Not-so-green streets

Now that one of the young trees at the triangle on Lincoln and Flatbush is dead and gone, the "green street" is now host to but one sad and lonely evergreen. Both trees there were hit by a car a few weeks ago.

When I first noticed the fallen trees and went to look at them, a passerby told me not to worry, that the Lefferts Manor Association maintains this space and would fix it. According to someone on the Lefferts email list, the Parks Department is responsible.

Whether any person or group does in fact maintain this space remains a mystery. Even before the trees were hit, the small garden resembled a scraggly brown patch. When I talked to someone at the Parks Department last summer, the rep told me that the Parks Department can only handle initial plantings and that it's up to community members to maintain street trees and green streets.

So what shall become of Lincoln's little green street? If the green space is effectively orphaned — as I suspect it is — it'll stay that way until someone volunteers to care for it.

Any takers?

Comments

[tomg]

If there was some funding, a nice tree guard type low fence would be nice. This little triangle is very vulnerable

[Matt Power]

It's funny, if you look at this little triangle on gmap, it's the natural point of the larger triangle described by the botanic garden. That seems kind of auspicious for taking care of it. Now if we could just bulldoze the BP station and turn that into a park...

[momos]

If a car crashes into private property the driver must pay a claim to cover the costs.

Why isn't it the case that if a car crashes into a tree planted and paid for by a public agency that the driver must similarly pay to replant what he destroyed?

Seeing that fallow triangle is a sad reminder of how we (de)value public space in NYC.

[Bob M]

I don't think there's any question that the driver must pay IF he/she can be identified. However, I doubt that the perpetrator of this particular arborcide waited around after the collision. The poor flowering victim was too small to have rendered the vehicle undrivable.

[Matthew]

I will help plant and help purchase a tree for our little pizza slice of green.

who else is in?

m