Crime & Safety

Three Floral Park Trees Fall Victim to Arborcide

The trees were vandalized hours after Hurricane Irene wreaked havoc on the area.

As if the city's plant life wasn't hard-hit enough in the wake of Hurricane Irene, three trees off Little Neck Parkway in Floral Park became the victims of a seemingly random act of arborcide.

Trish Bertuccio, a spokesperson for the city's Department of Parks and Recreation, said that the three young oaks, located along 256-09 and 256-15 Hillside Ave., appeared to have been partially sawed in half on Monday before they were left to the mercy of the last of the storm's winds, which severed them completely.

Arborcide is uncommon but not unprecedented, Bertuccio said. The last time trees were made targets of violence in Queens was in 2009, when separate groves in Juniper Park in Middle Village and Lefferts Playground in South Ozone Park were systematically destroyed. No arrests were made either instance.

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Why vandals would choose to attack a tree - an act that cost the city $11,000 in damages - is anyone's guess.

"It’s hard to say why," Bertuccio said. "I mean, it’s a tree."

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A reward of $1,200 is being offered by the Councilman Mark Weprin, D-Oakland Gardens, and the Queens Coalition of Parks and Green Spaces to anyone with information that leads to an arrest.

If caught, the vandals could face a $15,000 fine or up to a year in jail.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.


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