Regarding your April 5-11 article “Parks needs to better care for trees,” we need to take care of our trees for many reasons and need to hire more staff.
If tree maintenance work is contracted out, as the writer seems to suggest, then the workers must be trained properly.
Contracted maintenance workers of parks and trees are not of the same caliber as city Parks Department staff or MillionTreesNYC staff.
After Hurricane Sandy, contracted workers did a great quantity of work but without any regard for trees. They ran over small trees planted not too long ago with trucks, left the bark off large trees and created new trails all over our parks with logs they cut. Why do we need to kill more trees?
Why create new trails when we have many already established? To keep our trees beautiful, we need to work and work hard.
Teach park-goers to observe the rules and regulations of our parks.
We have a hardworking mayor in terms of trees and public parks. Under his leadership we have a knowledgeable, supportive and hardworking parks staff, MillionTreesNYC staff and an excellent parks commissioner. What more can we ask for?
Now, let us do our part to keep city trees and parks healthy and beautiful. Teach and observe park rules and regulations and help trees grow. It is our job as concerned citizens, not the mayor’s alone.
Let us enjoy our parks, not dig up nor take things from parks or kill trees.
Okja Cho
Glen Oaks Village
