By Kelsey Durham
City officials have begun investigating why a row of trees owned by the city Parks Department was suddenly — and illegally — chopped down in Bayside.
Residents who live near the former Keil Bros. property, at 210-11 48th Ave., were shocked to see that five city-owned trees that previously lined the edge of the property were cut down last week. In their places, passers-by now see five short tree stumps where four ash trees and one American Sycamore used to stand.
The Parks Department released a statement last Friday that it was working with the NYPD to determine who cut the trees down and why.
“Arborcide is a serious crime that deprives communities of the cleaner air, cooler streets and additional oxygen that trees provide,” said Dorothy Lewandowski, the Queens parks commissioner.
The agency said all five trees were estimated to be about 30 years old and had a total value of more than $340,000. Lewandowski said the Parks Department and police would be seeking full restitution of that monetary value when the person in charge had been identified.
The property has taken center stage in recent months after Keil Bros. sold the lot last year to the city School Construction Authority, which has plans to build a new school on the site — a move that much of the community opposes.
The city Department of Education, which oversees the SCA, had no comment.
City Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens) also released a statement after hearing that the trees had been cut down and said he would do what he could to help find who was responsible.
“I am outraged to learn that five New York City trees on 48th Avenue in Bayside Hills have been unlawfully removed,” Weprin said. “Arborcide is a criminal offense and I will be working to support the Parks and Police departments to see that the perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
Michael Feiner, president of the Bayside Hills Civic Association, said his organization is outraged and has complained to elected officials in the area since hearing about the trees being removed. He said the civic group would continue to closely monitor whatever activity goes on at the site from now on.
The Parks Department said the stump of the American Sycamore tree was about 18 inches in diameter and the ash trees had stumps ranging from 28 to 32 inches in diameter. The agency was urging anyone with information about the incident to contact the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Reach reporter Kelsey Durham at 718-260-4573 or by e-mail at kdurham@cnglocal.com.
