photo courtesy of Boyd Loving’s Facebook
Ridgewood Neighbors Protest the Removal of Tree by the Village
December 11,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Christina Ercolano, age 51, of 59 Ehtelbert Place, Ridgewood, blocked Village of Ridgewood employees from removing a towering shade tree on Friday morning, 12/11, until threatened with arrest by Village Engineer Christopher Rutishauser. Several of her Ethelbert Place neighbors stood by as Ms. Eroclano asked Village officials why a “perfectly healthy” tree was being cut down.
Two (2) Ridgewood PD uniformed patrol officers and a uniformed supervisor were called to the scene and were ready to take the woman into custody had she not voluntarily stepped back from the tree. The tree was reportedly being removed to facilitate the expansion of a nearby home. According to Engineer Rutishauser, the tree will be replaced by a new tree at a later date.
Did she hug the tree.
Rutishauser probably creamed his pants.
Lets make sure she’s around when the bulldozers show up in the cbd to build the garage and apartments
The town is also loping off the tops (like, the top third, or even the top half or more in some cases) of shade trees to eliminate even the hint of interference with telephone and power lines extending from pole to pole. What they leave behind is a trail of ruin. Way too much of the tree ends up getting removed. Surprised this hasn’t been protested as well.
That is one monster and dangerous tree. Branch break off and tree roots damage the sidewalk.
Good job. Shade tree Dept.
“New tree at a later date” aka a 4 foot tree that provides no shade.
Also, “he tree was reportedly being removed to facilitate the expansion of a nearby home” does that homeowner expanding pay for the removal of the tree?
Why would you need to cut down a tree in front of my house for an expansion of the neighbors house?
I love this,
Forget my question. I don’t think the tree is in front of the tree-huggers house. World is full of dingbats.
Where was the Shade Tree Commission? Why does the Village have to remove a beautiful tree to accommodate the expansion of a nearby home? Some thing doesn’t sound right. This private home owner is using up a lot of public resources and money. I’d like to see the OPRA on how this came about.
Where was the Shade Tree Commission? Why does the Village have to remove a beautiful tree to accommodate the expansion of a nearby home? Some thing doesn’t sound right. This private home owner is using up a lot of public resources and money. I’d like to see the OPRA on how this came about.
Takes one to know one.
It doesn’t say anywhere that the tree was in front of her house.
Looks like a nice area for a 60×90 baseball field…
@anon 1:27:’the contractors for pseg are the ones clearing tree branches from wires in accordance with approved standards, the town has nothing to do with it.
Thanks 6:24, but the PSEG crews in question are not even coming within a country mile of leaving a reasonable percentage of the shade canopy of these trees intact. The trees are being brutalized with no “controlling legal authority” sticking up for homeowners and affected residents. If Mr. Boyd were to take some snapshots of these trees the rest of Ridgewood might get some sense of the bad acts the PSEG crews are committing.
The PSE&G crew along Ridgewood Ave actually left my tree in pretty good shape. I saw them coming and asked them to do as little pruning as possible on my pear tree as pear trees generally have lighter branches and do less damage. They agreed with me and trimmed carefully. Although they took quite a bit off, it looks okay.
PSE&G has a list of trees they recommend planting near power lines. They do say they will top them at 25′ if they are below the lines.
https://www.pseg.com/home/education_safety/safety/vegetation_mgmt/right_tree.jsp
I applaud her for trying.
The village engineer is also the village idiot.
this town is a mess right from the top. shade tree crew, what crew two men , this town is about six years behind in tree care in this town.
The village engineer is also the VM’s sweetie pie. Oh my god how she drools when she says his name.