Tree rescued from concrete on Houston

Photos by Salim

A quick follow-up to a post from a few weeks back, when we noted the new sidewalk bridge along 280 E. Houston St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, the site of an incoming 12-floor mixed-use building. 

In creating this, the workers entombed a tree near Avenue B in concrete. 

However, as these photos (thanks, Salim!) show, the construction crew drilled out the concrete that filled the tree well... allowing it to take in water now...

As for the new development, it will contain 224,809 square feet of space — for residential, commercial and community use. The residential portion will total 211,028 square feet for 157 apartments, per DOB records. The retail section will feature 12,000 square feet, while the community facility is 1,300 square feet.

At last a sidewalk bridge along 280 E. Houston St., site of a new 12-story building

Photos by Salim 

The site of an incoming 12-story residential building has reached the next phase at 280 E. Houston St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

Workers have finally erected a sidewalk bridge to keep pedestrians safe(r). In the previous iteration, pedestrians and various cyclists (e-bikes, scooters, etc.) had to share the roadway.

However, in creating the new walkway, workers entombed this tree near Avenue B in concrete ... might as well just chop it down now ...

To recap: The new development will contain 224,809 square feet of space — for residential, commercial and community use. The residential portion will total 211,028 square feet for 157 apartments, per DOB records. The retail section will feature 12,000 square feet, while the community facility is 1,300 square feet.

Reader report: This tree could use some help on 4th Street

An EVG reader shared these photos from outside 203 E. Fourth St., a Kushner-owned Westminster Management property between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Here's more via the reader: "I passed by this poor tree ... There is a deep hole between the torn roots and paved sidewalk." 

The reader asks who to contact to add soil to the tree pit.

"The tree is very much alive and we should not lose another tree in this neighborhood."

Weeping for this lost tree on Avenue A

The city has cut down the lone tree along the west side of Avenue A between Houston/First Street and Second Street. 

The New York City Tree Map identified this as a weeping willow. [Updated: It was actually a corkscrew willow — thanks to the reader for this ID!]

Last Friday morning around 10:30, according to witnesses and a report on the Citizen app, a white, unmarked box truck violently lurched into the tree, causing a sizable gash across its trunk...

Some time yesterday, the tree was cut down (the first pic is from a tipster) ...

A tipster shared a clip of surveillance footage showing the truck running into the tree. 

 

The driver of the truck did not get out and inspect any damage, and drove off, per a witness.

There was some hope from nearby residents that the tree — with its unique corkscrew trunk — could stay put.

On St. Mark's Place, office building 1, tree 0

EVG reader Bruce Tantum shared the above photo from Wednesday morning ... when workers cut down a tree that had managed to survive the intermittent construction the past three-plus years at the office building going up on the NE corner of Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

Not sure exactly what kind of tree this was (the NYC tree map listed this as a Callery pear), but it looked plenty healthy to us, as seen last year ... it just had the misfortune of being behind the construction plywood...

... the rendering for the building even shows a similar-looking tree on St. Mark's Place...

Claim: City cuts down tree on 5th Street after block association receives permission for pruning

A stump is all that's left of a 50-plus-year-old flowering Callery pear tree outside 339 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

According to a member of the East Fifth St. Block Association Tree Committee, the group hired (at a cost of $500) an arborist who pruned the tree — with the approval of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation... "cutting off worrisome branches to maintain safety." 

Several weeks later this past Thursday, "a crew from the Parks Department arrived early in the morning and chopped the tree down before anyone was up to notice," a tree committee rep told us. 

"As it is, the Parks Department has turned the previously lush old trees on Fifth Street — watered, fertilized and tended to by our tree committee — between Cooper Square and First Avenue into grotesque Edward Gorey-like silhouettes by their over pruning. We are devastated," the committee member said. "Our arborist told us that weakens the trees and will shorten their life span." 

The city hasn't shown much passion or sympathy for local trees in recent months.

Photo courtesy of the East Fifth St. Block Association Tree Committee

As the tree pit turns

Photo by Stacie Joy 

For those of you keeping tabs on the tree pit outside 185 E. Third St., here's the latest... building management has now covered the dirt with wire mesh, which will prevent rats from burrowing in the space ... while allowing for water to reach the tree roots, etc. 

Anyway, a better approach than the first rat-proofing attempt last month: covering the tree well in cement, which would eventually kill the tree. Multiple residents here between Avenue A and Avenue B called 311, and the city removed the cement within a week.

City frees tree entombed in concrete on 3rd Street

Photo from yesterday

As noted last Tuesday, to combat rats burrowing in the tree pit outside 185 E. Third St., building management decided to cover the space in concrete. 

Several readers had previously called 311 to alert them of this issue. (The concrete will inhibit the tree's ability to take in water and oxygen and could likely result in its death.) 

The city has since closed the service request on this block between Avenue A and Avenue B, noting: "NYC Parks performed the work necessary to correct the condition. We notified the building owner yesterday, ordering them to remove the concrete from the tree pit. The concrete was removed on Thursday, May 19, 2022."

A terrible way to try to kill rats

Updated 5/23: Several residents report that, via 311 calls, the city has removed the cement from the tree pit.

To combat rats burrowing in the tree pit outside 185 E. Third St., building management decided to cover the space in concrete.

As an unhappy resident here between Avenue A and Avenue B noted, the concrete will inhibit the tree's ability to take in water and oxygen and could likely result in its death.

There are better options ... which the city discusses via its online Rat Academy courses for property managers, business owners, etc.  Find other rat resources via the city here.

Thanks to Suzy Kunz for the photo. 

So long to this sycamore tree on 9th Street

Photos by Steven 

Workers today cut down this sycamore tree on the north side of Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second. 

It was not immediately clear what prompted this removal...

... a worker pointed out a deteriorating and spongy area of the stump...

EVG reader Terry Howell shared this photo...

He writes: 

This lovely sycamore tree and I coexisted peacefully on this block for over 47 years. I don't remember it ever being small. I have no clue why the city choose to murder it today. They will probably say "it's too old," unsafe, etc., etc., etc. My feeling is that Amazon probably needs its own loading space, another restaurant shed needs to be built, a branch might injure a CAR! or it's just inconveniently in the way. I, being old like the sycamore, hope I live long enough to see its spindly replacement sapling, which the city will plant and then ignore. 

Yesterday, city workers also removed a tree on 10th Street just west of First Avenue...

Updated 12:30

The remains of the sycamore after the workers left... 

Tuesday's parting shot

As the city's East Side Coastal Resiliency Project moves forward, workers began cutting down trees in East River Park south of Stanton Street today. 

This small grove of cherry trees was the first to go. 

Photo via @1000people1000trees. (Follow that account and @eastriverparkaction for ongoing updates throughout the day from East River Park.) 

In total, the city plans to cut down 1,000 trees during the five-plus year rebuild of the park.

Tree down on 11th at B

We had a tree down late this afternoon on 11th Street just east of Avenue B... EVG contributor Stacie Joy happened to be by...

... it caused some damage to the vehicle...

... and the FDNY was quickly on the scene...

... and the roots appear to be rotted...

Updated 10 a.m. 

Vinny & O shared these photos from the clean up this morning...

City removes tree said to have been tangled up with a sanitation truck on 1st Avenue

The tree on the northwest corner of First Avenue at 12th Street was spotted on the ground yesterday morning. (Thanks to William Klayer for the photos.)

We asked Caesar Ekya, the co-owner of S'MAC on that corner, about what transpired.

According to Ekya, a sanitation truck was traveling north in the bike lane, emptying the garbage cans along the west side of First Avenue on Tuesday night around 11. 

"It must have got tangled in the branches because as it drove off it pulled the tree along with it," Ekya said. "That was a gorgeous tree and we're hoping the city can put it back and not have to tear it out." 

Unfortunately, before the day really got started yesterday and Ekya arrived at the restaurant, the city already had the tree removed.

A downed tree on 7th Street

We received several reports of a downed tree across from the site of the fire on Dec. 5 on the southeast corner of Seventh Street and Second Avenue... BigStef shared the top photo... 

There's some speculation that one of the trucks on the scene of the burned-out Middle Collegiate Church may have taken it out. 

And here's another view via Derek Berg...

Reader report: 'marauding drunks' kill young tree on 7th Street

Here's a dispatch from Seventh Street (No. 39 to be exact) between Second Avenue and Cooper Square, where EVG reader Dinky reports:

Alas, the beautiful red bud planted by the Parks Department on Oct. 25, 2017, was torn down during the night [this past weekend] by some marauding drunks.

Parks came Monday and removed the tree down to the stump.

Hoping for a replacement, but the first one took two years to get, so am not holding my breath.

No one witnessed the tree attack, though "someone heard a lot of yelling and running in the wee hours of Saturday-Sunday," per Dinky.

Farewell to the leaning tree of 3rd Street

A dispatch from Third Street via Felton Davis, who reports that crews were on the scene here to remove the leaning tree on this block between First Avenue and Second Avenue...



Davis reports that the tree was dead — "most likely from last summer's extensive road work."

RIP East River Park

Dave on 7th shared this photo from yesterday from along the East River Park promenade. Someone placed memorial ribbons commemorating the life of East River Park: "We will miss your breeze, your trees, your plants and flowers and your birds and bees."

This is all in reaction to the details that emerged last fall (city press release here) about the updated construction phase to protect the East Side against catastrophic flooding along the East River.

As previously reported, the city plans to "lift" East River Park by up to 10 feet when work starts in March 2020. However, to do this, the city will need to close East River Park for up to three and a half years, bulldozing all the current amenities and chopping down many of the trees.

The East Side Coastal Resiliency Project is currently (and quietly) undergoing environmental review. This link goes to the notice of the public review and request for comments.

Per the notice:

"All interested persons, groups, and agencies are invited to submit written comments regarding the proposed use of federal funds to support the construction of the proposed project in a floodplain and / or wetland. The City is interested in alternatives and public perceptions of possible adverse impacts that could result from the project as well as potential mitigation measures."

Write to Calvin Johnson
Assistant Director CDBG-DR New York City Office of Management and Budget
255 Greenwich Street, 8th Floor
New York, New York 10007

Here's the email address.

Meanwhile, a community group called the East River Alliance formed at the end of 2018 to help organize various East River Park stakeholders and to ensure that the design and reconstruction "reflects our community’s needs and values."

You can read more about the Alliance in this article at Patch.

Truck takes out tree on 6th Street

EVG reader Sylvia G. shared these photos... showing a downed tree on the south side of Sixth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D...



According to the Citizen app, a truck struck the tree early this afternoon...