The NYC Parks Department listened to the complaint of the reader who sent me the photos of the harmed trees and they have already corrected the problem. Here is an excerpt from the email he received from a Parks Dept. official, followed by a photo of the results:
"I'm happy to report that yesterday, under Forestry supervision, the contractor removed the concrete from both tree pits and is in the process of constructing wooden tree guards for proper protection. The condition has been corrected. Thanks as always for bringing it to our attention."The reader tells me:
"In addition to receiving fines from the city, the contractor removed the concrete , installed fencing and mulch, as mandated by the city. This is exactly what every tree next to a construction site should look like. Hope he learned his lesson and let this be a warning to other contractors."
Wonderful news!
ReplyDeleteWell done.
ReplyDeleteThat's great! Kudos to this citizen for following up on this, and to this blog for publicizing it. There are few limits to committed civic action.
ReplyDeleteCan we now go after the people responsible and have them pay for the cost of saving the tree?
ReplyDeleteThe contractor was fined by Parks Dept and DOB.
ReplyDeletegood stuff. if anyone wants to continue to use their energy to preserve forest hills, check out the rego forest hills preservation council group on facebook.
ReplyDeleteNow if someone could get them to finally do the construction work after something like a year or more of inaction.
ReplyDeleteNicely done!
ReplyDeleteWonderful!
ReplyDeleteI had walked by the workers as they were cementing the trees and asked them to stop what they were doing and break the cement as they were killing the trees! Several others walking by chimed in…I called the Parks Dept that day and registered a formal complaint….was thrilled to see the trees freed from their cement grave…glad to see that the complaints of a few concerned citizens got the quick results!!! They must have gotten quite a few complaints about this situation….The system actually worked for a change :)
ReplyDeleteSometimes it pays to go all of the way to the top to get something done in NYC.
ReplyDelete