By Maria Florez
This real story began eight years ago when the owners of 974 Park Place moved into their home. In front of their house was an overgrown tree whose tree roots had completely broken up the sidewalk. The owners wanted to repair the sidewalk but quickly realized that the tree and its overgrown roots needed first to be remediated by the NYC Parks Department. Under NYC law, it is considered a felony for a citizen to cut down a tree or modify a tree in any way.
Over the course of eight years, the owner reached out to the Parks Department Tree & Sidewalk Repair Division, at first, through 311 and then subsequently by email. During those eight years, the Parks Division’s standard response was that contractors approved by them to perform sidewalk repair had for various reasons not performed successfully under their contracts and as a result been terminated.
With no contractors and contracts, there was no one to perform sidewalk repair in all of Brooklyn and also no money in the budget. All of this was made more frustrating by the fact that the tree and sidewalk issue at 974 Park Place had the highest rating in terms of being dangerous for trip and falls.
Given the state of the tree and tree roots with the ongoing deteriorating condition of the sidewalk, the owner reached out to Michelle George, Community Board 8 Division Manager, to see if she could help facilitate the repair of the sidewalk. Michelle positively responded to the owner’s plight and quickly organized a meeting with Parks, DEP and DOT to review the issue.
In September, representatives from the three agencies met with Michelle and the owner at 974 Park Place to inspect the tree and sidewalk. The Parks rep indicated that this was the worst tree and sidewalk repair issue he had ever seen and that he would get back to the owner within 24 hours with some sort of plan. As of today, there has been no follow-up from that meeting.
This tree and sidewalk issue creates a potentially dangerous trip-and-fall scenario for the block and the community. The Parks Department should be held accountable for properly maintaining the trees they plant to ensure a safe pathway for pedestrians. It is unacceptable that they have for eight years been unable to successfully engage sidewalk contractors for all of Brooklyn. Where have all those Park Budget dollars for their unsuccessful contracts gone that they claim to have no money to repair the most dangerous overgrown trees?
Maria Florez is a long time Crown Heights resident who work as the Manager of a Family Office. She lives with her husband and two children, who are both in college, directly in front of the tree in question. She has been trying to get action on the issue for over seven years.
