As you probably know, bendy tree, the leaning elm in the middle of Tompkins Square Park, has been declared "structurally unsound" and will need to be removed.
Meanwhile, workers took down another tree today — a red oak adjacent to the Samuel S. Cox statue by the entrance at East Seventh Street and Avenue A…
We only saw the aftermath … so we didn't get to ask what was wrong with the tree…
[Image view Google Street View]
Tompkins Square Parking Lot
ReplyDeleteNo rot in the lower trunk, it seems. I'd love to know who makes these decisions.
ReplyDeleteHate to see the Red Oak adjacent to the statue go. On the flip side, The light will brightly shine onto the undesirables/crusties that occupy the chess tables.
ReplyDeleteA friend wrote in from Japan, asking me why aren't people chaining themselves to these trees. (He was responding to a post about the bendy tree, not this latest loss.) It's a good question, I think, and something to consider if another warning comes about the "structural soundness" of another tree that looks salvageable to the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteYou chain yourself to health, sound trees, not falling-down trees.
ReplyDeleteDo people remember Hurricane Sandy? Limbs fell from trees onto cars, totalling them. Limbs, not always entire trees. These things are "heavy".
Think back to elementary school math. "Levers". The "mass" of the object on one end, pulled down by "gravity," the fulcrum in the middle, and the upward "force" exerted on the other side of the fulcrum. In this case, there is no other side to the lever, so the full amount of the upward force is borne by the roots of this tree.
I use quotations marks because "science" seems scary to some, whereas creative visualization does not.
Could have been the Asian Longhorn beetles; funny, I didn't see any crews climbing trees this summer—looking for beetles—but you know something like this doesn't just stop being a threat.
ReplyDeleteWRF why are all the trees being taken down? As a friend of mine said: "they should be spending money trying to save the trees, not tear them down."
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There are too many trees on my block I wish someone would chop a few down. The parks were ignored during the 1960-1980's with no money going to maintain (other than Central Park) the health of trees (yes old trees need lots of care to keep their roots active). Replanting is key so parks always have a diverse age or trees, just like our population. It may seem shocking that so many trees are coming down but it is not likely that the parks department is just trying to mess with us as some of you suggest. If any of your took care of a garden you would know that trees, bushes and plants have life cycles, they get ill and in the case of something the size of a tree in a very public place, they can kill someone if not removed in time.
ReplyDeleteYes, please, get rid of those damn trees. Waht the East Village needs are more CitiBike docking stations.
ReplyDeleteWOULD HATE TO SEE A HAZARDOUS TREE FALL ON A PARK PATRON BECAUSE OF PUBLIC IGNORANCE OR SELFISH INTENTIONS. IF A TREE IS DEEMED HAZARDOUS BY PROFESSIONALS, AND CLEARLY IT IS HAZARDOUS, WHO IS THE PUBLIC TO DECIDE THAT IT SHOULD STAY BECAUSE OF THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE TREE. WE ALL GOTTA GO ONE DAY, THAT INCLUDES TREES.
ReplyDeleteThank you--now I know why all these trees are coming down. Having lived with trees and created several gardens in the city and the country, having once received an award for work in science, having lived in other countries among people who take very different views of their relationship to nature than do Americans, I can appreciate the comments posted here. They explain a lot about actions that puzzled me.
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