Lagging tree maintenance is risking lives

Long Island City: My heart goes out to the family and friends of Leighton Brown (“NYCHA worker killed by falling tree had just spoken about unpredictability,” Sept. 28). As one of the residents of the Cypress Hills Houses stated in the article, trees on the property of the housing project have been marked with red paint for more than two years, waiting for tree maintenance.

It is common knowledge that the Parks Department tree service is woefully underfunded. I ride my bike regularly on the bike path in Queensbridge Park across from the Queensbridge Houses. A large, rotten tree was split in two and fell to the ground and it took weeks for Parks to remove it, never mind trying to perform regular maintenance on standing trees that might need care. I recently put in a service request to 311 for dead branches falling to the ground or hitting parked cars in Middle Village. The response was, and I quote: “Please note that addressing this work can take up to a year or more depending on the higher priority work identified during this period and resources available to address this work.” They went on to say that alternatively, I may choose to complete the work myself by hiring an independent contractor.

Let’s honor Leighton Brown by properly funding the Tree Risk Management Program.

Blown out of proportion

Bronx: To all the weathermen, networks and doomsday climate prognosticators regarding the nor’easter ad nauseam, I have a bona fide Bronx cheer for the lot of you jabronis.

East Orange, N.J.: I’m writing to address the recent letter from........

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