Need a Tree Pruned? Just Wait 10 Years!

April 27, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
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Bay Ridge — If you’re waiting for the city to prune the tree on the sidewalk outside your house, you’re going to have to be very patient!
 
Budget cuts to the city’s Parks Department have caused serious cutbacks in services such as tree pruning, removal of tree stumps, and tree inspections, according to Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann.
 
Beckmann said the budget cuts have forced the agency to cut back on its street tree pruning schedule. 
 
“The tree pruning schedule is now up to 10 years — up from seven years,” Beckmann said.
 
It is also taking longer for the Parks Dept. to remove tree stumps from sidewalks, Beckmann said. 
 
“Oversized tree stumps are now taking years to be removed. We have a growing number of tree stump-related requests,” she said.
 
Residents have to wait longer — sometimes several weeks — to have a tree inspected to ensure that it is not diseased, Beckmann said.
 
“The time it takes for a tree inspection request to be logged has increased from only a few days to several weeks,” she said. “We are really beginning to feel budget reductions and service impacts to Parks Department-related requests.”
Officials at the Parks Dept. did not return phone calls.

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