Bad News, tree!
City sharpens ax one day after ‘killer’ story
THE POTENTIAL killer in their yard will be cut down.
A gigantic city-owned tree that has had two Queens residents fearing for their lives will finally be taken down, the Parks Department said Thursday.
Just hours after the Daily News published a story about Valerie and Marie Dinkins’ lawsuit to get the oversize silver maple in front of their Jamaica house removed, the city agreed to ready the chainsaws.
The Dinkinses had fought to have the tree cut down for years.
The roughly 4-foot in diameter tree, which is situated on the Dinkinses’ property even though it is owned by the city, is a magnet for mushrooms and fungus, riddled with brittle branches and bark. It attracts raccoons and possums to their porch, the Dinkinses alleged in court filings.
But the Dinkinses’ pleas repeatedly fell on deaf ears. City inspectors checked on the tree in 2013 and last November, and determined that the arbor did not need to be axed.
The Parks Department said that it had sent another investigator after receiving an inquiry from The News. The expert determined that it “warranted removal,” this time around.
“We made a determination based on the conditions of the tree, which had changed since we last inspected it,” a spokeswoman said.
The Parks Department said that Con Edison would begin trimming the branches that reach up into the street’s power lines before taking the rest of the trunk down.