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October 27, 2009
Trees in Bed Stuy?
hi all,
ive just moved to bed stuy. love it. but i wish every block had nice trees like mine. someone told me that all you have to do is call the city, as a homeowner, to have one planted on your block. i think that would be a great enhancement to the neighborhood - cut down on A/C costs and heat in summer, be a wonderful aesthetic, etc. and i wouldnt mind helping with that (when i get a slow month). does anyone have thoughts on this? is it true about "just making a phone call to the city"? maybe too good to be true?
Comments
I wish it was that easy. I also live in Bed Stuy and have filled out all kinds of forms over the last four years requesting a single tree and other times trees for the whole block and have never received any response from the parks dept. I emailed the community board and they said fill out another online form which I did to make it four total requests. I finally got an email which said I'd receive a brochure in a week days and guess what--no brochure. It's incredibly frustrating. Does anyone have a contact for a real person at the parks dept who deals with street trees? I remember coming across one on Brownstoner maybe last year but can't seem to track it down now.
Good luck newinstuy and please share if you have better luck than me.
Here's the link I used to enter this limbo most recently:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_permits_and_applications/forestry_service_request.html
Posted by: ralph gardens at October 27, 2009 6:24 PM
it is true..but believe it or not some homeowners look upon a tree as a burden...watering sweeping leaves ,etc..... usually older, grumpier homeowners
Posted by: eman1234 at October 27, 2009 6:24 PM
Yes. I think you can also apply at the Department of Parks and Recreation website. You are put on the waiting list. We got our tree planted in less than a year from the request. There is a fall and spring planting season, so if you act now, you'll probably get in for the next fall season. If you're lucky, you could get a tree next spring.
The owner of the property has to agree to have the tree planted, so if you want your neighbors to get trees, they will have to apply for them as well.
Posted by: Bklyn born at October 27, 2009 6:28 PM
trees are nice but less AC in the summer also means more heat in the winter.
Posted by: denton at October 27, 2009 6:38 PM
Actually not Denton. Because the leaves fall off the trees in the fall. Of course it takes a while for a tree to grow to any size to accomplish these goals. It would be your gift to the future. (That said the cherry tree I planted in my front yard 7 years ago has doubled in size and now is a privacy screen for my scond floor parlor.)
Posted by: Putnamdenizen at October 27, 2009 8:37 PM
Agreed I too received my tree less than a year in Bed Stuy
I hear the city wont plant a tree, if the neighbor on the right and left have trees planted.
Posted by: jack slade at October 27, 2009 10:33 PM
It worked for me. I filled out the tree request on the Parks Dept. website and forgot about it. One day about a year later I came home to find one of the sidewalk flags broken up. I was furious as I thought ConEd or National Grid did it. 2 days later there was a tree planted in the space.
Posted by: Juno106 at October 28, 2009 9:39 AM
A friend of mine got one really quickly - she said she phoned 311 & got put onto the proper authority.
Posted by: Arkady at October 28, 2009 9:39 AM
A guy on my block is convinced that street trees create an environment that's conducive to crime. I think that's pure silliness.
Posted by: vanburenproud at October 28, 2009 3:24 PM
wow! i wasn't sure anyone would comment. now i feel guilty for not checking in sooner...
makes perfect sense it would be a slow, bureaucratic, owner by owner process. and that some people don't want to bother. still, it'd be great if the homeowners here were given a flyer or something, with the application, to get a drive going. if there are Fulton St. BID members reading this, i can tell you that my father, who sat on the first BID in Queens, said planting trees made a world of difference in our old neighborhood too -- fresh air, shade, a lovely view, savings on A/C. i hope people who own and read this will put in an application. if anyone wants to pursue this further, let me know. best,
Posted by: newinbedstuy at November 2, 2009 11:32 PM
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