From the Daily News:The federal stimulus may be pumping greenbacks into the economy but it's also making a part of Woodside distinctly less green.
Locals are steamed over Amtrak's brush-clearing effort that recently chopped down more than a hundred mature trees along rails running parallel to Northern Blvd.
Homeowner George Olt, 69, whose property on 56th Place abuts the land owned by Amtrak, said he began hearing buzzsaws near his lush backyard on April 30.
By the next day, some 200 trees - more than a hundred of them exceeding about 2 feet in diameter - had been felled, Olt said.
"It's not like the trees were dead," said Olt, a retired transit worker who has lived in the same home for 26 years. "They were in full bloom."
The leafy trees also acted as a noise buffer from passing trains, he and neighbors said.
Most of the felled trees - along a 200-foot section of the railway - were rooted more than 50 feet from the tracks, said Olt, who was skeptical of the railroad's claim that the clearing project would improve safety.
The project was funded by federal stimulus money and is part of a nationwide initiative to upgrade infrastructure, said Amtrak spokesman Cliff Coles.
Coles conceded the trees "may not be located directly on our right of way" but was a precautionary step.
The timing of the project has also stung local environmental groups. The tree-clearing comes as hundreds of others were planted in Woodside as part of the Mayor Bloomberg's MillionTreesNYC initiative.
"We didn't gain anything," said Anthony Gigantello, president of Coalition Helping Organize a Kleaner Environment, or CHOKE, based in Long Island City.
Coles said residents can call Amtrak's hotline to voice concerns about the project's impact.
But that's too little, too late, locals said.
16 comments:
"Leafy trees"? "Noise buffer"?
A great place to hide terrorists bent on derailing a commuter train.
They did this in Elmhurst & Woodside last year. They cut down hundreds of trees. We screamed & hollered, even spoke with a LLRR representative, but it fell on deaf ears. Evidently, this is being done along the entire LLRR track. Supposedly, we were told, the trees were interferring with their communication lines/signals and this was detrimental to keeping their system safe for all concerned. They couldn't disseminate messages that were being sent back to the main junction. If you ask me, they just had a field day chopping down old but sturdy beautiful trees. Trees that helped hold retaining walls along side the many, many houses built along side the tracks. The LIRR doesn't give a rats tail about our communities and do what they want. They're not good neighbors. What does Bloomin Berg have to say about this? Is he going to replace all of them & bill the LIRR for the uncalled destruction. I don't think so!!!!!
Mayor Bloomberg's Million TreesNYC will never work because most the people running the program don't know what they are doing. Cat cats, Prison help, People you'l find working at DMV or Flushing Meadow Park who don't give a f*ck.
Lucky if 1 in 10 trees make it 5 years
Are these people nuts? This brush and jungle encroaches on railroad property and has always been a safety hazard. If the good folks of Woodside want trees, plant them on your own property!
I'm a tree buff too, but if the trees make it easier for a train to hit a stalled car or an idiot teen walking too close then they may have to go.
More dialog between the railroad and community is indicated. If a tree falls across a rail line and kills a few people, Woodside will be singing a different tune.
A tree or a clear path for the train? That is a no brainer.... You tree huggers should plant some trees on your property or somewhere else other then the path of a train. The M.T.A./L.I.R.R. can do what they want on their own property. Maybe Bloomturd will give you a tree. Ya know he has alot left and his goal has'nt been reached so ask him to plant a tree in front of your house or in your yard.
Alot of these trees are the ugly ailanthus - more a weed than a tree.
"Are these people nuts? This brush and jungle encroaches on railroad property and has always been a safety hazard. If the good folks of Woodside want trees, plant them on your own property!"
Up until the trees were cut down, Amtrak had pruned branches that posed a danger to tracks at least twice a year, and the article itself says all trees were at least 50 ft from the tracks.
"If the trees make it easier for a train to hit a stalled car or an idiot teen walking too close then they may have to go."
The trains never stall. The tracks are elevated, fenced off and don't offer any room to roam. No teens have been up there in the 15 years I've seen trains go by outside my window.
"If a tree falls across a rail line and kills a few people, Woodside will be singing a different tune."
The trees are all too small to fall uphill AND cause any damage. They were there for well over a decade without any sort of incident.
The Amtrak tracks rest atop a mound of dirt, elevating them above street level. The trees' most importantly served as a support system for this dirt, keeping it from collapsing. You can argue this measure destabilizes the already soft ground beneath the tracks, and makes the likelihood of a train swaying off the bend on 28th Avenue greater. These folks are worried about a mini mudslide after a rainy stretch and too many accela trains zooming by. Another half-assed story from the News.
Woodsid-er.
You failed to address the terrorist issue.
A terrorist is more likely to target the train from inside it, and inside a crowded station.
"A device composed of 12 kilograms of Goma-2 ECO with a detonator and 136 meters of wire (connected to nothing) WAS FOUND ON THE TRACK [my emphasis] of a high-speed train (AVE) on 2 April ... The device ... was unable to explode because it lacked an initiation system." - From an article about the 2004 Madrid train bombings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
2004_Madrid_train_bombings
The perpetrators of that part of the event were never found. Who's to say that US commuter trains are not targeted.
See something. Say something. If you can't see anything, how can you report it? If trees are blocking views towards the waysides where suspicious activity could occur, it seems obvious that the blocking flora should be cleared.
Woodside-er:
Just because the roots were 50 feet from the tracks (per the article) doesn't mean the branches don't pose a threat to the tracks. If these tree were too small to post a threat then they must be young trees, and therefore can't be the old grown complainers are saying they are.
By the next day, some 200 trees - more than a hundred of them exceeding about 2 feet in diameter - had been felled, Olt said.
Sound like more than half of them were rather large. I'd certainly be willing to bet that a 2 foot diameter tree will cause some damage.
our trees - our oceans - who cares. Industy is everything.
These trees were not down near the tracks at all but high up on the embankment. They were not interferring with anything. The majority of the trees were very old trees and the communication lines were at least 4ft - 6ft. away from the area being chopped down. The LIRR is guilty of committing ARBORSIDE.
They also cut down all the trees along the steep embankments along the right of way in Astoria. Which is a good thing...it was like a jungle in these areas, filled with vagrants and rodents.
Sung with a Cockney accent:
Gonna lay down my burden
Down by the 'arborside
Down by the 'arborside
Down by the 'arborside
(OK, ok, it should be "riverside, but it was too good to pass up.)
A-r-b-o-r-c-i-d-e
Don't commit suicide. Instead,
visit beautiful Arizona, the Grand Canyon State:
www.arizonaguide.com
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