New York City chain saws down 1,000 trees to raise park 8-10 feet to address panic over 3mm sea level rise – Protesters ‘watched in horror’

From Climate Depot

Since the chain saws arrived two weeks ago, workers have moved quickly to get rid of more than 70 species of mature trees at the popular 46-acre park on the Lower East Side, including 419 oaks, 284 London planes, 89 honeylocusts and 81 cherry trees — along with eventually demolishing a running track, ballfields, lawns, picnic areas, an amphitheater and a composting center.

“What’s the point of paying a parks department that cuts down trees?” asked Karen Kapnick, one of a small group of protesters who watched in horror, peeking through a chain link fence next to Franklin Delano Roosevelt Drive as workers denuded the first dozen trees. “I’m just here because I care about the trees and the environment.”

By: Admin – Climate DepotDecember 23, 2021 1:27 PM

New York City cuts 1,000 trees to raise park 8-10 feet to address panic over 3mm sea level rise.

Total insanity. https://t.co/z4VgEdgCcN

— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) December 22, 2021

In N.Y., battling climate change means killing 1,000 trees

NEW YORK — After years of planning by city officials, New Yorkers got a close-up glimpse of the trade-offs inherent in the fight against climate change when crews this month began cutting down the first of a thousand trees targeted for removal in John V. Lindsay East River Park.

Since the chain saws arrived two weeks ago, workers have moved quickly to get rid of more than 70 species of mature trees at the popular 46-acre park on the Lower East Side, including 419 oaks, 284 London planes, 89 honeylocusts and 81 cherry trees — along with eventually demolishing a running track, ballfields, lawns, picnic areas, an amphitheater and a composting center.

“What’s the point of paying a parks department that cuts down trees?” asked Karen Kapnick, one of a small group of protesters who watched in horror, peeking through a chain link fence next to Franklin Delano Roosevelt Drive as workers denuded the first dozen trees. “I’m just here because I care about the trees and the environment.”

City officials say the tree removal is just a necessary first step to creating a bigger and better park. More importantly, they say, the remade East River Park will be betterable to withstand storm surge even as the waters surrounding lower Manhattan rise in the coming years. Once all the work is finished — projectedin about five years — the new park will be raised 8 to 10 feet higher, with new recreational facilities and 1,800 replacement trees representing more than 50 species more suited to survive occasional saltwater floods.

The park overhaul, spurred by the destruction of Superstorm Sandy in lower Manhattan nearly a decade ago, is all part of a $1.45 billion flood protection project that backers say befits the nation’s largest city, a massive project that will include the construction of a 2.4-mile system of walls and gates along the East River.

“We’re the parks department, so we obviously are very fond of trees and plants,” said Sarah Neilson, chief of policy and long-range planning for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. “We also recognize that after Sandy we had to take out 250 trees that died just from that one intense saltwater inundation. They’re not species that were designed for a coastal environment.”

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Vuk
December 26, 2021 6:12 am

Having one or two idiots in the town hall is bad enough, but having whole bunch of them is an anthropogenic disaster in making. I suppose the New York Times will be cheering from sidelines.

Scissor
Reply to  Vuk
December 26, 2021 6:32 am

Realistically, a lot of money can be siphoned off billion dollar plans to cut down trees and pile up dirt.

Reply to  Scissor
December 26, 2021 6:58 am

What dirt? Have you seen the trash mountains created back there? You could raise this little park with a weeks worth trash!

Clyde Spencer
Reply to  Jim Gorman
December 26, 2021 9:09 am

It probably would have made more sense to uproot the trees, add the shredded garbage, and then replant the trees on top of the fill. Unfortunately, the Forrest Gumps of the world often go into politics.

The Saint
Reply to  Clyde Spencer
December 26, 2021 5:10 pm

Couldn’t the parks department take offers from nearby lumber mills to cut the trees for building lumber? Those trees were worth millions of dollars.

Reply to  The Saint
December 26, 2021 10:46 pm

Not very many lumber mills near NYC.

Gregg Eshelman
Reply to  The Saint
December 27, 2021 2:05 am

Forget building, make furniture out of them.

Doug Huffman
Reply to  Jim Gorman
December 27, 2021 4:04 am

Another Mount Trashmore, cheaper for not so much transportation. Safe, though, from the pickaninny’s smash and grab Kawaanzaa?

TheLastDemocrat
Reply to  Doug Huffman
December 28, 2021 6:35 am

Picka ninny – wow.
Mods – if you are reviewing, please delete Doug’s post. And review to see if he should be banned.

Clyde Spencer
Reply to  Scissor
December 26, 2021 9:11 am

Is someone going to make a profit on all the potential firewood that will be ‘discarded?’

Reply to  Clyde Spencer
December 26, 2021 9:56 am

They’re just going to burn it since apparently, CO2 emitted by burning biomass doesn’t cause catastrophic climate change, but then again, neither does burning fossil fuels.

Big E
Reply to  co2isnotevil
December 26, 2021 1:33 pm

The whole burning wood is “carbon zero” idea is a joke. Recovery time is like 80 years to capture the CO2 with new growth trees.
I agree on your last comment as well.

Patrick healy
Reply to  Big E
December 26, 2021 10:00 pm

Could they not ship them across the Atlantic to Drax power station in Yorkshire?
That is where millions of trees from the Southern United States come from to burn in our biggest power station, which sits on top of 600 years supply of coal.
Are you with me still Boris?
I thought the lunatics were just in charge of the British asylum.

glenn holdcroft
Reply to  co2isnotevil
December 26, 2021 10:05 pm

Thats what a fireplace does as well as warm a house , but people vote in these imbeciles who only appeal to social media types .
Voters cannot distinguish reality today and are just pawns in the game of politics .

Reply to  Clyde Spencer
December 26, 2021 9:59 am

Standard urban practice is that all of the trees will be chipped. Many urban trees have imbedded metal that cause distress to sawyers.

They might run a huge magnet over the chip piles then use the chips for landscaping.

I’m surprised they’re not using a logging machine that grabs the tree, cuts the tree from the roots, tops the tree then places the logs into a stack.
The logs are then loaded onto flat beds and brought to an industrial chipping machine.

Clyde Spencer
Reply to  ATheoK
December 26, 2021 6:46 pm

They can’t examine the trunks with a metal detector to see if they are free of steel objects?

Reply to  Clyde Spencer
December 27, 2021 4:16 pm

they could, but the profit margin and the potential harm are not worth it.

Curious George
Reply to  Vuk
December 26, 2021 7:36 am

Another success for AOC.

DrEd
Reply to  Vuk
December 26, 2021 5:05 pm

The got the politicians they elected. They deserve the results.

Dudley Horscroft
Reply to  Vuk
December 30, 2021 11:46 pm

It is a result of the SI system of measurement. NYC officials could not distinguish between 3mm and 3m. They had to do something!

If the lengths were quoted as “1/8th inch” and “10 feet” they would not have been confused. As Winston Churchill said: “It’s all those damned dots.”

December 26, 2021 6:13 am

The impact on the climate with 1,000 less trees, of the billions of trees on this planet, will be the same as not urinating in the ocean for fear that you may change the temperature of the oceans.

Reply to  Ronald Stein
December 26, 2021 6:22 am

The final result might be nice but how about a benefit/cost analysis? I don’t see that. Maybe this is just example of a burreacracy creating work to justify their jobs.

Bill Powers
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
December 26, 2021 2:54 pm

Joseph the kick backs to the poli/bureaucrats from the company that won the contract to cut the trees, then backfill to elevate the topography, is the only benefit that matters to the politicians. They are far more concerned with their illicit bank accounts and their ill gained net worth than they are with the climate or the environment.

Drake
Reply to  Bill Powers
December 26, 2021 3:14 pm

To your point, I would think someone who is connected had s sheepload of dirt they needed to get rid of with no place o put it, and they are getting paid for both removing the dirt from where it is not wanted to move it to where it is not needed. A win/win/win. The contractor makes money twice and the politician makes kickbacks.

YallaYPoora Kid
Reply to  Drake
December 26, 2021 11:47 pm

What if the dirt is polluted and has to be removed again. A little ‘test’ might be good value for amusement.

H. D. Hoese
Reply to  Ronald Stein
December 26, 2021 7:39 am

It’s not the magnitude but the mentality. In Harvey land developers, politician allowed, even encouraged indirectly, are killing more trees than the hurricane. They are live oaks, wind and salt tolerant.

Reply to  Ronald Stein
December 26, 2021 8:13 am

Use that same example on the UK’s NetZero plans when we emit less than 1% of global CO2.

But you wouldn’t, would you.

Reply to  Ronald Stein
December 26, 2021 8:18 am

Goobermint idiocy occurs in small steps. Let one go, it continues unabated.

Phil.
Reply to  Ronald Stein
December 26, 2021 8:22 am

Well it’s going to be 800 more trees not 1000 fewer if you read the article.

MM from Canada
Reply to  Phil.
December 26, 2021 8:46 am

“Well it’s going to be 800 more trees not 1000 fewer if you read the article.”

That is supposedly the plan. But the NYC Parks & Rec dep’t started planning a reno of the Wollman Ice Rink in 1974. Twelve years and almost $13 million later, it still wasn’t finished. In fact, it had by then been closed for 6 years and they were expecting to spend another $2-3 million on it.

Forgive me if I’m sceptical, but I doubt they have become more efficient in the ensuing 35 years.

Robert Hanson
Reply to  MM from Canada
December 26, 2021 9:01 am

Then Donald Trump took over the project, for no charge, and finished it in 4 months, and 25% under budget.

Reply to  Robert Hanson
December 26, 2021 10:31 am

Yet another win for DJT.

John Hultquist
Reply to  MM from Canada
December 26, 2021 12:14 pm
Streetcred
Reply to  MM from Canada
December 26, 2021 2:00 pm

think of all the money they saved in maintenance and staff costs for 6 years 🙂

Reply to  Phil.
December 26, 2021 9:18 am

 going to be 800 more trees not 1000 fewer 

LOL a year old tree.. is the same as a 100 year old tree..
In this digital age it might be better to count the total leaves.
So we can get to the co2 break even event..

Reply to  Phil.
December 26, 2021 10:11 am

1800 small trees with many of them never growing larger than shrubs, do not come anywhere near replacing 1,000 mature trees, for any reason.

Citizen Smith
Reply to  Phil.
December 26, 2021 10:28 am

Yes. We need new trees. No more of these old ones.

Reply to  Phil.
December 26, 2021 10:33 am

“Well it’s going to be 800 more trees not 1000 fewer if you read the article.”

That’s to believed when it’s seen. Just like mythical climate change, for 50 years it’s been 10 years in the future, but it never arrives.

Reply to  Phil.
December 26, 2021 5:45 pm

Or, they could have left the 1000 trees and just planted 800 more. That would be a lot cheaper and more sensible. Or are you someone who believes employing people to dig holes and then fill them back in again is a way to boost the economy?

Reply to  Ronald Stein
December 26, 2021 10:04 am

The impact on the climate from burning fossil fuels will be the same as the temperature rise caused by urinating in the ocean, so, what’s your point?

It seems to me that cutting down trees for virtue signaling purposes is the worst kind of stupid, that is, stupid that causes harm under the illusion of being for some higher purpose that otherwise can’t be supported without the virtue signaling.

Reply to  co2isnotevil
December 26, 2021 1:19 pm

Training. People get used to it so they are not so emotionally charged when more tree felling comes along to provide space for the wind turbines.

Streetcred
Reply to  co2isnotevil
December 26, 2021 2:03 pm

job creation exercise.

Speed
December 26, 2021 6:15 am

John V. Lindsay East River Park (Google Maps)

https://bit.ly/3EnyYtC

Jeff Norman
Reply to  Speed
December 26, 2021 7:09 am

It looks like part of it is reclaimed land.

Reply to  Jeff Norman
December 26, 2021 7:55 am

When you look at google maps view the current water level at its highest looks 3 feet below the pavement

This has nothing to do with sea rise

Phil.
Reply to  Redge
December 26, 2021 8:27 am

It was flooded during Sandy which is what killed a lot of the trees there which is the reason for the project.

Scissor
Reply to  Phil.
December 26, 2021 8:44 am

Sounds like a Yogi Berra’ism, “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”

Reply to  Phil.
December 26, 2021 9:18 am

1000 trees alone in this park were flooded? What about all the other trees, are they dead too?

I wondered if anyone took into account the Monarch Butterflies who use the park as a stopover on their migration?

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Redge
December 26, 2021 10:34 am

Why kill the trees that survived the Sandy flooding? Wait until when they are actually killed next time, if that happens, and then cut them down.

How often does a hurricane and a noreaster combine over this part of New York? That’s what brought the flooding.

Cutting these trees isn’t even virtue signalling, it’s pure stupidity.

Reply to  Tom Abbott
December 26, 2021 10:51 pm

It was a tropical strom, at that point, not a hurricane.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Retired_Engineer_Jim
December 27, 2021 4:40 am

That’s true, too. Hurricane Sandy was a tropical storm by the time it hit land.

Dave Fair
Reply to  Phil.
December 26, 2021 1:56 pm

What entity (or who) planted trees that are not saltwater compatible in an oceanfront park? How much will it cost to complete and operate the new park and which crony capitalist firms get the contracts? Socialism in action.

Komerade Cube
Reply to  Dave Fair
December 27, 2021 11:13 am

crony capitalist = facism

Dave Fair
Reply to  Komerade Cube
December 27, 2021 12:44 pm

“Crony Capitalists” exist under any form of government. Both Socialism and Fascism are unconstrained by the normal rules of law that govern the democratic republic that is the U.S. The socialistic-leaning Democrat Party is buying support and donations from favored constituencies, Leftist NGOs and favored businesses with taxpayer monies and access to governmental decisionmaking.

Reply to  Jeff Norman
December 26, 2021 8:21 am

It’s all landfill.

Speed
Reply to  Speed
December 26, 2021 9:18 am

George Santayana:

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

https://bit.ly/3sEfkHw3qJgJu3

How Hurricane Sandy flooded New York back to its 17th century shape as it inundated 400 years of reclaimed land

When Hurricane Sandy raged through the Tri-state area last fall, overwhelming Lower Manhattan with floodwaters, the storm-surge areas corresponded to land reclaimed since the 17th century.

The landscape of Lower Manhattan was originally much narrower than it is today. The curve of Pearl Street, which is named for the pearly shells found on the shore at the time, marked the island’s eastern waterfront, while Greenwich Street bordered the Hudson River to the west.

https://bit.ly/3sEfkHw

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Speed
December 26, 2021 10:36 am

Sandy was actually two powerful storm systems that combined over New York. A Noreaster came out of Canada and met Sandy at New York and the flooding ensued.

What are the odds of this happening again?

Reply to  Tom Abbott
December 26, 2021 2:00 pm

High
Has happened before
Will happen again
Rinse
Repeat

Reply to  Speed
December 26, 2021 10:52 pm

Tropical storm Sandy.

Reply to  Speed
December 26, 2021 10:15 am

Looks and sounds like a sea wall would’ve been more effective and would protect far more than just a small park.

When are they going to tear down the buildings so they can raise the level?

Reply to  Speed
December 26, 2021 2:39 pm

Should also rename that park named after 2 term NYC mayor Lindsay. His term began in 1965, effected a NY City income tax, raised corporate taxes and before left the city lost over 60,000 jobs. The man left his city under water financially – just like things recently got in that park

Jersey Mike
December 26, 2021 6:18 am

This is the kind of insanity that occurs when a government agency has too much money.

December 26, 2021 6:19 am

I see no mention of the total cost to reconstruct the park.

Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
December 26, 2021 8:34 am

$1.45 billion.

Robert Hanson
Reply to  Climate believer
December 26, 2021 9:02 am

That’s the projected cost, not the finished cost, which will certainly be much more.

Reply to  Robert Hanson
December 26, 2021 9:10 am

that’s staggering! Like, the city can’t think of something better to do with 1,045 million bucks- actually much more of course? I wonder if it’s part of the Biden big spending plan? It’s weird that communities often say that their new spending on whatever isn’t going to cost the locals much because the state and/or feds will cover much of the cost- as if it’s free money.

Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
December 26, 2021 2:25 pm

Econ stimulation….Governments award Billion dollar contracts on projects knowing the money will be dumped into planners, managers, workmen’s pockets really fast. They will get over half of it back on income tax and sales tax alone, plus spinoffs…..The project doesn’t have to make sense, just sound virtuous…in fact a park just sitting there, NOT funnelling money into somebodies pocket is one of the worst assets a modern money theory government can have on their books….of course it misses the point of having a park to start with…

WXcycles
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
December 26, 2021 2:35 pm

Yes, but the new park will yield at least $2.63 billion in climate enjoyment. Plus you forget that with warming conditions great white sharks will become much more prevalent in New York parks.

Gregg Eshelman
Reply to  Robert Hanson
December 27, 2021 2:12 am

In 10 years when it’s still not finished, they can hire Barron Trump to finish it under budget.

Reply to  Climate believer
December 26, 2021 10:26 am

The park overhaul, spurred by the destruction of Superstorm Sandy in lower Manhattan nearly a decade ago, is all part of a $1.45 billion flood protection project that backers say befits the nation’s largest city, a massive project that will include the construction of a 2.4-mile system of walls and gates along the East River.”

Destroying this one little park is just one part of their huge $1.45 billion boondoggle.

fretslider
December 26, 2021 6:36 am

Will they be as devious as my local council?

They chopped down a much loved Chestnut grove on Tooting Common claiming safety concerns

They replaced them with a lower cost/maintenance species

Ruined

Reply to  fretslider
December 26, 2021 8:46 am

Yeah, somebody might trip over those dangerous chestnut husks. All part of the advancing nanny-state.

Reply to  fretslider
December 26, 2021 10:29 am

You know when they replace high quality food producing trees with low cost, low maintenance plants that the people in charge hate wildlife and beautiful trees.

2hotel9
December 26, 2021 6:53 am

OK, so they are doing exactly what these greenunistas voted for them to do and the leftarded morons are unhappy about it. Oh, yea, they wanted it done to someone else’s park! Okely dokely.

Disputin
December 26, 2021 7:02 am

Aren’t we getting a bit upset over nothing here? After all, Sarah Neilson did say,

“We’re the parks department, so we obviously are very fond of trees and plants,” said Sarah Neilson, chief of policy and long-range planning for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. “We also recognize that after Sandy we had to take out 250 trees that died just from that one intense saltwater inundation. They’re not species that were designed for a coastal environment.”

I don’t see much sense (in a park) in keeping dead trees hanging around.

Reply to  Disputin
December 26, 2021 7:56 am

They had already removed those 250 dead trees. Now they’re going to cut 873 living trees- and remove a running track, ballfields, lawns, picnic areas, an amphitheater and a composting center”

and no mention of the cost

Scissor
Reply to  Disputin
December 26, 2021 8:46 am

Same philosophy used in NY nursing homes.

Reply to  Disputin
December 26, 2021 8:55 am

I seriously doubt the dead trees from the Sandy storm in 2012 were still around presently.

Reply to  beng135
December 26, 2021 10:36 am

Long since rotted away, even if the city did remove a few of them…

Of course, they likely cut the allegedly dead trees in winter when bureaucrats and urbanites couldn’t tell the difference.

WXcycles
Reply to  Disputin
December 26, 2021 3:36 pm

Just a little iffy about the logic of a 3mm/yr (observed) sea level rise, for 150 years, with no measurable acceleration detectable, turning into a 3 meter global surge, is all.

Note, this week in the northern hemisphere. I tend to watch these things and I can tell you this is shaping up to be an exceptionally cold and snowy winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
comment image

And note the -31 C minimums over the Arctic ocean. No, that ice is not going to be disappearing any time soon, and open water routes to Europe? Totally dreaming. Typically its -12C to -15C over the sea ice there, but right now it’s about -30 C in most places. So let’s hope that does not become a multi-decadal trend, eh?

Many Russians are not going to have a happy-new-year unfortunately. And North Korea and much of China will be suffering a similar picture of life-threatening cold and lack of energy.
comment image

Absolutely brutal cold.

And just so you get the fuller picture, here’s the other end of the earth approaching mid-summer, but minus 38 degrees C on the same day as that first image above. The Earth’s in deep-freeze mode at both ends, right now.
comment image

And just to point out, that Antarctica is a massive chunk of ice, that is permanently below 0 degrees C and thus at no risk whatsoever of a sudden catastrophic melting, and has temps in the -38C range once more during continuous daylight in summer. This has become a common min temp range during the past three Summers. So that is in danger of becoming a decade level trend.

People in NYC might rationally ask were is all the melt-water going to come from which required emergency 3-meter raising of a park to avoid a completely baseless cAGW hysteria about a non existent sea level rise?

This Sesame Street NEWS FLASH was bought to you by the letter C, the letter O, and by the number 2 ……. CO2

LdB
Reply to  Disputin
December 28, 2021 8:00 pm

Perhaps look at some photos of dead trees and then look at the images of the park 🙂

Jeff Norman
December 26, 2021 7:10 am

A white collared shirt… no hard hat?

MJB
Reply to  Jeff Norman
December 26, 2021 7:18 am

I assumed it’s a stock photo.

Phillip Bratby
Reply to  Jeff Norman
December 26, 2021 8:00 am

It has to be a stock photo. Not even a greentard woud use a chainsaw wearing a loose shirt and no PPS.

Clyde Spencer
Reply to  Phillip Bratby
December 26, 2021 9:16 am

I think that you give “greentards” too much credit.

Komerade Cube
Reply to  Clyde Spencer
December 27, 2021 11:19 am

>I think you give “greetards” too much credit<
Absolutely true! No NYC liberals would be picking up a chainsaw!

Cool-Engineer
Reply to  Jeff Norman
December 26, 2021 9:15 am

…and a corded electric chainsaw. Nobody serious about cutting down sizeable trees uses electric wimp saws. Obviously a staged photo by someone who knows nothing about reality.

Drake
Reply to  Cool-Engineer
December 26, 2021 3:42 pm

Agreed.

As a note: I have a nice Stihl chainsaw with a 25 inch bar that I use to drop and cut rounds for fire wood. This summer, early on, the forest was DRY and “chainsaws” were prohibited due to fore fears. I also have a Dewalt 20 volt BATTERY chain saw with a 12 inch bar. Since it wasn’t gas, I used it to cut down multiple dead standing pine and fir trees, up to 18 inch in diameter. I also cut the downed trees into rounds.

Was it slower, yes, however with 1 4 wh battery and 1 5 wh battery, I could easily cut enough rounds to load my Polaris Ranger bed. I would haul the load back to my cabin and, recharge the batteries while I was splitting the rounds and stacking the wood. A couple of hours later after the batteries recharged I would make another run.

I was, and am, amazed at how much I can get done with only those 2 batteries.

Yes I am retired so saving time was not essential. BUT, I often use the battery saw for limbing the downed trees of all the smaller stuff, up to about 4 inches when I am cutting with the gas saw. The saw is lighter and more easily maneuvered around the fallen trees while limbing. Also funny, the oil in the saw lasts about 1 5 ah battery, change the battery, add bar oil.

Clyde Spencer
Reply to  Drake
December 26, 2021 6:50 pm

It is my experience that a 26″ machete is generally faster for de-limbing up to about 2″. Bigger than that, it takes two or three swipes.

Kevin A
Reply to  Drake
December 27, 2021 7:44 am

I picked up a Ryobi 40 Volt 18″ chainsaw and added a 6 amp battery along with the Expand-it head and a 10″ pole saw, no more bending over…

joe
December 26, 2021 7:10 am

total lunacy

joe
December 26, 2021 7:12 am

did they use battery powered chainsaws?

Reply to  joe
December 26, 2021 7:59 am

I have an electric chainsaw- great for light yard work- but no logger will ever use one.

John the Econ
December 26, 2021 7:15 am

I at least hope they used battery-powered chain saws instead of those awful global warming causing gas ones. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Reply to  John the Econ
December 26, 2021 10:42 am

Battery powered saws still rely upon electricity from generators that do emit CO₂.

None of the alleged green electricity power sources are carbon dioxide free. Unless, the power is generated by a nuclear plant.

Komerade Cube
Reply to  ATheoK
December 27, 2021 11:22 am

No, those Manhattan chainsaws only use the power from green sources. Any brown electricity goes to the Bronx.

Bruce Cobb
December 26, 2021 7:18 am

Looks like a make-work program, with the freak storm, Sandy and “climate change” used as the excuse. Follow the money, and it brings you to the Big Green Slime.

Reply to  Bruce Cobb
December 26, 2021 12:57 pm

wonderful word in England

JOBWORTHS

One of my favourites, the mental variant , come to think describes Griff quite well too (as well as bonbon)

Reply to  pigs_in_space
December 26, 2021 5:53 pm

Minor correction:
It’s “Jobsworths”
I gave you an upvote as I agree with you completely that it is a wonderful word. English slang is superb and full of history.

john
December 26, 2021 7:55 am

Lol! Yet GE moved their HQ to the Boston Waterfront and didn’t elevate their new buildings!

🤣

Pillage Idiot
December 26, 2021 7:57 am

Only insane Leftist bureaucrats would spend money to make things worse! We cannot have idiots that don’t understand the simplest things in science or engineering in charge of any projects.

The best time to plant a tree is 40 years ago. They had a pretty park with 1,000 existing mature trees that already had survived Sandy. Enjoy them now! If they are killed by a future storm, then cut them down at that point. If no storm would have inundated the trees during their lifespan – then you killed them for nothing. The people in charge of this project essentially played “Russian roulette” and made sure there was a bullet in every cylinder of the gun!

An even bigger problem is that they don’t seem to have even a rudimentary understanding of how flood zones work. If you raise the ground elevation of an area within a flood zone, then you necessarily increase the flood water levels of the adjacent areas.

By raising the elevation of the park, they have made future flooding worse in the adjacent buildings, subways, etc.

Reply to  Pillage Idiot
December 26, 2021 9:04 am

Exactly right. But the bureaurats are clueless to common sense.

Pillage Idiot
Reply to  beng135
December 26, 2021 9:54 am

I am starting to believe that “clueless to common sense” is part of their job requirements.

Dave Fair
Reply to  Pillage Idiot
December 26, 2021 2:09 pm

It appears that, in response to Sandy and excessive SLR fears, they decided on a huge public works project ($1.45 billion) to build some very expensive seawalls and gates. Some politician or bureaucrat threw in the park as a local part of it to gather political points and votes. But there are always unintended consequences: In this case it is a few local pussies crying about cutting down trees, which the local media jumped upon.

December 26, 2021 8:13 am

So how well did the park recover from superstorm Sandy over the decade ? Has an opportunity to study how trees recover from extreme weather events been lost?

George V
December 26, 2021 8:13 am

I think this is action to influence people to accept draconian policies to address supposed catastrophic climate change.

“Because you haven’t done all you need to do to stop climate change, we have to cut down these trees and raise the level of the park. If you don’t change your behavior, stop using fossil fuels and accept a lower standard of living we will have to do many more terrible things. And it is YOU making us do it!!!”

Janice Moore
Reply to  George V
December 26, 2021 11:53 am

Precisely.

Essentially, a terrorist tactic.

(Note: this is ALSO (in addition to those getting the contracts to do the dirty work) about $$: a twisted promotion scheme for the solar/wind/electric vehicle scammers.)

Alan
December 26, 2021 8:17 am

When I saw that headline, I thought, is it April 1st already?

December 26, 2021 8:17 am

Evidently planting 250 of the wrong type of trees in the first place is forgiven by hacking down a thousand trees.

Wouldn’t it have made sense to replace those 250 with suitable trees and, if absolutely necessary, gradually replace dead and diseased trees with more suitable types over time?

Destroy the village to save the village.

Dave Fair
Reply to  HotScot
December 26, 2021 2:12 pm

Destroy the village to save the village.” Been there, done that, got the (green) T-shirt.

Ian Johnson
December 26, 2021 8:33 am

Will these trees be sold to Drax?

Olen
December 26, 2021 8:40 am

Personally, I think they don’t like trees. And if it doesn’t pan out will the park be sold off to developers? Flood control is a good idea if done for flood control.

Bruce Cobb
December 26, 2021 8:44 am

They have to wreck the environment in order to “save the planet”.

richard
December 26, 2021 8:52 am

New York is sinking, this paper illustrates the actual level of sea level rise when you factor in the rate of the city sinking-

“Abstract – The absolute and relative rates of rise of the sea level are computed for the New York City area by coupling global positioning system records of the position of fixed domes nearby tide gauges, with the tide gauges’ records. Two tide gauges are considered, one long-term trend, more reliable, The Battery, in lower Manhattan, and one shorter, less reliable, Sandy Hook, in New Jersey. The relative rates of rise of the sea level are +2.851 and +4.076 mm/yr. The subsidence rates are -2.151 and -3.076 mm/yr. The absolute rates of rise of the sea level are +0.7 and +1.0 mm/yr. The relative sea-level acceleration, reliable only in The Battery, is about +0.008 mm/yr². This acceleration is about the same as the world average long-term trend tide gauge, as well as the average long-term trend tide gauge of the East Coast of North America. The absolute rate of rise of the sea level by 2050 in the lower Manhattan area will be likely less than 30 mm, and the absolute rate of rise of the sea level by 2100 likely less than 80 mm. The relative rate of rise of the sea level by 2050 in the Manhattan area will be likely 85 mm, and the relative rate of rise of the sea level by 2100 likely 228 mm, because of the overwhelming subsidence contribution”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468013320300474

——————————–

Back in 1898 – rate of San Francisco sinking “San Francisco is Sinking! So Say the Official Surveyors” San Francisco Examiner. 25 September 1898 –

https://www.sfgenealogy.org/sf/history/hgoe26.htm

Clyde Spencer
December 26, 2021 9:05 am

To put this irrational, paranoid behavior in perspective, the claimed increase in sea level of from about 2 to 3 mm/yr is below the low end of the best estimates of tectonic plate motion, which is from 6 to 100 mm/yr. What roles do continental drift and isostatic adjustments play in determining the volume of the oceanic basins? I doubt that anyone really knows. However, when the ‘solid ground’ is moving more than an order of magnitude faster than the liquid oceans are rising, the ‘woke’ probably have their priorities wrong.

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/geology/grocha/plates/platetec21.htm

Grant
December 26, 2021 9:24 am

Couldn’t you just hire a kid to keep his finger in the dike?

Vuk
December 26, 2021 9:30 am

A way out OT
Swedish company DSruptive Subdermals is implanting microchips under the skin as a Covid-19 vaccination pass.
“I have a chip implant in my arm and I have programmed the chip so that I have my Covid passport on the chip.
I just swipe my phone on the chip and it opens it up.” said Hannes Sjoblad, managing director.
Dystopian nightmare of future common practice.

Hannes, QR code printed on your forehead might be less painful.

Reply to  Vuk
December 26, 2021 10:57 am

Sounds like the chips are easily hacked.

Ed Zuiderwijk
December 26, 2021 10:18 am

That’s way beyond lunacy. Mrs Neilson clearly belongs in an asylum.

ChrisB
December 26, 2021 10:53 am

Another reason why we should starve the beast, aka .gov. It always works like a hydraulic pump, sucking us dry to soak a few cabal cronies

Bruce Cobb
December 26, 2021 11:49 am

Reminds me of the Joni Mitchell song with the refrain
“They paved paradise put up a parking lot”.
You really don’t know what you got til it’s gone.

December 26, 2021 11:54 am

Congratulations! WUWT was trolled by the climate alarmists at GreenWire. The park was slated for renovation, expansion, and flood resistance after “Hurricane” Sandy, which caused flooding and major damage to the park. It has little to do with “climate change” but the trolls at GreenWire are always trying to make everything about climate change and spun the story that way. NYC’s tactics are monumentally moronic, but that’s what you get from the incestuous project planners and subcontractors in a corrupt city government. They could have done the work in phases leaving much of the park open to use but they didn’t and residents are unhappy about it. GreenWire turned the anger at the project into blaming humans for climate change because they are seriously mentally ill.

rwisrael
December 26, 2021 12:17 pm

My NYC has moved rapidly from sheer stupidity into insanity. Progressive government poisons everything..

john
December 26, 2021 12:44 pm
Reply to  john
December 26, 2021 4:11 pm

The green revolutionaries have shot themselves in the foot. Forcing those buildings to be heated by electricity just puts even more load on the system that the renewable grid already is no where near able to bear.

December 26, 2021 1:48 pm

If you can cut down billions of trees across the World to erect windmills to counter non-existent “Climate Change’, then cutting down a few thousand trees in a New York Park to counter virtually non-existent sea-level rise can begin to make some sense.

December 26, 2021 2:04 pm

Someone who lives there needs to preserve this decision so that it cannot be memory holed.
Maybe the owner of the nearest building should install a plaque commemorating this waste so I’m a decade people can view it.
Put on it the names of the parks and city council types who voted yes

Tony Taylor
December 26, 2021 3:33 pm

Is the sea level around NY particularly prone to rising? Has it risen so far?

Phil.
Reply to  Tony Taylor
December 27, 2021 8:43 am
Med Bennett
December 26, 2021 4:11 pm

NYC seems to be the epicenter of delusional politicians and really awful public policy,

Matt
December 26, 2021 5:28 pm

NYC is s stupid POS run be stupid pieces of shite from top to bottom and reasonable people are fleeing in droves. Those who can get out are getting out quick!

gowest
December 26, 2021 10:48 pm

Pretty stupid – Trees are water pumps – getting rid of them will cause the water level to rise – A good way to create salt lakes.

Serge Wright
December 27, 2021 1:45 am

If the tree-less waterfront land gets sold off to developers in a few years then you’ll know this was a scam

Captain climate
December 27, 2021 3:39 am

Insanity. It’s like they’re going out of their way to punish people.

ResourceGuy
December 27, 2021 7:13 am

Wouldn’t it be easier to just add a one-foot curb on top of the entrances to the subway? Sheesh

December 27, 2021 10:28 am

Hey they are now safe for 800 to 1,000 years!

More seriously this shows that so-called “adaptation” to alarmist climate change can be just as nutty as trying to cut fossil fuel use. Adaptation is not harmless.

Quilter 52
December 30, 2021 6:10 pm

New Yorkers voted for the fools running the city – or they didn’t vote. Either way, karma has a way of biting you on the bum. BTW, I wonder how much CO2 will be produced in “saving” this park.