The Manhattan Tree Project

The Manhattan Tree Project 310 West 77th Street New York City 10024 FROM: Jac Radoff August 26, 2016...Continue reading

In June 2015, Mr. de Blasio disgraced himself in front of a Vatican sponsored environmental conference. He tried to mislead the Church about the direction of his own policies in New York. Does Mr. de Blasio think Pope Francis and other Vatican officials, and senior Church officials are so self absorbed that they cannot stay focused on the willful destruction of Central Park’s National Historic landscape in New York City by Michael R. Bloomberg and Mayor de Blasio?

Repeated Digging in Tree Pits Causes Serious Injury To Mature City Shade Trees This complaint is about my wrongful detention by the NYC police. Who caused the police to detain me? But mostly this complaint is about my alleged need of ‘mental evaluation,’ a decision made prior to the arrival of the two police officers at 310 West 77th Street, on May 14, 2016, at a little before noon. Disagreement with the park policies of Mr. de Blasio is not a reason to be detained by t...Continue reading

In Rome last July, Mr. de Blasio told Pope Francis and other leaders assembled for a Vatican sponsored Climate Change Conference, according to the NYTIn an impassioned speech, Mr. de Blasio praised the recent papal encyclical on the destructive effects of climate change, saying the pope’s writing burns with urgency. And he commended Francis for resisting powerful corporate interests, saying that the pontiff had awakened people across the globe to the dangers we face as...Continue reading

‘Disrupting and Destroying Street Tree Root Systems, by Annual Digging in the Block’s Tree Pits, Is Not Good For The Health of Block’s Shade Trees.’ [Is Arguing This Point to My Ignorant Neighbors A Valid Reason For the Police (or The de Blasio Administration) To Require Either My Mental Evaluation and/or My Incarceration In A Mental Hospital?] There are pertinent questions which should be answered by any amateur tree pit gardeners before they begin disturbing and digging up... the root systems of the block's mature shade trees: How often will the digging occur? Will digging be repeated year after year? How deep will they dig? What kind of tools will they use? How carefully will they use the tools? Will the (soil) grade be raised? Will more and unnecessary soil be added to the tree pit? Will new and harmful structures be built in or around the tree pit to contain or hold the new plants? Will the new flowering plants be compatible with the tree in terms of competition for water, soil acidity, and other factors? Will the flowers be watered in a way that is compatible with the health of the tree’s root system? Or only the flowers will be considered? Will repeated shallow watering, which is satisfactory for Begonias, but will cause tree roots to come up--and make such (incompetently watered) trees more vulnerable to drought? Mr. Rob Whitman is the principal tree pit gardener on Miles Davis Way (West 77th Street). Yet when I asked him last year (What kind trees are on this block? Do you have any idea? No!) Mr. Whitman did not know ANYTHING about the trees or about how to maintain the trees he wants to commandeer. He wants to turn the tree pits into private flower beds, which then become the personal gardens of himself and those who he has mobilized, and are now convinced to do nonsense. What Mr. Whitman wants to do for the shade trees on this block is similar to what Donald J. Trump wants to do for America. Trump wants to Make America Great Again and Whitman wants to Make The Block Beautiful. Neither of them will employ the means which are appropriate to the propaganda they employ. Not this mean tree pit politician or any of his flower bed people are willing to address real horticultural questions. Instead they become incensed and call the police. They want to dig and plant. That’s it. I hope you agree that asking pertinent but unpopular questions does not indicate mental instability or lack of acumen on my part. I’ve been doing street tree gardening for more than four decades. The proper concern is for protection of the micro climate on Miles Davis Way, which means the health and proper maintenance of the mature street treesand not some other thing. Mr, Whitman’s tree pit politics and flower gardening would not happen If Miles Davis was alive. See more