In a recent audit by city Comptroller Scott Stringer, Queens was heralded as the model borough whose Parks Department tree pruning practices should be followed by the rest of the city, but one area leader is skeptical of that finding.
After seeing the report, state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) questioned whether the results were something Queens should be proud of or if they signaled the need for change within the borough’s Parks Department operations.
In an audit made public by Stringer’s office Aug. 17, the comptroller revealed that Parks offices in four of the five boroughs, excluding Queens, failed to properly prune tree limbs or provide the maintenance needed.
It also found that the borough offices in Manhattan and Staten Island failed to review vendor invoices before making payments to ensure contractors were only paid for pruning eligible trees, which Stringer defined as those with a diameter of 5 inches or greater when measured at the height of an adult’s chest.
Queens was the only borough, Stringer said, that had no issues with its pruning practices or how they were reported. According to Stringer’s report, 41.8 percent of all trees eligible for pruning across the city, equivalent to 204,825 trees out of 490,417 total, were in Queens.
“Pruning operations in Queens are a model for the rest of the city,” Stringer said. “The Parks Department needs to implement reforms that will help protect all taxpayers, boost services and ensure greater safety in all neighborhoods.”
But despite the praise, Avella said he was skeptical that tree pruning in Queens has been as successful as Stringer reported.
“Although I’m glad [Stringer] found the response of the Queens Borough Forestry Department to be much better than that of the other boroughs, the Parks Department has certainly failed to provide proper tree maintenance and speedy stump removals throughout all five boroughs in the city of New York,” Avella said.
The senator argued that the Queens Parks Department has ignored the needs and desires of residents by continuously planting new trees, despite opposition from the community, and failed to care for them as needed.
5 comments:
The Queens Parks Dept is full of lazy managers and workers. Just follow one of their work trucks and see how many times they get out and actually do work. Sleeping, eating, listening to iPod , texting, on phone, etc. Our parks are the way they are because of this . Lazy city workers! And where has the Queens Parks Commissioner been lately? Never see her around anymore.
These assholes have made a mess of the trees all over Queens.
Exactly what qualifications do these morons with chainsaws have?
It is suspected by many that these jackasses perform, primarily, unnecessary mutilations in order to inflate their already bloated invoices!!!!
Yet another example of NYC taxpayers getting effed by NYC employees!
We had a pruning sign on my tree and they did nothing. All they care about is making a hole in the trees so the electrical wires can go through. They don't know anything about pruning. If Queens is a model then I really feel sorry for the other Boroughs.
Last Monday the trees along the perimeter of Bowne Park were trimmed.
However, it seems as if the only branches pared were one's that were near Con-Ed power lines.
Tell that to the lady who died in Kissena Park this time last year from a falling tree branch.
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