Board 7 Debates Tree Preservation
BY RICHARD GENTILVISO

In 1913, the poet Joyce Kilmer wrote, "I think I shall never see/A poem lovely as a tree". The poem, "Trees", although frequently targeted by critics for its treacly sentimentality, has stood over time as anthem to the beauty and power of trees.

Community Board 7 struggled with both the sentiment and reality concerning trees in an increasingly urban environment when it debated a resolution calling on the city to protect all trees 25 years or older and/or 2 inches or more in diameter from indiscriminate cut-down or destruction on both public and private land.

Kim Ohanian, chair of the parks committee, said the resolution was needed to prevent the destruction of 80- to 100-year old trees. "We agree [with Mayor Michael Bloomberg] that New York City's environment depends on a greener New York," she said. "We are proposing regulations that recognize the importance of trees. It is in the best public interests to control the removal of trees."

However, the committee's motion to approve the resolution ran into difficulty during discussion and was tabled by a vote of 27 to 12 at the Board 7 May meeting, held in Flushing.

"We're describing new procedures that DEP [Department of Environmental Protection] and Parks [Department] have to comply with," said Board Member Bob LoPinto. "How's a developer ever going to clear a site?"

"Do you feel that this is infringing on people's individual rights?" asked Board Member Arnold Wagner.

Not far from where the board meets on Union Street, a homeowner at 146-15 Bayside Ave. recently came under attack for cutting down seven trees between 70 and 100 years old. The property, landmarked by the city on September 20, 2005, is known as the Ginsberg Mansion.

According to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the mansion is a "rare 1920s" tudor revival style structure that was designed by architect John Oakman and constructed in 1924. Originally built for Charles and Florence Fitzgerald, the house was sold to Ethel and Morris Ginsberg in 1926. Ethel Ginsberg lived in the home until her death at age 101 in 2003.

The current owner, the Reverend Myung Ok Kim, told the Daily News on May 9 that he cut the trees because they were blocking sunlight, causing an accumulation of mildew on his roof and moisture that was rotting window sills and a cellar door.

Chuck Wade, a former member of Board 7 and current member of the Holly Civic Association and president of the Voelker-Orth Museum told the Daily News that included in the seven downed trees were two rare ironwoods and an "evergreen worthy of Rockefeller Center at Christmas".

A spokesperson for the Landmarks Preservation Commission told the Daily News that trees and other vegetation at landmarked sites are not usually regulated. However, the spokesperson also said that trees in Douglaston, a landmarked district in Queens, are regulated.

"We're concerned about old growth being wiped out, right and left," said Wade at the May 14 board meeting. "The city is promoting the planting of half a million new trees, but our old trees are a national treasure that we have to protect."

Kilmer, killed in 1918 during World War 1 at age 31, agreed. "Poems are made by fools like me But only God can make a tree."