Two men with a passion for the great outdoors were looking to sharpen their axe-handling skills one night earlier this month when they ran afoul of the local constabulary. Police sources tell DNAinfo that Jonathan Li, 29, of Inwood, and Salvatore Chiarelli, 26, of Brooklyn were arrested on March 4th after some skittish city slicker called 911 to report scary axe-wielding men roaming around Isham Park in Inwood. But there was no reason to panic—they were just a couple of good old boys alleviating the enervating boredom of urban living by hacking trees.
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Results tagged “tree”
Bored Men Allegedly Take Axe To Trees In Inwood Park To Practice "Sportsmanship"
When Life Hands You Meyer Lemons... Make Pizza & Pie
Every winter Fresh Direct offers up bags of Meyer Lemons for just $2.99 each, and every year we find a new way to use them in the kitchen. The lemon is sweeter and lower in acid than other lemons, with a thinner peel. Here are some recipes we've tried out this year:
Behold Gothamist's 2011 Christmas Tree Vendor Map!
Oh, the weather outside is frightful disturbingly warm, the first holiday shopping sprees are over and its time to get a tree to start stuffing those gifts under (or putting empty boxes under to make you feel better). But where to find one of our metropolis's many migrant tree vendors? Not an issue—once again, we've made a map for that!
See A Christmas Tree Vendor, Say Something
Ho, ho, ho. Thanksgiving is over, Black Friday is here and the holiday season has begun in earnest. Which means it is time for the annual arrival of New York's migrant tree vendor population. But those guys never seem to be where you thought/want them. Which is where we come in. For the last few years you've helped us put together a map of all of the tree vendors in town, and we need your help again this year.
A Tree Will Be Serenaded By Justin Bieber, Decorated By Olivia Wilde
The body is cold, so the grieving period is over! Behold, the 74-foot Norway Spruce serving as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, is now propped up in Manhattan, where it will remain through January 7th. The tree was donated by the Keller/Crawford family in rural Pennsylvania, and lived there for 75 years before the tree-barren city folk came and stole it for their own holiday amusement.
Pennsylvania Tree Will Soon Be Murdered For Our Holiday Enjoyment
Last year's casualty. (Photo by Jim Kiernan)
Could New York Use These P-Trees?
With a lack of public restrooms in the city, certainly we could find some use for these P-Trees. Open your mind, New Yorkers! A Dutch design studio created these mechanisms and debuted them at Denmark’s Roskilde Festival, providing a nice open-air alternative to the Porta-Potty. The temporary tree-friendly urinal is attached to trees using straps, making peeing in public slightly more sophisticated. Would these work in the city's parks, perhaps with a privacy shade?
A Tree Falls In Brooklyn: After Bike Theft, Tree Corpse Remains
Yesterday, we spotted a video posted on Reddit that shows a group of men in Kensington at 2 a.m. Wednesday morning chopping down a ginkgo tree with an axe, apparently to steal a bike. Today we received a tip today from reader Mike, who sent us the location of the fallen tree, along with the above "photos of the tree in Brooklyn the assholes cut down to steal the shitty bike." And two days later, that tree is sure looking sad.
Video: Thieves Axe Tree To Steal Cheap Brooklyn Bike
Reddit user TenThousandSuns posted the video below, which shows a group of men in Kensington at 2 a.m. Wednesday morning chopping down a ginkgo tree with an axe, seemingly in order to steal a bike. The initial post was titled, "How far will NY thieves go to steal a $50 department store bike locked with a $10 cable lock? This far." It was followed by one with the security camera footage, "at 4x speed and 100x the rage", which you can see below. There are a lot of terrible aspects to the incident, but it's pretty pathetic that they go through with chopping down the tree, and then indifferently ride the bike for less than five seconds.
Come Discuss "Environmental Responsibility" Where The Guggenheim Chopped Down This Healthy Tree
So the Guggenheim is full steam ahead on their abandoned lot project on First Street, which will house a temporary "lab" in which the community can discuss important things—for example, the theme is going to partially focus on "the urgent need for environmental and social responsibility." After its run in New York City (August 3rd to October 16th), the 2,500-square-foot structure is going to be flown to Asia and Germany (hitting nine cities total)—something tells us Thom Yorke would disapprove. Because when a project is focused around the environment and sustainability, shouldn't one be thinking about carbon footprints?
Downtown Arboricides Seem To Be On The Rise
About 200 trees are now gone in downtown neighborhoods like Greenwich Village, Soho, and Chinatown, according to the NY Post. Instead, "The missing limbs have left leaf-lorn neighborhoods pocked with muddy, litter-strewn craters and ugly stumps." And it seems like some of the missing trees are the victim of "delivery trucks, contractors, vandals, and people who simply ax them."
Would-Be Thief Falls To His Death In Tree Leaping Accident
A would-be thief who tried to break into a Brooklyn apartment via a tree fell to his death yesterday. The 33-year-old man made his way onto the roof of the three-story Bushwick building, then leaped onto the adjacent tree, but the branch broke and he fell to the ground.
Mutilate Your Christmas Tree At Mulchfest This Weekend!
If you haven't already discarded your tree or ceremoniously set it on fire or whatever, you might want to consider hauling it over to Mulchfest this weekend, where its death can finally have some real meaning. This Saturday and Sunday you can drop off your tree at one of these locations, where it will be recycled into mulch that will be used to nourish trees you didn't murder this holiday season. You're also invited to take home your own bag of mulch to use in your backyard or for one of your neighborhood's street trees.
Christmas Tree D.O.A. at Rockefeller Center
Yesterday a perfectly healthy Norway Spruce was chopped down after being deemed perfect for this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. It was later dragged down the streets (from Mahopac) to the Manhattan location, where it now rests before its lifeless body is brought to a standing position once again, like a yuletide Bernie. But don't feel guilty, the 74-foot-tall beast will most likely be donated to Habitat for Humanity after its holiday stint is up, so it's not like it died just for us.
FDNY Veteran Donates His Tree To Rockefeller Center
Seems like just yesterday that a giant tree in Easton, Connecticut was being chopped down and dragged to glory as the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. That tree has since been broken down and become part of a Habitat for Humanity home, and a new tree is moving into the spotlight. According to the NY Post, that tree is 74-feet-tall (2 feet short of last year's) and belongs to a 12-year FDNY veteran Peter Acton, who works at Engine 79 in the Bronx.
Husband Devastated By Wife's Death During Tornado
The lone fatality during Thursday's tornado was the death of a 30-year-old woman. Aline Levakis and her husband had been driving on the Grand Central Parkway in Queens when the storm hit. Levakis decided to pull over, only for a tree branch to fall and crush the car, killing her. Husband Billy Levakis told friends and family, "She was the best person ever created. God gave her to me. She was 30 years younger than me, but she loved me so much."
Amtrak Suspends Service Between NY And Boston
Amtrak offered this Earl-related explanation: Overhead electrical system damage from a tree which fell from outside Amtrak property in Connecticut and more severe weather forecasted this evening has led Amtrak to suspend all through service between New York and Boston (South Station). Those passengers currently on Amtrak trains in the affected area are being returned to their stations."
Fort Greene Drama: Cat In A Tree!
The Daily News has a crazy detailed video documenting every event unfolding around a cat that was stuck in a tree in Fort Greene earlier this week. It's very Bart's People! Basically, "area woman" is slowly being driven mad by "area stray cat" that is stuck in a very tall tree located next to her apartment. One "area man" is all, "Cat in a tree—it's so cliché."
Nature Takes A Stand at World Trade Center Site
The long-awaited September 11 Memorial won't open at the World Trade Center site until September 11, 2011, but yesterday morning there were more signs of its progress as the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum and Port Authority planted the first Swamp White Oak trees that will surround the two reflecting pools. Director of design for the memorial and museum, Ron Vega, said, "Trees are about life. Trees are about renewal. You know when you plant a tree in someone’s name, it’s a moment of reflection and respect and here we are."
City Wants Jayson Williams to Pay $16K for Tree He Totaled
Former NBA star Jayson Williams is already serving some of a five year prison sentence for killing his limo driver with a shotgun, but he's due back in court today to face charges from his January DWI bust. You'll recall that Williams, who pleaded not guilty and claims that there was someone else driving, crashed his Mercedes-Benz SUV into a tree at the FDR exit at East 20th Street around 3 a.m. (Photos later surfaced showing him partying with college kids at the Upper East Side bar Aces & 8s.)
Video: Police Remove Community Gardens Activist from Tree
[UPDATE BELOW] Police are currently deploying a tall ladder to forcibly remove a demonstrator named Jessica Sunflower (if that is in fact her real name!) from a tree in City Hall park. Sunflower and other activists converged there this morning to protest a change in city rules that would cost community gardens legislative protection against housing developers. These rules will replace a 2002 agreement that allowed some gardens throughout the city to thrive over the last decade.
Rotting Tree Finally Cut Down In Brooklyn
The trees have turned on us, and now citizens of New York are taking these leafy menaces out with their own hands, sort of (and no, not this way). One Greenpoint man found that calling 311 and 911 about his rotting tree problem got him nowhere, so he alerted NY1 as a last resort.
Bloomberg: Baby's Death In Central Park A "Tragic" Accident
Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe says the tree branch which fell and killed a 6-month-old baby and left her mother in the hospital on Saturday came from a healthy tree. "The tree limb that fell was in full leaf. There was no evidence to the naked eye looking up at it that it was in any danger of falling," he told WCBS, noting that the tree had been inspected within the last six months.
Who Is Responsible For Killer Central Park Tree?
An investigation is under way to determine which organization is responsible for maintenance on a tree that killed a 6-month-old baby in Central Park over the weekend. Karla DelGallo was holding her child, Gianna Ricciutti, while her husband snapped a picture of the two when a tree branch came crashing down on them, killing Gianna and hospitalizing her mother (she's in stable condition). The tree's roots are planted in the Central Park Zoo, which maintained by the Wildlife Conservation Society, but the branches hung over into the park, which is maintained by the Central Park Conservancy.
Mother Of Baby Killed By Falling Branch Is Now Stable
Yesterday, a 6-month-old baby died after being struck by a falling branch near the sea lion exhibit at the Central Park Zoo. Baby Gianna Riccuitti died almost instantly while her mother Karla DelGallo, who was also struck and hospitalized, is now in stable condition. Witness Trung Tran said he heard a crack, and watched as the branch fell about 40 feet while DelGallo attempted to run away. He told the Daily News, "I heard someone say, 'Watch out!' I heard the branch cracking."
Infant Killed By Falling Branch in Central Park Zoo
[UPDATE BELOW] A mother and her infant child have reportedly been rushed to Cornell Hospital after being struck by a falling branch in the Central Park Zoo. Reports of the incident came in around 2 p.m., but a police spokesman said they don't have details at this time. This has been the third incident of injuries caused by a falling branch in the park this year. Just last month, three people were injured in Central Park by falling branches near the Boathouse, and in February a man was killed by a branch that fell from a reportedly healthy tree.
Tree Branch Falls In Central Park, Three Injured
Just after 12:30 p.m., there were reports of a tree branch falling in Central Park, injuring three people, near 74th Street and the East Drive (which is also near the Boathouse). Philip Bump tells us that the victims appeared to be a family picnicking and that he "only saw one woman underneath, quickly had dozens of people around her. She didn't seem to be moving - in ambulance now."
Insurance Won't Cover Central Park Tree-Damaged Car
Yesterday morning, a tree in Central Park fell eastward onto Fifth Avenue at 93rd Street. While no one was injured, the tree damaged a car and blocked traffic for a while as various agencies cleaned up the mess. NY1 caught up the owner of the car, Linda Choi, who was working a few blocks away and revealed that her insurance wouldn't cover it.
Tree Falls On Fifth Avenue, Makes A Sound
This morning, a tree fell from Central Park onto Fifth Avenue at 93rd Street—and it looks like, fortunately, that no one was injured. Reader and Flickr contributor ennuipoet writes, "A few minutes after 10:00 this morning, I watched a huge tree fall onto 5th Avenue and 93rd Street from about 200 feet away. The traffic light at 93rd went green shortly before and the vehicles at the light were clear from the area when the tree uprooted and fell..."
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