The presence of trees in your neighborhood can often make all difference in the world. When describing so-called "nice" neighborhoods, reporters like me and my colleagues often use terms like "leafy" or "tree-lined." It just makes places look and then sound nicer. Plus, trees help clean the air of pollution and cool sidewalks.
With this in mind, the city has (smartly) planted thousands of trees (375,000, according to city officials) throughout the five boroughs over the past few years as part of the mayor's MillionTreesNYC initiative.
(A good example of this is on Bainbridge Avenue near Williamsbridge Oval Park in Norwood. The corridor looks much better after trees were planted there last year.)
But those trees are still mostly young saplings in need of a little TLC -- which basically entails only the occasional bucket of water poured into their thirsty roots and not running over into them with your car. This dry and ridiculously hot summer has put those trees in greater peril.
Fortunately, the city is attempting to protect its investment by encouraging residents to take ownership of and water their neighborhood street trees.
Tomorrow morning in Oval Park at the park's northern entrance at 10:30 a.m., Bronx Parks Commissioner Hector Aponte along with Jennifer Beaugrand and her horticultural crew from Mosholu Preservation Corpation will be demonstrating some "creative" watering techniques and encouraging residents and merchants to water the trees in front of their homes and businesses.
(Note: not quite sure how "creative" you can get with watering, I'm just quoting the press release, but we'll report on it afterward and let you know.)
In any case, we'll have more tomorrow. But come to the Oval if you're interested. Because doesn't the "tree-lined streets of Bainbridge Avenue" sound so much better than "the hot concrete streets of Bainbridge Avenue"?
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Take Care of Your Bronx Street Trees
1 comment:
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This is a much more complex issue than you're allowing for here.
ReplyDeleteYes the city has a program to plant trees, but it is also undeniable that the city has DESTROYED hundreds of mature trees in the Bronx in Van Cortlandt Park for an unnecessary filtration plant project and in Macombs Dam Park for a private enterprise baseball stadium. In addition the news is everywhere that mature trees on Pelham Parkway are about to go in what local advocates are saying is a flawed design that, if there was only a mind to, could have saved those trees.
So let's tell the WHOLE story here. Make sure when the Bronx Parks Commissioner starts spouting off about how the city loves its trees and they want more trees, etc. etc. etc., you remind him that the city is full of baloney because if they REALLY cared about trees they would have fought for the environment, not caved into construction agendas, and wouldn't have chopped down the best the Bronx had in the first place.
By doing this little promotion the city is merely playing public relations with the hard realities. Don't let them get away with it. Don't just play cheerleader. Ask the right questions! I'll be watching...