From the Queens Chronicle:
The scope of the project is huge, and some 600 trees along all the Van Wyck corridor are destined for the lumber yard or the wood chipper as Phase I runs up to the expressway from Briarwood.
Trees are a sensitive issue in Queens, and a few residents brought the subject up at a recent meeting of the Briarwood Community Foundation.
But officials with the state’s Department of Transportation said they do not regard tree removal casually.
“Eighty of the trees will be replaced immediately in areas that won’t be affected by any future construction,” James Romanovsky said, both in Briarwood and in a subsequent telephone interview. He indicted there was little point to replanting the remainder only to rip them up again a short time later.
“We thought it was wise to replant them as part of Phase II,” Romanovsky said. He added that all the trees are on land with a state right of way.
A spokeswoman for the city’s Parks Department said the removals are not factored into Mayor Bloomberg’s Million Tree initiative.
“We count only ones we plant, not ones that are removed,” she said.
7 comments:
While it is sad that they are removing these trees, at least it is for some kind of project that will benefit the public, by at least attempting to make the congestion and highway in that area a little better.
Why is there not an article about all the beautiful and large trees that are being destroyed every time a developer buys a house and clears the land building a crap box on it?
I can assure you that the city needlessly looses many more trees at the hands of developers.
At least in this case some trees will be replaced where possible.
What about the trre removal that is begining to take place under the Whitestone Bridge to make way for an added lane of traffic?
More noise, more pollution, 18 feet closer to a residential community with no sound barriers, and hundreds of less trees.
welcome to whitestone indeed
welcome to whitestone? you mean dan and paul ville? these two are setting things in motion that are going to destroy the district!
People be careful, already these two have set up fake lions clubs, childrens choirs, business and citizen civic associations, all so it looks like they have the public backing them.
I feel sorry for all you bayside whitestone residents.
RE:" in the know"..
please detail and name these new groups that you text about ?
Can we please work together to prevent this likely travesty? There is no replacement for our mature, beautiful trees; 600 in this case to perish.
Tornadoes & hurricanes are one thing, but humans intentionally "killing our trees" is unforgivable.
Trees convey life, beauty, are nature's pride, purify our air, and are historic to our landscape.
Why can't DOT's traffic plans be revised to save these trees? Why should we settle for the easy way out? This goes against my morals as a citizen and humanitarian, and their reasoning is unacceptable. What may be "as of right" is immoral in this case. This would be a sad day in Queens & NYC history, and would compromise Mayor Bloomberg's goal of reaching 1 million trees.
We should do everything we can to prevent this travesty, as many of my colleagues, family, friends, and neighbors feel the same.
Alas....
it is very, very, very sad indeed....but things aren't going to improve...."Rego-Forester".
A concrete jungle is coming
to your neck-'o-the-(formerly lush)-woods....
as it already has elsewhere.
The weak and the meek, tree huggers' cries aren't even heard anymore.
They fall upon the deaf ears of greedy, crooked politicians....who support over-development as their main means of building up their campaign contribution war chests.
I'd, more wisely, concentrate on landing a very well paying job that enables you to move away to greener pastures in,
i.e. Westchester County.
"NYC Plan 2013" indicates that Queens is slated to take up the lion's share of Manhattan's burgeoning population....with it's vast parcels of "underutilized" land still available to build more denseley upon.
That means we've become a bulldozer borough....with chainsaw massacres soon pending practically everywhere.
In the words of the late (wish his demise had been sooner than later) Donald Manes:
"Queens has nothing but land
and I intend to develop every bit of it".
Phone Tony Avella's office.
Maybe he can stage a "green" press conference.
John Liu, the "king of the photo op" is far too busy these days to help in this matter....
being NYC's comptroller.
Avella will be only too happy to assume Liu's former title as the new heavyweight press release generator.
He might even persuade mamma Toby Ann Stavisky to come along with him.
But sonny boy Evan's Parkside Group won't do any pro bono work RE saving trees.
Post a Comment