This stump is all that’s left of the tree chopped down in the middle of the night on Clark Street. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — It happened in the middle of the night.
Someone chopped down a perfectly good honey locust tree in front of 64 Clark St. near Henry Street after midnight on Oct. 13, and the perpetrator has yet to be found.
Not only did the tree-killer take down a young, healthy tree, but they also hauled away every stick of the downed tree, along with its supporting stakes.
“I can’t bear the loss of our lovely new tree at the hands of some apparent lunatic,” neighborhood preservationist Otis Pearsall, an owner of 64 Clark St., told the Brooklyn Eagle. Pearsall said the tree was planted by the city’s Parks Department just a year ago.
“And I can’t understand how no one on this heavily trafficked sidewalk thought to interrupt a perpetrator sawing down a young, newly planted street tree and removing its two supporting stakes,” he added. The only trace remaining is about four inches of stump.
Building superintendent Alberto Ceballos was also heartbroken.
“That tree was my baby,” he said. “This was vandalism. Somebody came between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m. and took it. They took everything!”
He added, “What do you do with a whole tree? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The Parks Department said on Friday it was investigating the crime, and has passed out requests for photos, videos or witness statements in area mailboxes.
“Damaging our city’s trees isn’t only illegal – it’s harmful to our communities and environment as trees absorb stormwater, help clean our air, and cool our neighborhoods,” Parks Department spokesperson Chris Clark told the Eagle.
“While our investigation is ongoing, we are asking for the community’s help in…
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