Historic Heights Co-op Planning Arboricide?
All is not right at the Mansion House, the 107-unit co-op at 145 Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights. According to a poster in the Brownstoner Forum yesterday, the co-op board has decided to chop down the old, but quite healthy, Elm tree outside its front door. The reason, The Brooklyn Paper reports today, is that…
All is not right at the Mansion House, the 107-unit co-op at 145 Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights. According to a poster in the Brownstoner Forum yesterday, the co-op board has decided to chop down the old, but quite healthy, Elm tree outside its front door. The reason, The Brooklyn Paper reports today, is that the board doesn’t want to spend the $8,000 to reroute electrical pipes ensnared in the 75-foot-tall tree’s roots. (The issue has some immediacy because there’s a leak coming from a broken pipe.) That’s what, less than $80 per apartment? Come on! Speaking of the Mansion House, we dug up a neat wood engraving that comes to us from the Long Island Historical Society via Clay Lancaster’s must-read Old Brooklyn Heights. According to the book, the Mansion House was built in the 1930s on the site of a former Brooklyn Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies. Check it out on the jump.
Mansion House to Kill Tree [Forum]
A Tree Falls in Brooklyn [Brooklyn Paper]
12:12, I agree with 12:21 — you guys must find a way to save this tree and override your inane coop board. You are all shareholders and the tree adds immense value to all your properties, certainly work $80 per unit. I have a large tree on one side of my apartment and no tree on the other side. Comparing each side in full sun (one in the morning, one in the afternoon), the one with the tree is SIGNIFICANTLY cooler than the one without. Period. This is an issue bigger than some greedy coop board. It’s an environmental issue, affecting energy, clean air, and oxygen itself. With attitudes like this, there is really no hope for our future as a society.
I am also a resident. The board is acting incredibly foolishly, to my great disappointment. Hopefully the passionate advocacy of the majority of owners in the building will put a stop to their plans to remove the tree. The tree is a major factor in the building’s charm and appeal. And it is a highlight of the block, if not the entire neighborhood.
12:12…you guys should form a ring around the tree in protest!
11:29 and others — What does coop law allow for these situations? Can the membership demand a vote of the entire membership, instead of just the board? What does the coop by-laws allow here? What does City/State law allow?
As long as the tree is not a danger, then it’s disgraceful that the board would OK the removal. It’s a beautiful tree among all those ugly, peeling sycamores that we have in the nabe.
I’m 11:29 and an owner in this co-op. The board is going against the majority of shareholders on this issue
Yes – 11:29 private property owners should have to consult with the entire neighborhood in deciding to remove a tree, sounds ideal
Some historical context (below), found in Mayor Bloomburg’s PlaNYC report — it would be sad to go against this legacy and cut down the Hicks Street elm.
“In 1902, the Municipal Art Society encouraged residents of Brooklyn Heights to beautify their neighborhood by planting sidewalk trees, installing flower-filled window boxes, and cre¬ating mini-gardens of potted plants on their stoops. Called Block Beautiful, this private initiative led to the adoption of the first sidewalk tree planting program.”
Serious question, since most people here seem to know their stuff and appreciate flora and fauna…we have some ivy creeping on to our brownstone from the one next door. I’ve heard this can do damage to the exterior wall. I think it looks nice and, based on the above, must help insulate the place from the summer heat. Can anyone chime in on that? Thanks!