Letters to the Editor

STREET TREES

Please do an article, or series perhaps, about our poor, neglected street trees.

Mayor Bloomberg started the “plant a million trees program.” How did that work out? Success? Failure? Lessons learned? Cost? In addition, you could do an invaluable service by doing photoessays about blocks or areas where street trees are well taken care of. Why? How? And places where they are not - whose fault is that? How can it be corrected?

Trees sequester enormous amounts of carbon, improve air quality, provide shade, natural air conditioning, protection from harsh winds, are esthetically appealing and surely add to the real estate values where they exist. Can you quantify that so that perhaps if building owners/managers know that trees actually add money to their properties they’ll take better care of them? Curb appeal!

So much to learn about our urban forest – shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Thank you.

Susan Addelston

Upper West Side

DANGERS ON THE STREETS

Can you write an article on the terrible situation in NYC with bicycles and e-scooters all over the place, not obeying traffic laws, riding on the sidewalks, going the wrong way on one-way streets and endangering the lives of pedestrians all day every day.

Not one politician or anyone in DOT or NYPD is addressing this lawless, dangerous situation. There is no enforcement of traffic laws whatsoever.

We need immediate legislation requiring that all bicycles be licensed and insured. We need a total ban on e-scooters which are also a fire hazard due to their lithium batteries.

This is a real crisis and needs addressing immediately.

We do not need any more bike lanes. We need mandatory licensing and insurance of all bicycles and a total ban on e-scooters.

M. S.

Murray Hill