Inwood Once Again a Hotspot for Tree Thugging

Arborcide! Not content with the steady stream of stabbing and shooting opportunities the city provides so many of its common criminals, someone has taken to destroying 17 trees in Inwood Hill Park with a machete and possibly an ax as well. Parks Department Commissioner Adrian Benepe said: “A methodical serial attack just to kill trees. It’s sad.” While cedars were the primary target of previous attacks in 2006 and 2008, the current crop of victims are tulip trees, pines, sugar maples and hackberries. Local residents were organizing a volunteer patrol and there is a $2,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, which could land someone in jail for up to a year with a $15,000 fine. Benepe told the Times that the tulip trees were just planted in the last 10 years near a spot once occupied by a a 280-year old tulip tree that died in 1938.