive nature center and to rehabilitate and improve the active sporting areas of Highland Park.” You can take a first step to help save the natural value of the area by meeting in the parking lot on Vermont Place between Cypress Avenue and Highland Blvd on Thursday. RSVP to dquintana1 AT nyc.rr.com.

Ecologist Maps Manhattan of 400 Years Ago - TreeHugger by Bonnie Hulkower

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From Tree-hugger blog by Bonnie Hulkower:

:

On a recent cold, Thursday evening, a friend and I squeezed our way into a filled-to-capacity room at the Arsenal in Central Park to hear Dr. Eric Sanderson speak about the Mannahatta Project-an impressive undertaking sure to gain attention as we approach the quadricentennial of Henry Hudson’s famous voyage of 1609. Sanderson, a ruddy-cheeked and ebullient man, began his talk by showing some photos of two dramatically magnificent natural areas: the California Redwood Forests and the Rockies. Then he told us that Landscape of New York City 400 years ago would have rivaled that of Yellowstone or Yosemite today.

Manhattan, or what the Lenape Indians called Mannahatta, was more biologically diverse than either of those two areas, and with its hardwood forests, freshwater, and estuarine environments, Mannahatta’s 54 different ecological communities (that is, interacting species living in the same place, bound together by a network of influences) and lush greenery would have dazzled any nature lover.

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Court Stops Union Square Park Restaurant Plan - NYPolitics.com

Just like Washington defeated the British, the Union Square Community Coalition defeated the Department of Parks & Recreation in NYS Supreme Court...

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A state Supreme Court justice has ordered a preliminary injunction prohibiting the city from building a restaurant in Union Square Park.

The decision came after a group challenged provisions for a restaurant on the public space.

Renovation work on the popular Manhattan park, temporarily halted last week, can begin immediately. It calls for improvements to the comfort stations, playground, and the park’s historic pavilion — the proposed site of the restaurant.

A plaintiff in the lawsuit, Geoffrey Croft of the NYC Park Advocates, says the suit was brought by the Union Square Community Coalition against the Parks Department and the Union Square Partnership.

The Partnership says the judge’s decision yesterday leaves room for the city to determine the best uses for the renovated pavilion.

Judge Blocks Overhaul of Union Square Park by Timothy Williams - New York Times

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A state judge has temporarily blocked the Parks and Recreation Department from continuing its $21 million overhaul of the north end of Union Square Park.

The project, which includes installing a new restaurant in the park’s pavilion, has been opposed by various neighborhood groups, which say the establishment of a privately owned restaurant would be an illegal use of public parkland.

A temporary restraining order, issued Monday afternoon by Justice John E. H. Stackhouse of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, prohibits the city “from engaging in any physical destruction, site preparation and/or construction” relating to the renovation.

The judge’s order was issued in response to a lawsuit filed by Geoffrey Croft, president of NYC Park Advocates; the Union Square Park Community Coalition, a neighborhood group; Carol Greitzer, a former councilwoman; and others.

Justice Stackhouse set a hearing for Monday to determine whether to issue a preliminary injunction, which would prevent the parks department from performing work in the park for a longer period.

Workers started site work at the park several days ago. On Tuesday, hours after the restraining order was issued, a backhoe sat idle in the park’s north plaza, its arm resting atop a large mound of dirt. Equipment from two of the park’s three playgrounds had already been removed.

A parks department spokeswoman declined to comment on Tuesday.

But in a statement, Ramin Pejan, a lawyer at the city’s Law Department, said that the Bloomberg administration would eventually prevail.

“The city is confident in its legal position and the merits of this project, which include a redesigned and dramatically expanded playground and a rehabilitated historic pavilion and plaza that was supported by the community board and approved by the Art Commission,” Mr. Pejan said.

The dispute over Union Square, one of the city’s most popular public spaces, is the latest in a series of disagreements between the parks department and neighborhood groups over changes to local parks that have ended in lawsuits and protracted court battles.

In January, ruling on a lawsuit by community groups, Justice Shirley Kornreich of State Supreme Court in Manhattan ordered the department to void a $45 million deal between the agency and 20 private schools to build sports fields on Randalls Island, at the confluence of the East and Harlem Rivers.

Justice Kornreich determined that the department had failed to properly follow city and state competitive-bidding and public-review rules.

At Union Square Park, proposed changes include the new restaurant, the redesign of two playgrounds and the repaving of asphalt where a popular greenmarket has been situated for several years. The plan also calls for about 14 trees to be cut down.

The work had been scheduled to be completed before the end of next year, according to the parks department’s Web site.

The Union Square lawsuit maintains that the city failed to get the approval of the State Legislature before deciding to place a restaurant in the park.

State law requires that when the public use of a park or section of park is changed to a nonpark use, the change must be approved by state government.

On Tuesday, opponents of the redesign said the judge’s decision was a first step.

“The temporary restraining order is a small but important step in the right direction,” said Assemblyman Richard N. Gottfried, whose district borders Union Square. “They are taking away a piece of the park. You wouldn’t use the park for a bookstore or a shoe shop, and you shouldn’t use it for a restaurant.”

Mr. Croft said the Union Square area, which has become home to many young families in recent years, needs more playgrounds for children.

“The city is taking away thousands of square feet of potential play space in an area with the lowest amount of play space in the city and one of the highest concentration of restaurants,” he said.

City has No Count on Felled Trees by Patrick Arden / Metro New York

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Mayor Bloomberg has declared April MillionTreesNYC Month, part of his highly publicized initiative to plant one million new trees by 2017. Yet Thursday, city attorney Susan Shapiro couldn’t answer a judge’s questions about how many trees have been cut down for the controversial sports fields project on Randall’s Island.

“The city doesn’t know the number of trees, because the contractors never got a permit,” claimed Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates, who cites sources close to the project. He estimates that thousands were cut down.

“You need a permit to remove a tree,” said former Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, who pushed for a city law against the illegal destruction of trees, or “arborcide.” “People could be fined up to $15,000 and it can extend to a short term in jail,” Stern said.

Contractors are required to have forestry permits issued by the Parks Department before removing trees, Stern said. But the department has refused repeated requests by Metro for the Randall’s Island forestry permits.

Going Green in Queens '08 - A Free Environmental, Educational & Networking Event - Saturday March 8th...

Going Green in Queens '08
Saturday, March 8th
10:00am – 2:00pm

New York Hall of Science at Flushing Meadow Park
47-01 111 Street
Queens, NY 11368

* Free parking available or free shuttle bus service provided from 111th

Ridgewood Times - Community Board 9 Meeting - Ozone Industries Clean Up Plan & Ridgewood Reservoir Presentation by Ralph Mancini

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The abbreviated Tuesday, Feb. 12 Community Board 9 meeting, held at the Fairfield Pavilion in Richmond Hill, featured a public hearing focusing on the proposed cleanup of the former Ozone Industries site located in Ozone Park.

Senior Project Manger David G. Austin from ENSR, a worldwide provider of comprehensive health and safety management services, appeared at the conference alongside Ted Coyle of End Zone Inc. (the successor company to Ozone Industries) to present a summary of environmental studies performed by an ENSR project team to examine soil and groundwater contamination at the former aircraft manufacturing location.

Senior Project Manager David G. Austin of ENSR illustrates a diagram of an upcoming cleanup plan along property formerly occupied by Ozone Industries in Ozone Park

Ozone Industries, in operation from 1948 to 1996, reportedly used a chemical solvent trichloroethene (TCE) to degrease their parts in the eight storage bays they occupied beneath the the abandoned elevated Long Island Railroad between 99th and 100th streets to the west and east and 101th and 103rd avenues to the north and south.

In 1996, it was discovered that contaminated groundwater had migrated southward at about 35 feet below surface level.

With the approval of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Department of Health, ENSR began collecting soil and groundwater samples underneath and adjacent to the site in 2004.

“Throughout that period, there have been some reports issued,” said Austin. “From those reports, we’ve revised and fine tuned our work plans. We’re now at the end of our assessment process and we’re now drafting reports which will include results of all our assessment work and will also include what kind of remedy or cleanup we think is necessary for the site.”

Those reports, he continued, have been deposited in a document repository in the Central Library Branch of the Queens Public Library in Jamaica.

Monthly progress reports and fact sheets are reportedly being mailed to local residents and community leaders.

When asked by Board 9 Chairperson Andrea Crawford what the intended future use of the location would be, Austin replied that he’s only involved in the cleanup of the site and will leave the property in its present condition.

Top and bottom photos show areas formerly occupied by Ozone Industries from 1948 to 1996. ENSR, a Massachusetts-based health and safety services company, will be entrusted with the cleanup of this site, consisting of the removal of contaminated soil and groundwater. (photos: J. Naughton)

Board 9’s Sherman Kane inquired about the duration of the cleanup to which Austin responded that the type of technology utilized in the undertaking will determine that.

A specific start date will reportedly be given in an upcoming report which will be released in the late Spring or early Summer months, according to the ENSR spokesperson.

Crawford Updates Board

Although the Board failed to reach a quorum preventing it from conducting the regular order of business, Crawford did issue a brief update on efforts being made to prepare a study on the movement to transform the defunct Long Island Rail Road branch into a greenway bicycle path.

The Board, she said, has been in contact with architects from the City University of New York who are reportedly preparing materials for an upcoming study.

The proposed greenway would consist of three-and-a-half miles of abandoned tracks running from Rego Park to Ozone Park.

Crawford also referenced six recent text amendment recommendations recently made by the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects that the Board believes would “give free reign to developers to maximize property dimensions while depriving the community of free and unencumbered areas,” as stated during Community Board 9’s December meeting.

The chairperson told those in attendance that she found the AIA’s text amendment suggestions to be “damaging on a number of levels.”

She added that if the amendments are approved by the Department of City Planning, it wouldn’t set a great precedent by having a lobby group push legislation that affects the entire city.

Pol Reps Address Legislation

Michael Johnson from State Sen. Serphin Maltese’s office was on hand to bring community members up to speed on the recently-passed Lawn Litter Bill aimed at preventing store and restaurant owners from flooding people’s doorsteps with circulars and menus by handing out fines.

The bill is reportedly being reviewed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has a 90-day window to determine which city agency will be chosen to enforce the ruling.

Also appearing was Diane Barrett, Assemblyman Rory Lancman’s chief of staff, who told Board members that the legislator is working on the Oasis Bill, which would give community boards input on mental facilities moving into their districts.

Activist on Ridgewood Reservoir (See Previous Related Blog Posting)

South Queens activist David M. Quintana gave a presentation regarding the ongoing plans for the Ridgewood Reservoir.

Quintana opened with a history of the site, dating back to the mid-1850s, when the reservoir was used as a primary source of water for the city of Brooklyn.

Current plans on the part of the Parks Department to redesign the 50-acre site adjacent to Highland Park on the Brooklyn/Queens border were brought into focus.

Two of the plans being mulled would reportedly turn one of the reservoir’s basins into a recreational park.

South Queens activist David M. Quintana asks for Board 9’s support in preserving the greenery within the Ridgewood Reservoir.

Quintana stated that he opposed this idea, indicating that it would entail the demolition of 30 acres in order to install an artificial-turf field.

As an alternative, the Ozone Park resident and Community Board 10 member suggested the addition of walkways and bicycle paths.

Crawford invited Quintana to revisit Community Board 9 and issue a formal presentation.

In a list of desired outcomes for the Ridgewood Reservoir and Highland Park prepared by the Ridgewood Reservoir Education and Preservation Project, submitted by Quintana to the Times Newsweekly, the following objectives are highlighted:

• To preserve and enhance the ecosystems within all three basins.

• To create an environmental learning and research center for the use of area schools, colleges and the general public.

• To develop a long-term management plan to remove and mitigate damaging invasive plant life and improve wild life habitat.

• To create a museum or learning center.

• To encourage active recreation at the reservoir.

• To restore all lampposts, fences, stairways, railings and walkways.

• To provide seating, viewing areas and necessary amenities for passive recreation.

• To create two over-the-road walkways.

• To coordinate and integrate all facilities at Highland Park and the Ridgewood Reservoir.

• To ensure the coordinated, well-funded administration and maintenance of the entire area.

Community Board 9 regularly meets on the second Tuesday of the month. The location of the next meeting will be announced at a later time.

On Randalls Island, New Ball Fields via Deal With Elite Schools by Timothy Williams - New York Times

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Few would disagree that the baseball and softball diamonds on Randalls Island, which in some cases have devolved into pitted fields of rock and dirt with the occasional patch of sickly-looking grass, need work.

Multimedia

Graphic

Proposed Randalls Island Renovation

So when the Bloomberg administration proposed a plan last year to allow 20 Manhattan private schools to pay millions of dollars to renovate and rebuild the fields in exchange for exclusive control over some of the fields during after-school hours, the city thought it had arrived at a tenable, if imperfect solution.

But while some have applauded this unique approach to finance a public parks project, the proposal has generated strong opposition from a variety of interested parties: parents of public school children; parks advocates; residents of East Harlem and the South Bronx; William C. Thompson Jr., the comptroller; Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president; and members of the City Council.

They complain the plan would establish an unfair pay-to-play policy in public parks for the 20-year length of the agreement.

“Exclusivity for any one group for such an extended period of time sends the wrong message and sets a bad precedent for how to use our parks moving forward,” said Councilwoman Melissa Mark Viverito, who represents the island in the City Council.

Despite the criticism, however, the plan was expected to be approved on Tuesday by a panel most of whose members were appointed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

The proposal calls for the private schools, including Dalton, Buckley, Spence and Chapin, to pay the city $52.4 million over 20 years to build or refurbish 63 baseball, softball, soccer, football, rugby, lacrosse and other fields on Randalls Island. The city would finance the balance of the $70 million project.

In return for their contribution, the schools would be allowed to use at least two-thirds of the fields from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., when their sports teams typically practice. Many of the 20 schools, which are among the most expensive in the city, have used the island’s fields for years because they lack playing fields on their campuses.

There are currently 36 playing fields on the island, most of which are in poor condition because of heavy use for school, adult and youth league games and practices. As many as 14 of the new fields would be built with artificial turf rather than a natural surface, which would help prolong their lifespan, said the city’s Parks Department.

Adrian Benepe, the city’s parks commissioner, said that because of a Parks Department’s traditional policy of giving preferential use of playing fields to regular users, private schools already have exclusive permits for 34 of the 36 ball fields from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The proposed deal would actually open up more playing fields to other users, he said.

“The fact is that private schools will be subsidizing use by a lot of different people,” Mr. Benepe said.

Richard J. Davis, chairman of the board of the Randalls Island Sports Foundation, the conservancy that operates the island for the Parks Department, said the genesis of the private school plan was a desire to expand the island’s recreational facilities and the search for money to do it.

“We knew we needed more and better fields and that we didn’t have a natural constituency, like the Central Park Conservancy, so we went to the independent schools,” Mr. Davis said.

The proposal, however, has not won the support of the local community board in Manhattan and is opposed by others who say they are concerned that public school children would not have enough access to the new fields. Private schools have traditionally been able to use the fields on the island because they provide buses for students — a cost that has typically been prohibitive for the city’s public schools, who rely on the limited public bus service.

“We’re basically carving out these fields as a time-sharing concept you’ve seen with vacation homes and now we’re bringing it down to public fields,” Mr. Stringer said. “We can’t have a pay-to-play system that locks out three generations of children.”

Mr. Stringer acknowledged, however, that opponents lack enough votes on the six member Franchise and Concession Review Committee to block the plan. Four of its members were appointed by Mayor Bloomberg, who supports the proposal.

To try to increase use of the fields by people who live in the neighborhoods around the island, which is in the East River next to Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens, Mr. Stringer and others have proposed providing bus service from 125th Street in Harlem and by expanding the Randalls Island board of directors, which currently has no members who live in East Harlem or the South Bronx.

Last year, the city approved plans for a $168 million water park to be built on the northern end of Randalls Island.

Mr. Benepe said the ball fields agreement with the private schools was probably the only way to improve the playing fields. He said he believed much of the opposition was due to the Parks Department’s willingness to try new forms of public-private partnerships.

“It doesn’t make them good or bad, it just makes them a different kind of public space,” Mr. Benepe said. “If you leave things exclusively up to government, you end up where we were in the 1970s, because the city would not be inclined to invest all the money in this.”

NY Daily News - Voice of the People - "Keep Undeveloped Parkland Wild"

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Every bit of parkland is precious, but the less-developed parkland is the most precious of all, so the city should be very careful in the development of the Ridgewood Reservoir area.

It is far from being the forest primeval, but it is reasonably wild for property that is on the border between Queens and Brooklyn.

Bulldozing it and putting in ballfields because there is a demand for ballfields would be a mistake.

Every effort should be made to respect and utilize the area for what it is. We shouldn't be so quick to try to turn it into something else.

Myrna Weinstein

BushwickBK.com » Blog Archive » City Plans to Bulldoze Ridgewood Reservoir

BushwickBK.com » Blog Archive » City Plans to Bulldoze Ridgewood Reservoir

The Ridgewood Reservoir was a main water source for Brooklyn in the 1800s, built by entrepreneurs to keep the then-City’s booming population from dying of thirst. After consolidation with New York City, Brooklyn’s water system was mostly relegated to a back up for Brooklyn in emergencies. After 1989, it was abandoned to nature. A forest grew where it stood, providing a home for various migratory bird species. Now the City, sensing something wonderful has been created without its direction, wants to bulldoze it all in a fit of spite. Well, no, but I’m sure it has something to do with keeping someone’s cousin Vinnie in business. I mean, what good are City jobs without the ability to rake in the contracts for your relatives?

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe says what’s the big deal? It’s just some weeds that grew in a puddle:

“These are really accidental landscapes that have grown up out of lack of maintenance and lack of use.”

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Queens Gazette - Letters to the Editor - Leave Reservoir Alone by Henry Euler

Letters to the Editor:

The Ridgewood Reservoir is an area on the Queens- Brooklyn border by Highland Park that the Parks Department and the city would like to develop into recreational space. The problem, however, is that it would mean that acres of trees would have to be cut down.

How ironic that would be! The city in conjunction with the Parks Department wants to plant one million trees throughout the city for health and ecological benefits. Yet in this pristine area, they are willing to sacrifice hundreds of trees to put down Astroturf and the like. In the meantime, there are many ball fields and other recreational spaces around the city that already exist and are in need of improvement. Some of those areas are even near the Ridgewood Reservoir. Shouldn't some of the money that would be allocated for this project be better used to repair what already exists?

It is not only the trees at stake at the Ridgewood Reservoir site. The area is an oasis for birds. Over one hundred types of migratory birds have been identified there. Many of those nest there as well. It is an ideal habitat for birds and other types of wildlife.

The Ridgewood Reservoir was used as a backup water supply for Queens and Brooklyn into the 1960s. It was made up of three basins. Two of those three water areas subsequently became reforested in the typical way that land changes over time in nature. That process is known as succession and this particular site is on its way to becoming a full fledged Eastern forest. Why interrupt this urban forest by cutting down trees?

My understanding is that the city and Parks Department are planning on spending anywhere from $46 million to $55 million on this project, depending on the source. That money should be spent on improving existing recreational areas and purchasing additional parcels of land to be used for open space and park uses.

In Queens, many concerned citizens urged the purchase of several parcels including the St. Saviour's church property in Maspeth, the Klein Farm in Fresh Meadows and the Iris Hill wooded property in Bellerose. Other parcels are available as well, and all of this land should be used for green areas for the public.

According to the mayor, one million more residents are expected in the city by 2030. It is difficult to figure where everyone will live, given the overdevelopment, infrastructure and flooding problems that we are already facing today. In addition, where will everyone go to relax and enjoy nature? Where will our children play? It is time to plan ahead and think of the future. We must buy open space in the city to meet those needs and we also have to preserve land that is environmentally sensitive like the Ridgewood Reservoir area.

Henry Euler
Bayside

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=ridgewood+reservoir&sll=40.674942,-73.846664&sspn=0.020961,0.036392&ie=UTF8&z=16&om=1

Queens Civic Congress - Joint Statement Queens Civic Congress and Queens Coalition for Parks & Green Spaces

Queens Civic Congress

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Joint Statement - Queens Civic Congress and Queens Coalition for Parks & Green Spaces

New York City must work to preserve its historic natural areas; these historic settings must receive much the same treatment as historical landmarks. The destruction or loss of any natural areas negatively impacts the quality of life for the surrounding communities bordering these green spaces. It flies in the face of what City Hall advocates for parks and preservation in PlaNYC.



Ridgewood Reservoir should be preserved as such and the monies (some $46 million) to destroy this green area's natural settings should be re-allocated to purchases to preserve other threatened historical natural areas which also include historical structures -- such as St. Saviour's, the Klein Farm, Iris Hill and the former Cornell Farm. What we destroy today cannot be restored tomorrow.

City Hall needs to take a hard look and re-evaluate what needs to be done to preserve natural areas before they cease to exist. This includes re-thinking any plans that threaten natural parks and historic settings such as Ridgewood Reservoir, St. Saviour's, the Klein Farm.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=ridgewood+reservoir&sll=40.674942,-73.846664&sspn=0.020961,0.036392&ie=UTF8&z=16&om=1

AP: Tree-Mendous!

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July 11, 2007 -- New Yorkers have it made in the shade. A new Parks Department survey shows there are exactly 592,130 trees lining the city's streets - up 20 percent from a decade ago.

'The stereotype of a New York street is a Manhattan street, whereas, in fact, the vast majority of New York is heavily treed, with maple, oak and sycamore trees in front of single-family homes,' said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe."

Maybe Only God Can Make a Tree, but Only People Can Put a Price on It...

By DAVID K. RANDALL

Published: April 18, 2007

It seems like a Zen koan: how much is a New York City tree worth? Since New York’s first park was created in 1733, the various incarnations of the modern Parks and Recreation Department have tried to quantify a resource that at best is viewed as inherently valuable, like sunshine, or at worst is chopped down.

“Trees are great for a variety of reasons, but how do you explain that to the Office of Management and Budget?” Adrian Benepe, the parks commissioner, has said.

Now, for the first time, the Parks Department can actually translate the value of the city’s trees into real dollars and cents. And as expected, it’s a big number.

Step 1 was a tree census, a two-year process that sent more than 1,000 volunteers to count every tree on every street in the city. The census results were then fed into a computer program that spit out a dollar value for each of the 592,130 trees counted, a figure that does not include the roughly 4.5 million trees in parks and on private land.

The program, called Stratum, was developed by researchers at the University of California at Davis and the United States Forest Service. It takes into account several factors, including a tree’s impact on local property values, its contribution to cleaning the air by absorbing carbon dioxide, and how much its shade helps reduce energy consumption.

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