City Hall Banner Drop Protesting Bloomberg's Tropical Hardwood Policy

A day before Earth Day's 40th anniversary,Tim Doody (l), 36 and Tim Keating, 50, of the group Rainforests of New York, climb flagpoles in City Hall Park to criticizing Mayor Bloomberg's use of endangered tropical hardwood for city projects including park benches.

Two protestors scaled flagpoles in City Hall Park yesterday to hang a banner demanding that the city stop using tropical hardwood for park benches and other projects, according to the New York Daily News. 

Tim Doody, 36, and Tim Keating, 50, drew a crowd as they hung their 150-square-foot banner from two poles at the south end of the park at 12:30 p.m.

"If Bloomberg Is So Green, Why Is NYC America's #1 Consumer of Rainforest Wood?" the sign read.

The protest, organized by Rainforest Relief and the New York Climate Action Group, aimed at pressuring the city to speed up its 20-year plan to end use of tropical wood.

"This is basic engineering. It's not rocket science," Doody said from his flagpole perch. "We don't need two decades. We can do better."

The group says the city could stop using rainforest wood for subway ties, boardwalks and benches in just two years. Organizer Steven Prestianni said City Hall has failed to do anything.

"The response is always: 'We're working on it,'" said Prestianni. "By the time their plan is finished, there won't be any tropical trees left."

Union Square is a sea of humanity on the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, shutting down car traffic at noon.

Read More:

Earth Day 2010: Environmentalists' big day is 40 years old,  but 

protests sprout anew in NYC & beyond

New York Daily News - April 22, 2010 - By Wil Cruz