One Kensington resident stopped into Astoria Federal on Thursday and reached out to the branch manager, Martine Kimmey, about adding some trees to that bleak corner. Ms. Kimmey was unaware that trees could be planted and explained she would need to discuss it with marketing. She also suggested local residents ban together and request the trees from Astoria so the Kensington resident started an i-petition! Sign the petition for trees in front of Astoria Federal here (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/greenerbrooklyn/). You can also cut and paste the bit below and send Ms. Kimmey a letter via post (Martine Kimmey, Astoria Federal Savings Bank, 101 Church Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11218).
Dear Ms. Martine Kimmey
We would like Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Association to consider improving the corner property on Church Avenue and McDonald Avenue. As a large business serving the community, we hope you will lead the way in helping to make our part of Brooklyn greener.
After the loss of so many trees from the recent Tornado, it became apparent how valuable trees are to our community. Homeowners of course can request trees from the parks department, but this takes time to process. A large local business like Astoria Federal, can of course request free trees from the parks department or, in a gesture to your local customers, Astoria Federal can plant park approved trees at their own expense in order to improve the area more quickly. We hope you will consider planting trees and making your corner property greener.
Friday, September 21, 2007
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21 comments:
we should petition astoria federal to stop charging us 2 bucks every time we use their atm's
the dahill neighborhood assoc. tried to have trees planted in front of the post office. they "claimed"this was unfeasible because of the subway;although i have noticed that this is not a problem in park slope on 9th street.....
They can at least plant on their Church Avenue side OR....they can put some big planters out front with some form of green. That area in the summer is a dustbowl.
But you are right, there are trees right above the 9th street subway stop in the Slope so there must be a way (isn't there a tree in front of Betancourt Realty and also Dizzy's?)
Maybe we need to find out and approach the post office again en masse?
Not gonna happen on the McDonald side. Two words: bus stop. Also, there probably isn't any dirt over top of the subway roof, so no room to plant. I'm not sure why they can do it in Park Slope, other than the tunnels possibly being deeper.
On the Church Avenue side, Astoria Fed doesn't have much frontage, and it's right at the stop line for the light. DOT would probably frown on putting a tree there.
Planters are a bad idea in the city. They just give people places to hide behind and really collect trash. Also makes the sidewalk harder to clean.
I like trees as much as anyone, but this idea may not fly.
I just spoke with Erin Roche from forestry who agreed to put Church and MacDonald Avenues on the list for a city block planting in the spring program. This new program supercedes what landlords want and just comes in and plants big stretches of trees (apparently many residents in Kensington actually did NOT want their trees replaced after the tornado she said but they may be getting them whether they like it or not in the fall because of the block planting program).
She thinks we should keep pushing Astoria Federal because she is not sure if there is a subway ?bank? or something at that corner. If so, they may not be allowed to plant BUT they can put large planters out and plant smaller trees at their expense and thinks this would be a good idea for that location. She is going to send out someone to investigate that area and see what is and what is not plantable and will hopefully call me back in the next week. (You actually can plant above the subway, there are just certain spots which you cannot).
Church Avenue also needs trees in front of the MF store and on the north side of the avenue between East 5th and Ocean Parkway, as well as on both sides of the computer store on the northeast corner of Church and East 4th. All those trees have been removed, legally or illegally, in the past few years.
trees would make church ave. and mcdonald ave. much more attractive!
anonymous signatures on a petition actually invalidate petitions. People should either sign it or if they don't want to use their name, probably better not to put anything down.
i just signed it with an "X"
too many bad drivers at an already dangerous intersection. trees are gonna block drivers sight enough to get into more crashes
4:36--GIVE ME A BREAK! Trees are going to cause more accidents? That is really shortsighted.
DOT probably has guidelines in place to prevent problems with sight lines at busy intersections.
The beautiful trees that once stood on Church btw OP & E 5th will be a fight since the Pharmacy put up a new awning. Crazy loon tried to cut a bunch down in the middle of the night!
Trees ANYWHERE on McD is a great idea!
well can that grocery store plant a couple trees? He seems to want to make the neighborhood happy. That would make many of us happy.
What about the drycleaner and laundry mat while we are at it?
1;21, 3;39... there can be no trees on Mcdonald, b/c of the subway gratings, unfortunately. If you watch where they start, thr trees are only after the tunnel below makes its turn towrds the Ft Ham Pkwy station.
And I don't think the merchants on Church are terribly interested in having new trees, or even in keeping the ones they've got.
Laika: So fine, they can put planters in. At least that is some green to clean the air a little. why give up so easily and be negative?
Planters==big garbage cans. There are places in cities that are well suited to greenery. Church and McDonald just isn't one of them.
cant we steal the huge garbage cans infront of wallgreens and plant flowers in them
I want coffee trees.
and lemonade springs- alas this is not the big rock candy mountain.
I really really hope that someone out there can ask Erin Roche at the Dept. of Forestry to put Louisa Street and 36th street between Church and Clara Street on the list of places that are in dire need of mass tree planting programs from the city. The whole neighborhood is in great need for new trees, especially after the tornado that uprooted so many. One place, for example, that could really use a tree is at 96 Louisa Street-- where a stump is just an eye-sore in the ground. But the owner lives in Long Island and other people can't make a request to have a new tree planted. I really wish that the city could plan more trees where they are needed, without the red-tape.
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