A Walk in the Park: Cathryn Swan

Thursday, September 22, 2011

More Dying Trees

“There are two locations where the trees have been planted and replanted three times, and they’ve died all three times," said Cathryn Swan who has sounded the alarm in Washington Sq. Park.

NBC New York has discovered that a number of trees planted in city parks are dying, resulting in a poor landscape and wasted taxpayer dollars.

A number of trees planted in Queens Plaza Streetscape and in Washington Square Park have either died or are dying - resulting in a poor landscape and wasted taxpayer dollars. In Queens contractors working for EDC are nearly finished with a $46 million traffic redesign project, but 20 dead trees (above) have plagued the scenery. Eight trees have died in Washington Square Park over the last two years as part of a $30 million park renovation ushered in by the Bloomberg administration. Critics charge the trees were planted incorrectly and point to a lack oversight and bureaucracy.

Manhattan

When visitors go to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, they often lounge next to the famous fountain or admire the Washington Square Arch sitting at the south end of Fifth Avenue. What they may not notice just a few yards away from that renowned arch are the crispy brown leaves atop a dead tree, according to NBC News.

The sickly tree is one of eight that have died in the last two years. All of the doomed arbors were planted as part of a $30 million park renovation championed by the Bloomberg administration.

"The Parks Department is knowingly committing arborcide,” said Cathryn Swan, a neighbor who has been posting pictures of the dead trees on her website, the Washington Square Park Blog.

“There are two locations where the trees have been planted and replanted three times, and they’ve died all three times," Swan said. "I’m worried they’re going to plant those trees a fourth time. I just feel like it ends up being sort of heartbreaking.”

The New York City Parks Department said in a statement that it has experienced a series of "failed plantings" for the Zelkova trees in the area around the park plaza.

"We are investigating potential causes of why trees are not surviving here and will conduct soil tests, examine the drainage, and determine if there is a problem with this particular species," the statement said.

Professional arborist Ralph Padilla (left) diagnosed the planting problem as relatively simple. "It was planted incorrectly," he said after examining the dead tree near the arch. "It was planted too deep."

“The giveaway is that all trees, before they enter the soil flare out slightly at the base,” he added.

The dead tree near the arch does not flare out at all, Padilla said. He said it was possible that private contractors or parks personnel repeated the mistake by burying the root balls of eight trees too far beneath the soil, suppressing oxygen supply. When roots are submerged too deeply, recent transplants can die.

Meanwhile, just over the East River, withered wood is being plucked from another green space. At the Queens Plaza Streetscape, contractors are nearly finished with a $46 million traffic redesign project, but 20 dead trees have plagued the scenery.

The New York City Economic Development Corporation, which manages the project, says the trees are under warranty and will be replaced free of charge. However, because city rules only allow planting during certain seasonal windows, that part of the project is stalled.

washington_square_dead_tree_6North

Washington Square Park - Northern End. "With all the talk about “MillionTreesNYC” in our city, one blogger wrote on the Washington Square Park Blog, it’s really “OneMillionDeadTrees”. Another p.r. ruse put forth by our Mayor — the plan lacks any built-in initiative to maintain the “million” trees planted on neighborhood streets." (Photo: Courtesy: Washington Square Park Blog)

A Parks Department source told NBC New York six of the eight dead trees in Washington Square Park are under warranty, so the replacement cost will be just $3,000.

Still, critics say time is money. Cathryn Swan blames poor oversight and bureaucracy for the bungled plantings. Each time a tree fails to take root, contractors must wait for the next seasonal window to re-plant. Already, the Washington Square Park renovation has lasted nearly four years. The phase of the project that includes the dead trees was supposed to be wrapped up by 2009.

“People talk about bureaucracy and city government. You want to believe there are people who will step in and stop the bureaucracy sometimes, but with something like this it is clear that is not happening,” Swan said.

NBC News - September 21, 2011 - By Chris Glorioso

City Finally Looking Into Cause Of Multiple Tree Deaths In Washington Sq. Park
A Walk In The Park - August 25, 2011

Thursday, August 25, 2011

City Finally Looking Into Cause Of Multiple Tree Deaths In Washington Sq. Park

Dying Tree - Washington Sq. North. Thanks to the Washington Square Park Blog who has written extensively about the issue, the city has finally agreed to look into the cause of multiple trees that have died since the park's controversial renovation. The park was redesigned by unlicensed Parks Department landscape architect - and real estate agent - George Vellonakis. Mr. Vellonakis has since gotten his landscape license. (Photos By Cathryn Swan)

Manhattan

GREENWICH VILLAGE — Trees in Washington Square Park have been mysteriously dying ever since the famed greenspace was redesigned — and some nature lovers are trying to get to the bottom of the problem, according to DNAinfo.

Eight trees have died in Washington Square Park since May 2009 — all Zelkovas, a type of elm — near the park's fountain, a Parks Department official said Tuesday. Four have already been removed and four others have been identified as dead or dying.

"We have experienced a series of failed plantings for the Zelkova trees in the area around Washington Square Park’s plaza," a Parks spokesman said. "We are investigating potential causes of why trees are not surviving here and will conduct soil tests, examine the drainage and determine if there is a problem with this particular species."

Reconstruction of the park's fountain and plaza began in December 2007 and concluded in May 2009, according to the agency.

Northern end of the park. "With all the talk about “MillionTreesNYC” in our city, as one blogger on the Washington Square Park Blog wrote, it’s really “OneMillionDeadTrees”. Another p.r. ruse put forth by our Mayor — the plan lacks any built-in initiative to maintain the “million” trees planted on neighborhood streets."

The redesign of Washington Square Park began in 2007 and eliminated dozens of trees more than 40 years old. A lawsuit was unsuccessful in preventing this destruction.

The trees that died were planted during the rehab efforts, which moved the fountain about 20 feet to the east so that it would align with the arch. Dozens of older trees were removed in the process.

One expert, Bronx-based arborist Ralph Padilla, 50, said he thought the Zelkova trees — which a Parks Department official said have a history of success in the city — had been planted incorrectly.

"It seems pretty obvious that this is an instance of a tree being planted too deeply," he said after looking at photographs. "Even though tree roots are underground, they need oxygen to survive. If they're too low into the ground, they will suffocate."

Padilla, who has cared for city trees for more than 20 years, said the Zelkova trees in the park that are already dying don't have much of a chance of survival.

"If the canopy is green, it has a good chance. But if the leaves are all wilted, there's no coming back. It's too far gone," he said.

Four trees that have been removed were replaced for free by the contractor who planted them, according to a Parks Department official. The other four trees need to be replaced by the city for approximately $1,500 each.

Cathryn Swan, who has tracked the park's trees on Washington Square Park Blog for more than three years, said multiple experts have told her the trees are dying because of inadequate drainage or having been planted too deep.

Swan, a Brooklyn resident who started her blog when she heard that the park's redesign would chop down trees more than 40 years old, said she thinks political issues are the real problem in the park, though.

"Every business and city agency has its own level of politics, and this problem is due to internal politics," she said. "People don't want to upset the designer, and so they're not speaking out."

Longtime architect and real estate agent George Vellonakis, who oversaw the park's redesign, did not respond to requests for comment.

The Washington Square Park tree battle has deep roots. A group called the Emergency Coalition to Save Washington Square Park lost a 2007 lawsuit to stop the extensive reconstruction plans that resulted in the cutting down of about 32 trees.