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. more ›

NewYorkology has its eye on the high seas Buttermilk Channel today, reporting on Puccini's Il Tabarro which will be staged there next month. The Brooklyn waterfront will host four evenings of the opera in September, "aboard a retired fuel tanker tied up to the dock at the container port." more ›

The OSA (Open Space Alliance) has been working with the Parks Dept and between two community planning sessions, surveying at a concert and at McCarren's track & field they have surveyed 500 people. They also have their own outlet for your opines available online here. Those looking for more concerts will be disappointed to learn that this summer will likely be the last of the pool parties - the NY Press reports:

The mayor’s money has pool advocates confident that these large, loud concerts will soon be a thing of the past. “It’s not going to be the concert venue that it is now,” notes Joseph Vance of the Open Space Alliance, an organization expected to partner with the Parks Department for the renovation and subsequent administration of McCarren Pool. “There will be a pool with water in it,” he adds. more ›

The NYC Parks Department is in in the process of replacing natural grass on many of its playing fields with artificial turf. The fake grass is plastic and laid over a rubber layer that softens the field. According to the NY Post, the Parks Department installed 74 artificial turf fields since 2002. 55 replaced natural grass and 19 were put over existing hard-top lots. Another 100 fields are planned for conversion to artificial turf over the next five years, at a cost of $150 million and an annual maintenance savings of $15,000 per field. We hope those fields are durable, because that envisions a 100-year investment timeline before the artificial-turf fields pay for themselves, even if the city is getting its money for free. more ›

One of the best things about Easter always occurring on a Sunday is that you can spend your Saturday doing cool stuff like submerging hardboiled eggs in colored dyes smelling of vinegar, going from K-Mart to Target to K-Mart again trying to find that perfect Easter basket to fill with cellophane grass, putting the finishing touches on one's bonnet, or perhaps just enjoying one of the first weekends of spring knowing that a good portion of the city is in holiday-mode, so we can all just relax. more ›

Because Mayor Bloomberg is mingling with flowers, bees and other woodland sprites that made their way to Union Square! New York City is celebrating National Gardening Month with a number of events, including an Earth Day shebang in Central Park (featuring planting projects, walking tours, and entertainment at the Naumberg Bandshell) on Saturday, art exhibits at the Arsenal in Central Park, and an all-day garden festival in Union Square on Saturday, April 29 with cooking demonstrations, gardening tips and plants for sale. Too bad it's supposed to be rainy this weekend - enjoy today while you can. more ›

Tomorrow, it's the NYC Parks Department's Eggstravganza 2005 in Central Park! While the activities are ostensibly for children, it seems like everyone can join in the fun, like the egg hunt, Easter egg dying, an Eggstacle, and a petting zoo (just don't put your fingers in your mouth after petting the animals). It doesn't seem like the Peeps Fun Bus is in town the way it was last year, but there will be Central Park's Biggest Cha Cha and Electric Egg Slide - woo! more ›