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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, OCTOBER 13, 2019
PARK STEWARD PUSHES ABORICIDE PLOT
Head of Fort Greene Park conservancy backs city scheme to destroy 83 trees
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
These trees must die so that
others may live!
The leader of a nonprofit
dedicated to maintaining
Fort Greene Park
came out in favor of a
controversial scheme
hatched by the Parks Department
to chop down
dozens of trees at the beloved
green space, saying
the trees targeted for destruction
are preventing
other, better plants from
taking root.
“Its roots and canopy
are so dense with the
shade, that things don’t
grow underneath it. So
yes, we like trees, but
these types of trees are
not friendly to other types
of plants and habitats,”
said Rosamond Fletcher,
the executive director of
the Fort Greene Conservancy,
a non-profit that
works closely with the
city on the park’s upkeep
and for hosting events
there.
The city wants to destroy
a total of 83 trees, 52
to make way for a grand
paved plaza at the Myrtle
Avenue and St. Edwards
Street corner of Fort
Greene Park, and another
31 to accommodate a redesign
the park near Myrtle
Avenue and Washington
Park.
But the plan hit a roadblock
after local residents
and environmentalists
filed a lawsuit against
the city in state Supreme
Court in April , demanding
officials conduct an
environmental review of
their plaza scheme to determine
whether replacing
trees with concrete
paving would create a
hot zone that could negatively
affect surrounding
wildlife.
But the idea that the
Parks Department wants
to replace a crop of trees
with nothing but concrete
is nonsense, according
to Fletcher, who said the
felled trees will be largely
replaced by a so-called
“understory garden” consisting
of younger trees,
shurbs, and ferns that
will help prevent erosion
and provide a better habitat
for Brooklyn’s birds
and bugs.
“They help other trees
with their roots, they help
with habitats for birds
and pollinators and all of
that good stuff,” she said.
“When we think about
the environmental health
of the park, we’re not just
thinking about the health
of the trees, we’re thinking
about everything.”
An attorney for
the plaintiffs accused
Fletcher of trying to help
the city dodge a transparent
environmental review,
saying if the city
was so interested in creating
an ecological wonderland,
their laywers
might have mentioned
the vaunted understory
garden during oral arguments
held last month.
“They’re just coming
up with some rationale
for what they’re doing and
they keep thinking of reasons
to support their position
to not do an environmental
review, which is
untenable,” said Richard
Lippes. “The undergrowth
issue was never made by
the Parks Department in
their oral arguments.”
Instead, the city is really
just interested in
ramming through its chosen
design regardless of
the environmental hazards,
according to Lippes,
who noted a previous lawsuit
regarding the plaza
plan that revealed Parks
Department claim that
the trees were targeted
due to poor health was a
bald-faced lie .
“You’ve got mature
trees that give excellent
shade which cannot be replaced
for 30-40 years if
you plant new trees,” he
said.
Fort Greene Park Conservancy Executive Director Rosamond
Fletcher points out a young Elm which allows for understory gardens
around its base. Photo by Kevin Duggan
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