Dirtbike track of Yes

NY Post

Hundreds of freshly-planted trees have been ripped out of a Queens park by vandals to clear the greenspace for their DIY dirt bike track — and angry locals are calling on authorities to track down the “very selfish” bikers.

Some 300 shrubs and saplings, planted by volunteers last year not far from a cycling velodrome, were reported to have been uprooted at Kissena Park in Flushing on April 7, the Parks Department said.

“It makes me angry because I love this park. I have been living here for many years. It’s very selfish because this is for the public. They’re only thinking about their own pleasure,” Jane, a Flushing substitute teacher who declined to give her last name, told The Post.

The teacher, who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years, said she was worried that reckless off-road bikers could potentially hurt her dog, who she regularly walks in the park.“It can be dangerous if they’re going to be riding their dirt bikes here. They usually ride fast. They could run over my dog,” she added.

Photos of the destruction, which will cost the city approximately $15,000 to fix, show overturned soil near paths filled with deep tire tracks. The paths, which appear to have been used by off-road bikes, are littered with broken branches from trees above and plant roots.

Officials said the vandals dug up recently planted trees and cut down portions of other, more mature trees that were part of a larger reforestation effort across 5,000 square feet of the park.

The city’s parks department is working with the NYPD to investigate the crime, Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue said in a statement.

“Trees are so essential to our city – not just for beautifying our neighborhoods but also for cleaning our air, providing much-needed shade, and absorbing stormwater. That’s why it’s so unthinkable that someone would do this,” Donoghue said.

Gobind Singh Negi, 55, a former cab driver who takes daily walks through the park, was also angered by the destruction and slammed it as selfish.

 

Update by Queens Chronicle

Volunteers planting trees last Wednesday, April 10, in Flushing’s Kissena Park for a reforestation project were shocked to discover that 300 others they had put in the ground over the last two years, worth almost $15,000 according to the Department of Parks and Recreation, had been pulled out, tossed aside and clipped to make way for a new dirt trail.

Members of the volunteer group Kissena Synergy were joined at the same spot by Parks officials, NYPD officers and area elected officials Monday to denounce the vandalism and ask for help in finding those responsible. Leona Chin, a community activist leading efforts to plant more trees in the park, said the arborcide felt like “a betrayal.”

“It was devastating, it’s personal; our investment is our time,” Chin said at the event.

The trail cuts through land where 2,000 new trees had been planted as a part of a reforestation effort in the park by the Parks Department and Kissena Synergy that began in 2022. Though the purpose of the trail is unconfirmed, it appears to have been made to accommodate ATVs, dirt bikes or mountain bikes, as the path features a jump and a U-shaped turn common on bike trails. Tire marks could be found in the dirt on Monday.

Volunteers with Kissena Synergy, founded by Chin, work in the area five days a week, between Tuesday and Saturday. NYPD Assistant Chief Christine Bastedenbeck, the Queens Patrol Borough North commander, said at Monday’s press conference that the incident most likely happened sometime over the previous weekend. Chin said she believes the vandalism occurred sometime on Sunday, April 7, when the volunteers weren’t there.

Chin said volunteers had added branches, logs, rocks and other debris across the trail on Wednesday, April 10, to deter riders from using it. However, the debris was cleared up overnight when the volunteers returned to the site last Thursday to discover fresh bike tracks and a cleared trail. Chin said this felt particularly insulting.

“We’re just angry they thought it was their property to destroy,” she said in an interview. “And then, like I said, to come back and re-clear trails again ... We’re just pleading with the community [to report any new vandalism] because they were the ones that actually noticed, and we’ve had community members reach out to us to tell us things that they have seen.”

Bastedenbeck said law enforcement is looking into the incident. Specifically, she said, additional officers were deployed to the area and detectives were interviewing people in the park and the surrounding perimeter to gather more information on the incident. Bastedenbeck urged Kissena Park visitors and community members to report any illegal motor vehicles in the area.

“We were alerted to the damage in this park on Wednesday, this past week, and believe that the destruction may have happened the prior weekend. Our detectives are currently investigating this incident,” Bastedenbeck said. She encouraged residents to contact the police if they see anyone operating an ATV, dirt bike or moped in city parks.

Cops dig up Kissena Park looking for MS-13 victims

From the Daily News:

Cops were digging in a Queens park Friday afternoon for the bodies of two possible victims of MS-13, according to sources.

Police could be seen unloading heavy excavation equipment at Kissena Park near 164th St. and Underhill Ave. in Flushing around 5 p.m., witnesses said.

One source said that cops were investigating after they received a tip and another law enforcement source said that the bodies could be related to MS-13 killings.

Kissena Park tennis courts need better maintenance

From CBS 2:

They claim the city has left their local tennis courts in disarray.

The Har-Tru clay courts require a lot of water to stay solid and safe. When they dry out, holes develop in the clay and nails start to surface.

Residents said the sprinkler’s timer system lasted only one season. Now someone from the parks department manually turns the sprinklers on, but the water doesn’t even reach the entire court.

CBS2 asked a parks employee to explain, but he wouldn’t say much.

“The people who put it in, they were supposed to – well, I don’t want to say,” he said.

Human bones found at Kissena Park

From NBC:

Decaying body parts were discovered in a Flushing park, a grisly find that has neighbors on edge and police combing the area.

The badly decomposing body parts were found in a wooded area near a bike path in Kissena Park on Wednesday afternoon.

Bones were strewn about the woods along with tattered clothing and a skull, sources said.

An investigation is underway — the Office of Chief Medical Examiner was sent to the scene and a forensic anthropologist is also working on the case.

Authorities said the remains have been in the park for some time, making it hard to tell the age, race, sex or any other identifying details about the person they belonged to.

The crap on 56th Road

Hi Crappy,
"Rode my bike to Flushing Meadows today and on the way there I saw the "Crap" is spreading all along 56th Road.

I can't imagine what it could feel like living in between new homes like this and have my view and light almost entirely blocked out! When I got home and looked up the home on Google Maps that section of the block is blacked out on the street browse option.

Wonder why google would do this ? 146-19 56th Rd is surrounded by Queens Crap !" - Anonymous

Google Maps gives homeowners the option to block out their homes for privacy. - QC

We have a suspect

From the Daily News:

A Brooklyn man was charged Monday with the stabbing death of a 28-year-old woman whose mutilated remains were found in a Queens park.

Cops arrested Christopher Sobers, 25, charging him with murder in the gruesome October crime. Sobers and his victim, Qing Qing Kiemde, were “acquaintances,” an NYPD spokesman said, though it’s not yet clear how they knew each other. Police have also charged Sobers with robbery.

Sobers, who lives in Flatbush, has 14 past arrests on charges including rape, burglary and weapons possession. Most of the cases have been sealed, police sources said.

Bad stuff happening in Queens parks lately

From A Walk in the Park:

Four males were slashed with razors inside Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, NYC Park Advocates has learned.

Four men were sitting on a bench inside the park at 11 p.m. on November 4th, when a group of male Hispanics on bikes approached and began cursing.

Two assailants got off the bikes and pulled razors. One slashed a 41-year-old victim in his hand who was on a cell phone causing him to drop the phone.

The attackers picked it up and when the victim's friends protested, the two attackers slashed his three friends as well.

The victims were all male 41 (phone stolen) 28, 28, and 26.

The incident occurred in the park near northeast corner of 49th Avenue and 111th Street within the confines of the 110 Pct.

Police apprehended the suspects on bikes nearby a few hours later at 2:30 a.m. on November 5th.

From A Walk in the Park:

A walk in the park turned into a nightmare for an Asian husband and wife this week when they were mugged in Kissena Corridor Park.

The couple, male, 34, and female, 31 were in the park near 45 Avenue & Colden St. at 8:50pm when they were approached from behind by two assailants in black wearing masks.

One punched the female in the back of the head causing her to fall on the ground. While she was on the floor one held the husband and twisted his arm behind his back and removed $ 50 from the victim's pants pockets.

The perps fled southbound on Colden St. according to police.

From the Daily News:

A Queens man was found dead in a park, cops said Saturday.

The man was found in Forest Park on Myrtle Ave. near Woodhaven Blvd in Kew Gardens on Friday night around 10 p.m., cops said. He was unconscious and unresponsive.

A city Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death.

Woman found dead at Kissena Park

From CBS 2:

A woman was found dead with slash wounds to her body in Kissena Park in Queens Sunday afternoon, police said.

The NYPD was called at 2:52 p.m. for a report of an unconscious person at Colden Street and Laburnum Avenue in Queens, police said.

Responding officers wound the woman unresponsive at the scene with slash wounds to the neck and abdomen, police said.

Drone footage of Queens locations

Fish die-off at Kissena Lake

From CBS:

A lake full of dead fish in a Queens park left residents confused on Thursday.

Dozens and dozens of dead fish filled Kissena Lake in Flushing, while carp swam to the surface and gasped for air, trying to stay alive.

As CBS2’s Tracee Carrasco reported, locals who have been watching the fish die slowly over the past few days were troubled by the sight.

“They were taking the nets, and dragging the fish out, and throwing them in the garbage pails,” Claudia Hollander said.

“I’ve been here for 25 years and I’ve never seen this kind of devastation,” Robert Allen said.

People at Kissena Park started noticing the fish inside of the catch and release lake suddenly dying on Wednesday morning.

The Department of Parks and Recreation told CBS2 that the lake was low on oxygen.

“The water was low on oxygen. Likely due to an algae bloom following the heavy rain,” the department said.

They have been pumping fresh water into the lake which seemed to be providing some relief, but many people said that isn’t enough and fear that the damage is already done.

Fox visits golfers at Kissena Park

From DNA Info:

A young fox was spotted on the fairway at the Kissena Park Golf Course in Flushing Saturday by a group of golfers, and he wasn't too shy.

The fox came out from a grassy area surrounding the course near the 11th hole at about 1 p.m., the golfers said.

It spent a little time sniffing around a player's club before scurrying away, according to video.

Non-profit proposes that kids clean up contaminated park

From the Times Ledger:

A Flushing nonprofit is hoping to start a soil remediation program this summer that would treat soil in a section of Kissena Corridor Park by planting rice and different types of grass.

Green Earth Urban Gardens is appealing for Community Board 7’s permission to start the project, which will teach high school students how to clean up an acre site near the intersection of 56th Avenue and Main Street.

“It’s a way of getting young people to look at the environment and to get them to think of ideas to fix environmental problems,” said Maureen Regan, president of Green Earth Urban Gardens.

Students will use a process called phytoremediation to clean up toxins and heavy metals that could be present in the soil in the Flushing park, said Regan, who has recruited John Bowne High School students to participate in the project.

Regan first thought of the idea after she realized all of the city’s urban gardens use raised beds. This is because growing crops directly in the ground is not advisable as the city’s soil is largely contaminated with heavy metals, she said. Through her research, Regan found the phytoremediation process, which uses plants to uptake contaminants.

In the proposed project, students will test the soil before they plant rice and different types of grass. They will then harvest and burn their crops before they test the soil again to see how much toxins were absorbed by the plants. Regan chose rice for the project because she has experience growing the crop as her father is a farmer in Guyana.

So let me get this straight...we think this site is contaminated, so we're going to send a bunch of kids in there to clean it up?

Overpruning is ruining city-owned trees

To (Parks Dept official):

I thought you and your team should know of a recent street tree branch cutting incident on 160th Str / Oak Ave in the Kissena Park area as reported by a community member.

LOCATION: 160-03 OAK AVE / 160TH STREET.
SPECIES: 30-IN DBH SWEET GUM STREET TREE / SETBACK WITHIN THE CITY ROW.

This is a fine well-branched large-canopy speciman street tree that survived numerous storms as well as past abuses by utility line clearing operations. We are troubled that the homeowner did not take the proper steps to obtain an application for any tree work that would have been needed. And instead of removing diseased and dead wood the homeowner (in collusion with the hired tree firm) resorted to needlessly pollarding numerous beneficial and duly necessary live tree branches. We see that the tree trimming outfit hired as the "expert" by the homeowner to be at fault. And I am sure you agree that this branch pruning does not comply to even the basic ANSI and ISA standards.

With PEP enforcement kindly do your best to investigate this rogue tree outfit and ensure their removal from the Parks Forestry approved arborist list to the unapproved list. Because if they've abused this street tree here you know well that they are doing it elsewhere to other public street trees.

Thank you and kindly let me know of your findings.

Carsten W. Glaeser
KPCA

(FYI: In many areas of Queens, trees that appear on private property are actually in the public right of way, such as this one. There is an easement for future street widening should need be. - QC)

Tall fences sometimes make bad neighbors

FYI.
Homeowners continue to flaunt the local laws on fence height as well as paving of landscape within properties.

On the paving matter, an established local law on allowable % open space and landscape was intended to decrease storm water run-off into catch basins during high rain events. If you recall the numerous street flooding of past years in large part contributed to by large-scale conversion of pervious surfaces to impervious surfaces where storm water run-off overburdened catch basins.

Little has changed other than repeat annual increases in our sewer and water fees to fund new costly NYC DEP flood control projects, and little enforcement of these violators.

NYC DOB 311 Complaint Service Request obtained on-line
for 140-20 Poplar Ave. Attached a few photos of the violations, pre and post construction

1. Violation of the paving law. Removal of all lawn area / greenspace by full paving of front, side and possibly rear yard.

Service Request #: C1-1-922270731
Date Submitted: 12/29/13 10:53:00 AM
Request Type:
Details: Residential Space

2. Violation of the 4-ft fence height law.

Service Request #: C1-1-922270621
Date Submitted: 12/29/13 10:42:38 AM
Request Type:
Details: Residential Space

DOT: Destroying landscapes one street tree at a time

This is part of a letter sent to DOT from a member of Kissena Park Civic Association
"While it is understood that NYC DOT is required to maintain a functioning infrastructure, it should not occur at the cost of our important street tree assets. Observed was intentional damages to a healthy, veteran curbside pin oak street tree and several other curbside trees during curb restoration by the NYC DOT SIM program (Sidewalk Inspection & Maintenance).
As otherwise would be required by Parks Forestry the magnitude of mechanical damages and harm to trees roots that occurred, saw that BMP arboricultural planning, supervision and oversight was not provided at this location by NYC DOT and its field crew.
As a result numerous important tree roots were needlessly ripped and torn, both harming the street tree and diminishing its importance to the community- when an alternate approach was clearly available. One may call this troubling treatment of our community trees, "business as usual".
And many from our community wonder why we continue to see business as usual tree abuses by City agencies and their leadership, who clearly should know better."

Dangerous trees in many parks

We have phony park advocates petitioning for funding for tweeding programs via public private partnerships instead of demanding adequate funding in the city Parks budget, and we're surprised this is happening?

Pregnant woman killed by falling tree in Kissena Park

From CBS New York:

A giant tree came crashing down at the popular Kissena Park in Flushing, Queens Sunday evening, leaving a pregnant woman dead.

As CBS 2’s Tracee Carrasco reported, another woman was also injured when the tree came down.

Police were notified of the accident at 6:25 p.m. The woman, who was reportedly in her 30s, was sitting on a bench under the tree when part of it fell.

Officials told 1010 WINS the woman was pregnant. She was reported in traumatic cardiac arrest and in critical condition when she was rushed to New York Hospital Queens. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

It was not known how many months pregnant the woman was, or what happened to the unborn baby after the woman died.

“The city does not put enough money into tree maintenance, and I’ve been furious with the mayor for his plan to plant a million trees when we don’t take care of the trees we already have now,” said state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Queens.)

“This is the twelfth injury over the last eight weeks,” added Geoffrey Croft, president of New York City Park Advocates. “We have been calling on the city to properly inspect its trees; maintain its trees, and it is outrageous.”

Staking a claim to community garden

From the Wall Street Journal:

Despite its serene setting and rows of flowers and vegetables, a community garden in Flushing, Queens, has turned into a battlefield.

Violent fights, death threats and shouting matches, sometimes involving fistfuls of dirt, have become routine at Evergreen Community Garden, leading to volunteer guards at the entrance and police patrols. And almost all of the tangles involve elderly Korean gardeners, officials and witnesses say.

The disputes grew out of the city Parks & Recreation Department's decision last year to take control of the 5-acre garden from a Korean-American senior citizens' group, which had transformed the trash-filled public space into a working garden back in the early 1980s.

A fight broke out at a news conference by elderly Korean gardeners upset that New York City took control of their park in Flushing, Queens. Mellad “Sam” Massoud, a member of the Evergreen Community Garden who supports the city’s control of the park, is seen shouting in the video because he was upset that the news conference was taking place. He was injured in the fight and spent three days in a nearby hospital. He said he was "simply reacting to the situation,” adding, "The fighting has gotten bad and we need to stop.”

The parks department—which contends the seniors' group had been improperly selling produce from the city-owned plot and excluding outsiders—turned control of the park over to its GreenThumb network of community gardens and installed a manager last year.

But the older gardeners are still trying to reclaim the land, at times by drastic means.

A year ago, the garden's 75-year-old former manager clutched a lighter and container of gasoline, threatening to light himself on fire if he didn't get his old job back, city officials said. The incident prompted a police hostage negotiation team to respond and two nearby schools to be locked down.

Then earlier this summer, 100 gardeners signed a petition saying they feared for their safety around one of the garden's new managers—and one person took out a restraining order against him, according to court documents. That manager now has a gardening schedule, set by city GreenThumb officials, so he doesn't violate the court order.

Parks officials say they are trying to keep the peace at the garden, located in Kissena Corridor Park.

Queens gas station perps caught

From the Queens Courier:

A wild chase ended in the capture of two men wanted for several gas station robberies in Queens.

Police spotted the suspects driving the wrong way down the Clearview Expressway early Wednesday morning, April 3, said the NYPD. Refusing to pull over, the alleged robbers eventually ditched their vehicle and ran into nearby Kissena Park.

One suspect was quickly arrested and a gun was recovered in the vehicle.

An extensive manhunt, reportedly involving a police helicopter, was launched for the second man. He was found about an hour later hiding in a parked car on Moline Street off of Braddock Avenue.

The two men arrested allegedly robbed four gas stations and one grocery store in March and early April, according to police.

Dead woman found in Kissena Lake

From Eyewitness News:

An investigation is underway after a woman's body was found Saturday morning in a lake in Flushing, Queens.

At about 7:45 a.m., police responded to the vicinity of 164th Street and Booth Memorial Avenue.

Upon arrival, officers found a 63-year old woman unconscious and unresponsive in Kissena Lake.

EMS responded and pronounced the woman dead at the scene.

So far, police do not suspect any criminality.