Williamsburg and Greenpoint residents attending last weeks Community Board 1 meeting voiced concerns about trees that get planted by the city and aren’t maintained.

And trees whose roots grow under sidewalks and buckle them.

And trees whose branches fall, creating potential hazards for senior citizens.

These concerns, and more, were among the chorus of complaints residents voiced in reaction to a city official’s presentation of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s MillionTreesNYC initiative, under which 5,400 new trees would be planted in Brooklyn by next spring.

Not so fast, residents said.

“I understand that they want to put the trees in, but they have to maintain them,” a resident who has waited two years for the city to remove the stump in front of her house, said.

The trees the city planted in front of her home four years ago have lifted the sidewalk.

But CB 1, which has the fifth lowest number of trees planted among Brooklyn’s 18 districts – at 9,351, that’s only 54 percent of the available tree pits – needs more trees, said Eric Peterson, the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation manager.

The residents had more immediate concerns.

When the a resident called 311 to get the stump outside her home removed, she was told the city didn’t have any money and she would have to wait.

“We have people on a seven-year list waiting for their tree to be pruned. You need to deal with tree pruning and stump removal before planting trees,” another resident told Peterson.

Trees are a trip hazard,” a board member said.

Peterson acknowledged some problems with tree maintenance. A month ago there were 22 stumps still to be removed in the neighborhood, he said.

(Source: NYC News Service)