CITY PLANS TO CHOP TREES FOR FT. GREENE PARK REDESIGN, DECLINES TO SAY HOW MANY

Parks Department lumberjacks will be chopping down trees in Fort Greene Park as part of a recently-relaunched $24 million makeover

The group’s first lawsuit in 2017 revealed that officials lied about many of the trees being sick and near-death to advance their plans, and Braun worried that the city might try and do the same again in the name of aesthetics.

“Obviously the trees that are in truly bad shape, you don’t want a tree falling on somebody, nobody objects to that,” said Braun. “We would oppose the removal of healthy mature shade trees for design purposes.”

An attorney representing the locals opposed to the tree removal demanded that the city allow for full transparency, as well as sufficient input for neighbors. “It is clear that the prior plan for the Park required the Parks Department to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement prior to approving any project for the Park,” said Richard Lippes in a statement.

Residents Demand Answers From City On Embattled Fort Greene Park Revamp

the agency recently adjusted the proposal’s timeline, scheduling the completion of the procurement process for November 2020. / That would pave the way for a 12-18 month construction process, and the city’s apparent moves to plough ahead stunned the activists. / “It just shows that the Parks Commissioner [Mitchell Silver] is forcing through this unpopular and legally questionable proposal of his.”

A lawyer for Friends of Fort Greene Park said last week that officials need to address the judge’s order before they can proceed.

“They have to produce a piece of paper [saying] why they believe that they’re not subject to SEQR,” said Michael Gruen. “All of this the court said must be addressed and the court isn’t going to guess how Parks comes out on it, it’s up to the Parks Department to think it through and express it in an intelligent way.”

Friends of Fort Greene Park and Gruen in August launched a blitz of document requests from city and state agencies about the project, but they have yet to get any files

The residents group previously successfully sued the agency, when a judge ruled that the Department had lied about the health of dozens of the trees to advance their plan, and another local opponent of the plan worried that the agency was again looking to override their concerns.

“It just goes to show you the lengths they’re willing to go through while being untruthful,” said Monique Cumberbatch a resident of the Kingsview Homes cooperative housing complex adjacent to the park.

State Pol Calls On City To Rethink Embattled Fort Greene Park Redesign

“We don’t want to take out trees that have longevity in front of them and replace them with immature trees that would take decades to become mature,” Assemblyman Walter Mosley said. “It is critical that we try to preserve as much as we can of our existing green space and make those investments in a prudent way.”

The section of the park, which sits across an expanse of public housing, hasn’t seen significant investment since the 1970s — unlike the southern half facing more well-heeled Dekalb Avenue — but locals in the past worried that the city’s plan would spur gentrification.

The Battle of Fort Greene - Landscape Architecture Magazine

For generations, the towering trees in the northwest corner have sheltered the outdoor celebrations of residents from the New York City Housing Authority apartments located directly across the street.

“This is the reason I stayed in Brooklyn,” says Stacy Williams, who has lived in the Ingersoll Houses for the past 28 years. Nearby, her granddaughter played on Bye’s mounds. “Any function, this is the park to go to.” ... A city proposal would remove the mounds for a pedestrian thoroughfare, creating space for vendors and events.

as her granddaughter played atop the grass-topped mounds, Williams was dismayed that the landforms would be replaced with concrete ... "The park don’t really need this glamorous thing you’re putting in it.”

Source: Enjoy and support Landscape Architecture Magazine by visiting the official website here.

Author: Tom Stoelker

City to appeal Fort Greene Park state judge’s order

City legal eagles filed a notice of appeal on Feb. 13 against state Supreme Court Judge Julio Rodriguez III’s January order for the agency to produce evidence that their $10.5 million park overhaul — which includes felling 83 trees — wouldn’t have a significant impact on the neighborhood’s namesake lawn, siding with local environmental advocates.

Fort Greene Park Trees Get Stay Of Execution

“The Parks Department fell short in its responsibilities to be transparent and accountable throughout its Parks Without Borders design process,” said Friends of Fort Greene President Ling Hsu of the ruling.

“Thankfully, Fort Greene residents came together and prevailed in two lawsuits in a row, saving mature trees from the meaningless destruction the city intended to begin in 2018. The ruling is a reminder to the Parks Department to resume its role as a steward of greenery for the community at historic Fort Greene Park,” she added.

Fort Greene Park Trees Saved As Locals Beat City In Court

Friends of Fort Greene Park — local advocates fighting plans to tear down 83 trees in the Brooklyn green space — won the second of two lawsuits against the Park Department in New York State Supreme Court last week, the group announced.

"This decision should awaken the Department to reality," said legal advisor Michael Gruen. "Environmental regulation is not enacted to be evaded as if it were merely an annoyance."

Georgette Poe, an FFGP member and resident of nearby NYCHA housing, celebrated the ruling as a victory for the public housing community, as the plan would have cut down 58 mature trees in the northwest section nearest the Ingersoll and Whitman houses.

"The City came in, didn't ask us what we needed and then didn't listen to the neighborhood," said Poe. "[They] wanted to take our park away, telling us we're not welcome anymore."

"It just doesn't make sense," said FFGP member Arija Flowers. "Parks are supposed to be about trees and green spaces, birds and bees. We don't need another paved plaza."

City's plan to remove trees from Fort Greene Park hits a snag

And though the letter says that about 267 replacement trees will be planted in Fort Greene Park, “it does not provide any explanation as to its reasoning in determining that neither the destruction of apparently healthy trees nor the addition of trees throughout the park has the potential for an adverse impact,” the judge said in his ruling.

The final reason the letter is deficient is that “there is no real explanation as to why [the Parks Department] concluded there is no possibility of any negative aesthetic and cultural impacts or of negative impacts to the neighborhood character,” the judge wrote.

Judge Halts City's Plan To Raze Dozens Of Trees In Fort Greene Park

In a key victory for community activists and tree lovers, a state Supreme Court judge has ordered the city to reassess a fiercely contested renovation of a beloved Brooklyn park that would have razed more than 80 trees.

In a statement, Kate Bartholomew, chair of the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club, said, “It is heartening to see that Justice Rodriguez also recognizes that the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation failed to adequately assess the implications of its design decision when choosing to move forward with a plan to alter and renew Fort Greene Park."

Controversy over Fort Greene Park’s redesign inspires art installation

An artist has stepped up to support activists who are fighting to save trees and historic design features the city plans to tear down in Fort Greene Park.

Oosterlaken told the Brooklyn Eagle the concept for her art installation started with a broad question: Who should be designing public spaces?

While doing random research, she wound up reading about the Parks Without Borders program and the controversy it sparked in Fort Greene. She sought out the Friends of Fort Greene Park to find out more about the issue.

“The main thing that was wrong was that people didn’t feel listened to,” Oosterlaken said she discovered. “I believe there are ways to change the park — but it shouldn’t be done this way.”

It’s an enormous illustration, inscribed with quotes from local residents about what the park means to them and what they think should and shouldn’t be done to change it.

“We need repairs. We should preserve the natural beauty of the park,” one inscription says.

NYC ‘Parks Without Borders’ program draws controversy

Of nine park-goers who said they lived nearby, seven had heard of plans to renovate the park, and only one expressed unambivalent enthusiasm about the changes. Other opinions included “They should leave the park alone” and “They’re trying to throw us out of the park.”

“I’ve been here over 50 years, and now they want to take down the trees and do changes,” said a man walking his bike between the mounds. Terri Ball, who has family in the Whitman houses, said she’s happy about the repairs, but hates to see those grassy mounds go. “I’ve attended two or three weddings on the mounds,” said Ball.

Fort Greene Park Tree Sacrifice -- City must axe Fort Greene Park trees to make way for new life: Park steward

The city wants to destroy a total of 83 trees, , 52 to make way for a grand paved plaza

according to Fletcher, who said the felled trees will be largely replaced by a so-called “understory garden”

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.

Read the Comments (PDF)

"Disappeared" comments...?! In case you missed it, because of new media ownership, the Brooklyn Paper story -10/8/19--written by Kevin Duggan about the Fort Greene Conservancy's new director trying to justify the 'axing' of trees in Fort Greene Park, no longer has the many neighborhood comments to that story available to be read. The article itself remains accessible-but the reactions of outrage & disbelief about the plan are disappeared.

The following are some of the notable comments we were able to capture before they were eliminated. They are worth reading."

Read the Comments (PDF)

‘Save our trees’ advocates have their day in court

The city’s redesign of Fort Greene Park calls for a plaza with 13,300 square feet of impermeable paving to replace grass mounds designed by artist A.E. Bye.

Lippes included a Parks Department flyer in his court filings that says, “A large, healthy tree removes almost 70 times more air pollution each year than a small, newly planted tree.”

The Parks Department’s plan to cut down 83 trees “shows the City of New York does not care about how they will affect people in black and brown communities,” one of the supporters, Georgette Poe, told the Brooklyn Eagle. “They want to make Fort Greene Park look like Washington, D.C., with paving and a monument,” said Poe, who lives in the Walt Whitman Houses. “We’re Brooklyn. We need our shade.”

Fort Greene Park Report Shows City Ignored Architect's Advice

The city didn't follow a landscape architect's recommendations in their renovation plans for Fort Greene Park and then tried to hide those recommendations from the public

"We couldn't help but wonder what the text under all those black splotches said, and why the Parks Department would not want us to see it," attorney Michael Gruen said. "The more adamantly they refused, the more curious we became. In the end, we learned that the report gave sensible advice — and Parks refused to follow it."

"The recommendations from an expert of Nancy Owens' caliber are in line with community feedback.," FFGP President Ling Hsu said. "Over 500 petitioners have said all along to repair, not to pave over greenery with a hardscape plaza for commercial events in our beloved park."

Little guys win big: City must give locals complete report related to Ft. Greene Park’s redesign, judge rules

“You wonder why on earth the Parks Department was so insistent on removing about one-third of the report,” the attorney said. “I think that there are clearly flaws with the design of the park, and the concept of removing a very large number of trees.”

The ruling isn’t just a win for the locals, according to Gruen, who said the decision benefits everyone seeking information from public officials.

Residents Protest Fort Greene Park Renovation Plan

Brittany Brandon, an Ingersoll Houses resident, said, "My child has been playing here for as long as I can remember. "With the plaza being here, it's going to disrupt all those things that our kids love."

"This is what keeps the community together," said Joe Brown, who lives in the projects across Myrtle Avenue. Brown said that leveling the mounds would discourage his neighbors from coming to the park. "By doing that, you kinda segregate the community."

Parks Commish "Spin" Class For Workers After Disastrous Ft.Greene Pk Redesign Community Meeting

"This is clearly Silver. He wants to take one of the oldest parks in the city and remake it, leave his stamp."

Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver is receiving some major pushback on his proposed redesign of Ft. Greene Park as part of his Parks Without Borders initiative. Rebuffed by strong community opposition a month earlier at a Parks' Community Input Meeting, an "angry" Silver presided over a more than two hour lecture for park employees at the Queens theater on, at least in part, how to "spin" public opposition to unpopular projects.

During the lecture Silver blamed the community’s poor reaction not on the plan but instead on the park employees who presented it, according to several Parks Department employees who attended.

Longtime residents: Don’t gentrify Fort Greene Park

Plans to makeover Fort Greene Park must include perks for the people who live in the public housing complexes surrounding it and shouldn’t just create a fancy facade to make the meadow look good for gentrifiers, neighbors demanded at a meeting on Wednesday night.

“We don’t want a vanity project, we don’t want a promenade, we don’t want more pavement,” said one Fort Greener to Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Marty Maher, who led the meeting. “We want more grass, more intimate spaces, we want more recreational opportunities for our kids and seniors. This is everyone’s backyard.”

Neighbors feel left out of Ft. Greene Park makeover

“It would seem that the priority is to cater to the new luxury unit residents on Myrtle Avenue,” said local Sandy Reiburn in a letter to park steward group the Fort Greene Park Conservancy, which supports the changes. “Further discussions about monies spent and a redesign that seems more about social engineering than about the best and most welcoming use of our park are warranted.”

“Half of us black folks didn’t even know that you had a meeting in November — I certainly didn’t,” said one local from the Whitman Houses at the February gathering.