{"id":4858,"date":"2009-05-17T11:12:27","date_gmt":"2009-05-17T16:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/?p=4858"},"modified":"2009-05-17T11:12:27","modified_gmt":"2009-05-17T16:12:27","slug":"the_million_tree_mafia_always_gets_its_way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/archives\/2009\/05\/the_million_tree_mafia_always_gets_its_way.html","title":{"rendered":"The Million Tree Mafia Always Gets Its Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

And there’s nothing you can do to stop them<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“Don’t worry, they won’t put another tree there,” a very nice city official assured her. <\/p>\n

With that pledge, Smith had the pit paved over at her own expense. She was understandably surprised to see a small bulldozer with a pavement-busting attachment take up position there Friday morning. <\/p>\n

“What are you doing?” Smith inquired from her front door. <\/p>\n

“We’re putting in a tree,” the man in charge said. <\/p>\n

“I didn’t ask for a tree,” Smith said. “I told them I didn’t want a tree there. Put it somewhere else.” <\/p>\n

“This is going here,” the man said. <\/p>\n

“I don’t want a tree there!” Smith exclaimed. “Who’s going to rake the leaves?” <\/p>\n

A particularly good-hearted neighbor, Nancy Cardozo, approached and attempted to intervene. <\/p>\n

“She doesn’t want a tree,” Cardozo noted. <\/p>\n

“Sorry, I have the contract and I have a big payroll,” the man replied. “I have to put the tree there.” <\/p>\n

The man’s tone remained remarkably amiable, even though Cardozo positioned herself in a way that might impede the work. <\/p>\n

“You can have the tree moved later,” he offered. <\/p>\n

“Wouldn’t it make more sense just to put it where we want it?” Cardozo inquired. <\/p>\n

“No, this is what I have to do,” he said. <\/p>\n

Cardozo dialed 311 from her cell phone. An operator informed her the city owns the sidewalk and has the right to put a tree there. <\/p>\n

“Who’s responsible if somebody slips on the leaves?” Cardozo inquired. <\/p>\n

“The homeowner,” the operator replied. <\/p>\n

The operator then connected Cardozo to somebody in the Parks Department who did not answer. Cardozo left a message that would not get a reply. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the man in charge was on his own cell phone to the Parks Department forestry office. He handed his phone to Cardozo. <\/p>\n

“The tree’s going in,” an instantly nasty forestry guy told Cardozo. “There’s nothing she can do about it.” <\/p>\n

Cardozo inquired if perhaps the work could be suspended until Smith spoke to the city. <\/p>\n

“Do you want me to send the police and have you arrested?” the forestry guy responded. <\/p>\n

“No, thank you, but I would like you to give me your name,” Cardozo said. <\/p>\n

“I need you to move,” the forestry guy said. <\/p>\n

“I need you to tell me your name,” Cardozo insisted. <\/p>\n

“You’ll find out my name soon enough,” the forestry guy said.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And there’s nothing you can do to stop them: “Don’t worry, they won’t put another tree there,” a very nice city official assured her. With that pledge, Smith had the pit paved over at her own expense. She was understandably surprised to see a small bulldozer with a pavement-busting attachment take up position there Friday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brooklyn","category-jerk_move"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4859,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4858\/revisions\/4859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}