Mayor Michael Bloomberg has pledged to plant a million trees in the five boroughs by 2017, but some Brooklyn residents aren’t too excited by the plan, News12 reports.
The goal of the plan is to make the city greener and more environmentally sustainable.
One resident living on 59th Street tells News12 that she remembers when she first saw the new tree in front of her house. “I saw that tree and I jumped,” she says.
Critics of the program say city officials haven’t fully considered all the problems caused by new trees, including the narrowing of sidewalks and busted curbs.
“Basically, we have enough trees already here,” says one resident. “Why do we need more?”
Neighbors say they circulated a petition asking for the city to move the trees soon after they saw crews preparing to plant them back in February. They say they deserve a voice in what happens in their neighborhood.
(YW-782)
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39 Responses
what is it with the hassidishe community and neighborhood beautification? Why don’t they want to live in a nice looking place?
Here in E”Y some of the haredi neighborhoods are dumps (literally). many families here that live on the groundfloor have beautiful pieces of property and they havent cut their lawn in years. Their yard looks like a private garbage dump.
these people dont understand to Trees, they grew up between shops, restaraunts… they dont need it, they wont appreciate it. they dont know what NEFLOES HABORA is. we grew up here with nice beautiful trees, huge front and back yard full of grass, we love it, its so much healthier then growing up in the city, its especially great for the kids! they love it!
There’s just no pleasing some people. Why in tarnation would they be AGAINST beautification with trees? Do they want to live packed like sardines into 4- and 5-story houses, dozens of families per block, crowded up against one another, with no room to move or breathe?
Oh, wait. That’s called Boro Park.
Instead of planting “a million trees in the five boroughs by 2017”, how about getting rid of, or doing something about all the dogs in the city who do nothing but leave left over poop for people to step on?.
It is amazing how everyday something NEW comes up while the OLD problems are never taken care of……………
Trees provide fresh oxygenated air and remove stale air filled with pollution. Trees provide greenery, a proven restful color that increases peace of mind–HarChoVas HaDaas.
Those who oppose more geenery, based on some technical problems are unable to balance rewards vs. benefits.
Here’s a thought. There were many trees in Gan Eden. Boro Park is definitely not Gan Eden (or any sort of park for that matter)so maybe the residents don’t want to be reminded of that fact??
As a resident of Boro Park, I and many of my friends and neighbors are deeply disappointed with this report. As with many news items reported by the media, they find one, two or even several individuals that oppose Mayor Bloomberg’s initiative and report it as if the entire community opposes trees. Again, the residents of BP I spoke with all applaud new trees and will welcome many more to come.
I can actually understand both sides of the issue.
That we need trees is a for sure fact, as we can’t breathe without them. Besides, what’s wrong with beauty?
But, on the other hand, the sidewalks in Boro Park seem to have gotten narrower than they were when I was a kid. The young mothers, walking with a double stroller, and another kidlet or two on the side, need with. Especially when they have to pass someone else coming the other way.
Then, on top of that, sometimes along comes a man walking to shul and has to somehow pass. There are many baalei teshuvah men who don’t know, are simply not aware they they many not walk between two women, and that the women must move to the side to prevent their walking between them. They just don’t know. They were never taught. Or maybe they are FFBs who just were never taught that we can’t have a man walk between two women, or a woman walk between two men.
To deal with this, they need extra room, extra width on the sidewalks.
A tree takes up almost half of the sidewalk on most side streets..Then, when the roots grow, they break up the surrounding sidewalk. This does create some problems with a city which does not take care of things.
And, if the home owner fixes the sidewalk himself, to make sure no one gets hurt, the City they makes him, the home owner assume liability for anyone who trips or falls. So, the home owner needs to let the broken sidewalk stay broken.
But, I agree we need more trees. How do we solve this problem?
I am discussed by the stereotypical statements. Here is E”Y, #1, Beitar Illit has won the award for being the cleanest and nicest city in E”Y a few times. It is much nicer than any Monsey or other place in America, with lots of trees and huge parks.
Stop judging others and judge yourselves! Pesach is a time of ridding your hearts of the chometz, not just your houses.
Look at yourself and what is wrong not at everyone else. That is why we dont have the Beis Hamikdash!
To all the above commenter’s or rather critics of the Boro Parkers who don’t really want trees on their property how about judging them favorably before bashing them? Have you considered for a second the reason behind the million trees? This is the era of “Bloomberg” and we all know to well that as soon as theses have a chance they will start shedding their beautiful oxygen filled leaves all over our properties and who will pay those sanitation fines? Not you lakewooders who rarely get or want to cut your gorgeous lawns! a few leaves here and you get sacked with a summons! instead of going green here in NYC maybe they should first “GO HUMAN” ! That’s all besides the sidewalks that end up cracking and hurting passer bi’s who thereafter get to sue your pants off! “go Bloomberg go!” – far away………!
Baruch Hashem i moved from Boro Park to Lakewood .
When I was a kid growing up in them horrible BRUKLEEN, there were very few trees. The air was always horrible.
A simple fact you can all relate to. As kids, we had two types of birds in our neighborhoods. The pigeon that our Rebbe in Cheder always used to say is a kosher bird and the sparrow which “hops” instead of walking and therefore is not a kosher bird.
Today, there are numerous birds in Brooklyn. Both, year rounders and migratory birds. They are here in large because we have more trees and greenery.
YES, PLEASE ADD AS MANY TREES AS YOU CAN.
Recent studies in Japan show a direct link in living longer for people who live on tree line trees vs. the same people living with fewer trees.
Those commenting here have obviously not been in Boro Park in a very long time. The side street off the avenues are canopied with trees.
My family purposefully chose to live in an area that has a lot of woods around, and we truly appreciate the beauty and the fresh air. We have lovely woods between properties, and we enjoy wild turkeys, deer, woodchucks, raccoons, skunks, and the rare coyote.
Our neighbor behind our backyard, who is not Jewish, went out with a chainsaw and cut down a large portion of those trees, leaving the logs all over the ground. It looks horrible! He said he was trying to make the woods look cleaner. (!!) So this is not a Jewish/nonJewish/chassidish problem!
Anyway, that being said, we did once live in New York City. While I did appreciate having trees, I can TOTALLY understand homeowners protesting this project!
In New York City, the HOMEOWNER is responsible for the sidewalk in front of the property. The homeowner can be SUED if someone falls on the sidewalk in front of their property, such as on ice which was not removed, or in this case, a crack in the sidewalk with one piece higher than the other, due to the tree’s roots. It is well known that tree roots eventually lift and crack portions of the sidewalk, leaving the homeowner financially obligated to repair it, and opening the homeowner up to liability if someone trips and falls. And even if they would repair it, as long as the tree is growing, it could happen again and again.
My parents, who lived in New York City, had the tree removed from in front of their property in when they saw the damage it was causing to the sidewalk which they would have to repair or else risk being sued. It was such an improvement! We never had cracked hilly sidewalks again.
I know a lot of you love to poke fun at the ways of chassidim and Boro Parkers, but instead of having a knee-jerk reaction to this article, maybe be sincere and ask if anyone knows the real reason why someone wouldn’t want a tree, instead of jumping to conclusions and criticizing.
P.S. My parents DID love trees, and even refused to remove the trees in the backyard even when they grew over our pool. They really did like trees, but not if it meant a chance of being sued over damage caused by one.
C’mon people, instead of attacking those who dont want the trees, take a minute to listen to reasoning.
I’m all for trees, and think its great, but there are valid points being made.
P.S> And I’m not saying that this is necessarily the reason why those people are protesting. My point is that until we know the real reason, don’t criticize.
trees give us oxygen which will help us breathe better
Dear #4,
Ma Inyan Shmita Etzel Har Sinai? These are two different issues.
anyone who wants to complain about planying more tree listen up: What would R’ Avidor Miller ZT”L have to say about this, I’m pretty sure I know!
I live in Boro Park and I sent in a request for a tree next to my house. The people that they interview do not represent the community. Please don’t stereotype
must_hock: leave it to you to bring R’ Miller into this!!! but I happened to agree with you on this one. trees are beautiful and healthy, and if we have to or want to live in the city for whatever reason then the least we could do is add a few trees to improve the air…
anyone against it should probly visit lakewood and monsey for a couple of hours… i know how fast you’ll change your mind…
trees help keep the air cleaner, they give shade and are beautiful. Isn’t that worth the price of having to rake the leaves? If they plant deep rooted trees that won’t push up the sidewalks that would be good too.
I think that if the city plants those trees they should have the responsibility of fixing the cracked sidewalks, raking the leaves etc. I’m all for trees and I’m all for their owner (the city) caring for them.
to all who say “chassidishe”.. i dont know of “chassidishe” who are against trees and flowers..so what is that “tachas” (underlying factor )that you throw in “chassisdishe”, how do you know that lady is “chassidishe”? also to #1..eretz yisroel the torah sais b’ferish you should keep nice see bamidbar 35 posuk 3,4,5, but regardless, torah doesnt require to live in goules surrounded by mud, also not al pi chassidus..(anyone knows otherwise please bring rayeo)..walk thru BP you’ll see almost all houses with nice flowers etc. etc so please dont bang a teapot about “chassidishe”
to #25..no,the city gives you a presant, to make your neighborhood look nice. they dont have too tend it for you..
Reread the specific issues mentioned. The narrowing of sidewalks and cracked sidewalks. Nobody ever accused the city agency responsible for planting the trees of being rocket scientists. Trees HAVE been planted in areas that are too tight to begin with, while 20 feet up the block there is more space to plant a tree. Tress not planted properly (or even if planted properly) can have roots come up and cause problems to the sidewalk, problems which the city FORCES THE HOMEOWNERS to repair, often at thousands of dollars at a time.
There are 2 sides to every story. It appears that some who commented did not even read one side before jumping all over “the hassidishe” or “the people of BP”.
#3 – if you have a plan that enables shorter, more spacious homes at the same time providing more space for a growing community through the Planting of Trees on the street, do share… I’m sure all Boro Parkers would love to hear it, lol
YMN, should certainly shoulder some of the blame for many of the negative knee jerk reactions and comments about the residents of Boro Park.
“Borough Park Residents Want Trees To Leave” implies exactly what the headline says. there are no quotes from those in favor. No statistics about how many people are against trees. The blurbs quoted paint a one way picture with perhaps a very wide brush, when in fact it should have made clear that SOME BP residents have issues with trees in certain places.
Does anyone here want a tree planted right next to their driveway making for a very difficult and tight squeeze getting in and out? Does that mean this very same person doesnt want trees? Perhaps 2 feet over is fone. We certainly wont know it from the comments cited by YWN.
YWN for its part, does what all media players do. They have headlines that catch your attention. If they cant catch your attention, you wont read the article.
They should know what trees are?!?! Most of them think grass is NOT something which is planted around the house!
just walked along my street asked each neighbor ,not one was against trees. maybe should go to 59 st..knwo that block. full of new houses and beautiful flowers and TREES..hello out there Msr. “CHASSISISHE”!
There are most definitely two sides to every story. Besides homeowners being responible for cracked sidewalks, there are many cases where the roots of the tree gets into the sewer system of the nearby house. I know of homeowners who have to cut the roots of the trees every year or else they have a sewer back up.
I also live on 59th st. I wish he puts some behind my house. So these huge skyscrapers that are continuesly coming to BP dont look in to my cholent…
everybody whos posted on this blog obviously as too much time on their hands. if only there was a way that you could give it to me instead… I mean, talking about trees cracking the sidewalks, raking leaves, cmon. learn, do some chesed, and get off the internet
trees cause sidewalk damages causing elderly to fall and injure themselves as well as roots causing plumbing problems. In a city where the trees would be quite close to a home this is a recipe for problems. In a rural area where the homes are set back enough the problem is not as severe.
In a city setting trees cause sidewalks to go crazy leading to people falling and getting injured. It also damages plumbing lines. We love trees but we love people more.
It looks like the city has alot of money suddenly. To buy trees and to pay for the crews, ect. I love trees, but how about using this money to pay for things that the city really needs.?
it is unfortunate that most of the posters here usually do not have any shame about there adaptation of goyisha stadards as opposed to Jewish standards. They attack people (usually chasidim and chareidim) for not supporting their level of goyishkeit. Allow me to be mai’iz ponim and quote the Rambam verbatim:
הלכות שכנים פרק עשירי
א. מרחיקין את האילן מן העיר כ”ה אמה ובחרוב ובשקמה חמשים אמה מפני נויי העיר וכל אילן הנמצא קרוב לעיר פחות מזה קוצצין אותו ואם האילן קדם נותנין לו בני העיר דמיו ואם היה הדבר ספק ולא נודע אי זה מהם קדם אין לבעל האילן דמים אלא נוטל עציו והולך
I have no doubt that the posters will continue to attack the Rambam’s position because: The Rambam didn’t understand the Oxygen producing properties of trees; that cities didn’t look like they do today; trees back then were ugly; etc. Continue to go to “secular” universities, theatres. movies and museums and suck up that secular culture. When you want to be reminded of what Judaism is all about, just ask the person you criticize most and he’ll explain it to you.
Hey, I love trees, just not in front of my house, where the roots dig down all the way to the sewer main, slowly wrapping themselves and pushing the pipes outta whack.
twice a year I gotta get a sewer guy to grind the roots or the sewer ends up in my basement!!
# 33 HA SIT RIGHT!!!!!!!
Trees are beautiful but they cause problems to sewers when plants in front of a house in the city where the sewer line runs.
No body hates trees.