[EVG photo of 79-89 Avenue D from June]
Over at 79-89 Avenue D, L&M Development Partners have been prepping for a 12-story retail-residential building with 110 dwelling units here between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.
On Wednesday, residents at 274 E. Seventh St. said they were angered to discover that workers "mistakenly cut down a six-story tree" in the backyard of their co-op building.
A resident with knowledge of the situation said that L&M had a work order to remove one tree — from 278 E. Seventh St. However, the crew cut down that tree as well as the one behind No. 274.
[Behind 274 E. 7th St.]
The residents contacted the Department of Buildings via 311, and were told that it wasn't a DOB matter. The 311 rep suggested calling the police.
As for the loss of the tree, the resident said that an L&M rep confirmed they made a mistake and are prepared to do something for the co-op "within reason."
"What could possibly make whole the loss of the sole grace note of our backyard, shading our apartments in the summer, announcing the arrival of spring when it's buds peeped out, the golden light that filtered through its changing leaves in the fall and the shelter it provided squirrels, blue jays, sparrows and rare hawk visits?"
Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Space that houses Rite Aid on Avenue D hits market for $22.5 million
Report: New 12-story, mixed-use building in the works for Avenue D
Permit pre-filed for new 12-floor building at 79-89 Avenue D
Former Avenue D Rite Aid has been demolished to make way for a 12-story building
All the immature trees on Clinton Street were once 5 to 6 story trees. Unfortunately, many had witnessed oversized trucks speeding off of the Williamsburg Bridge latch onto and push against the trees draping over Clinton Street, pulling them up by their roots from the top. It sounds unbelievable but it's what happened and it didn't happen just once. Basically, after letting the street grow into this beautiful little street, with domestic traffic, they reversed the direction of the street to allow the giant trucks pouring into the city from Brooklyn and beyond directly onto our street. It's really tragic.
ReplyDelete"within reason" = how can we capitalize on this? Maybe the tenants will agree to something that enhances our building.
ReplyDelete"within reason" - yeah, replace it with a mature tree. That ought to set the developer back some serious $$ and maybe teach them to pay attention next time.
ReplyDelete"within reason"???? Shame on you L&M!!!
ReplyDeleteYou destroy a mature, beautiful tree because:
1. As a multi-million dollar developer, you're unable to read the lot line maps required by law
2. Your project manager was too lazy to leave his air conditioned vehicle to direct the tree crew
3. The tree crew was unable to accurately read the work order
4. You brokered a deal with UHAB, the owner of 278, and never bothered to walk the property
And now you dictate the terms to the arborcide victims? Shame on you!
You can force them to plant a mature tree. They're expensive but they are libel for criminal prosecution I believe.
ReplyDeletemistake my ass!
ReplyDelete"There is no curse in Elvish, Entish or the tongues of men for this treachery! ... Come my friends, we go to war..." (Treebeard, The Lord of the Rings, surveying the destroyed forest)
ReplyDeleteToo bad there wasn't a tree lady like we have on East 5th Street. Jan (sp?) would be all over them before anything happened to the tree. I've seen her confront truck drivers time and again, making sure no branches would be torn or damaged. She is an asset to this block.
ReplyDelete"Who wants to die? Everything struggles to live. Look at that tree growing up there out of that grating. It gets no sun, and water only when it rains. It's growing out of sour earth. And it's strong because its hard struggle to live is making it strong."
ReplyDelete― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Betty Smith referred to an ailanthus tree. The tree murdered at 274 was a maple; some maple variants are under story trees, unusually well suited to growing tall and pretty in the partial shade and benign neglect of a paved tenement backyard. A tree surviving and thriving 30+ years in a backyard is like a dog walking on his hind legs; it's rather amazing to find it done at all...
And then some fat cat developer, working on a site unconnected to the building, blows in and chops it down.
Sounds like when they went to amputate Peggy Lee's leg—as she became diabetic in her later years—and after they amputated the wrong leg, they had to go after the intended one as well.
ReplyDeleteShit happens—but this is definitely a case of arborcide—wanton arborcide, even—and I hope it's punishable.
Another example of developers running amok thanks to there being no oversight or checks of any kind on their often illegal activities. Amazing that a city of this size, with a massive governmental workforce and huge budget somehow cannot or will not make an effort to better police these thugs, preferring instead to look the other way while they run roughshod over the neighborhoods they're intent on destroying.
ReplyDeleteL&M are a bunch of crooks. Look them up.
ReplyDeleteNobody has been able to figure this out but L&M got a shit,pad of money to take over NYCHA housing in this very shady deal http://www.nychdc.com/content/pdf/BoardMaterial/120314/Multi-Family%20Rental%20Housing%20Revenue%20Bonds%20(NYCHA%20Triborough%20Preservation%20Dev)%202014%20Series%20A.pdf
ReplyDeleteAnd this tries to explain it
http://www.progressqueens.com/news/2015/3/4/cash-strapped-nycha-sold-apartment-buildings-that-had-recently-been-refurbished
Disgusting!!!!!!
ReplyDelete