A walking path in a Queens park leads to several clearings that shouldn’t exist, with some residents accused of illegally chopping down trees on the city-owned land — and gaining waterfront views from their backyard in the process.
The trail through Powell’s Cove Park in the College Point neighborhood offers lush foliage along the shore line. Or at least it does until clearings that offer stunning views of the Whitestone Bridge have started to pop up.
“This should not be like this. This should be very wooded,” said Kathryn Cervino, of the Coastal Preservation Network.
Cervino’s group helps maintain the area that belongs to the City of New York. Earlier in November, Cervino stumbled on fresh stumps and a man with a saw.
“I came across somebody with a saw and a ladder, sawing the limbs off of trees and throwing them over on to the coastline, which was horrifying,” she said.
The homeowner was not home when visited by NBC New York. Instead, Manuel Rueda said over the phone that he used his saw to cut away bamboo encroaching on his land and the foundation of his home. He said he contacted the city at least four times, and after waiting months he decided to remove the bamboo.
“I had to do it for my land,” he told News 4 in Spanish.
People who cut down city trees face a fine of up to $15,000.
A fence shows the line between city property and what belongs to the homeowners. Someone even constructed a retaining wall on public land.
The NYC Parks Department says in recent years, it has noticed more trimming in the area. So far, no one has been charged or fined, though the Parks Department added that people who live in the area can expect more patrols, as the damage to the trees was reported to the NYPD.
“Our trees are a vital resource and an enormous value to our city,” a representative for the Parks Department said. “Damaging or destroying them is illegal and represents not only a loss of natural resources but undermines the efforts of Parks staff and volunteers who care for our outdoor spaces.”
Cervino wants to see signs notifying residents, along with replanting and accountability.
“It’s becoming a situation, I think, where one neighbor sees the next neighbor do it, and it’s becoming sort of OK to them. But, taking of any public land is illegal. You can’t you can’t just redesign a park space even if it is bordering your backyard,” she said.
