Musings: Village should respect trees

Any locality that allows three healthy, mature trees to be chopped down so it can install or “remediate” parts of an adjacent sidewalk needs to reexamine its policy. I am referring specifically to the three locust trees I watched get cut down on the morning of Jan. 2 on Wall Street, opposite the Stop & Shop, right in the heart of Huntington Village.

That morning, I called the Town of Huntington Highway Department to report this. I was told a permit had been granted because parts of the sidewalk had been uprooted and were deemed dangerous.

So, residents were left with ground stumps between the new sidewalk sections and curb for the sake of a “remediated sidewalk” — bits of concrete placed between sections of the sidewalk on one block between Gerard and Central streets in an otherwise beautiful village. This is why the trees were taken down?

Here’s a way for the village to move forward into the 21st century. It should connect with groups such as Groundwork USA to plant trees and create an urban forestry program. The City of Kingston has a budding urban forestry program upstate in Ulster County. Its Draft Tree Preservation Ordinance describes in detail and designates protected trees on both private and public properties.

When will Huntington start protecting its mature trees, nurture its young trees, and plant and maintain new trees? When the village decides it is ready, I will be ready to help in any way I can.

— Liza Womack, Huntington