Watch Out for Falling Tree Limbs

We all love the gorgeously huge, old trees that line our neighborhood blocks, but those trees are also something we need to keep an eye on. There’s an article in today’s New York Times about people who have been injured or killed from falling tree limbs around the city. One of those stories is that of Alexis Handwerker, a young woman who survived when a limb fell on her in Stuyvesant Square Park in Manhattan, who settled a lawsuit with the city in February for $4 million–just one of many falling tree limb-related suits:

Ms. Handwerker’s suit is just one of at least 10 stemming from deaths or injuries caused by falling limbs and branches in New York City that were quietly resolved over the last 10 years, or are now winding their way through the courts. The city has paid millions of dollars in damage claims, with far more expected. It all comes at a time of steep cutbacks in the amount of money the city dedicates to tree care and safety. Lawyers and investigators hired by the victims have gathered parks records, taken sworn testimony from city officials and parks workers, and hired tree-care experts to review city procedures. The collected evidence, taken together with public records and interviews with outside experts and parks officials, depicts an overstretched and haphazard system of tree inspections and care, one in which the crucial job of spotting dangers can be left to untrained workers, and repairs and pruning are delayed to save money.

While trees in parks are required to be inspected every two weeks, the article says they’re not very thorough. Better than what we get for street trees, though:

Trees on city streets get pruning about every 15 years instead of every seven years, which was the practice only a few years ago, said the department’s deputy commissioner, Liam Kavanagh. The budget to trim them has dropped to $1.45 million from $4.7 million in the last five years.

Putting aside the horrible human toll these accidents take, it seems like it would make fiscal sense to take better care of these trees. The amount the city owes for just five settled cases is $7.69 million, which would make up a good portion of the savings from the pruned trimming budget.

If you spot any precarious-looking or potentially dangerous tree limbs in the area, be sure to do at least one of the following:

a) Report it to 311
b) Let us know about it in the comments below, or by entering it on our new Tree Limb Map
c) Email us about it at ditmasparkcorner@gmail.com
d) ALL OF THE ABOVE