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Saturday Nov 7: Help Improve Tree Beds on Franklin Street

Saturday Nov 7, 3-6pm

Meet @ Franklin & Greenpoint for a day of fun, friends and hands-on gardening for the good of our neighborhood! We will be digging up tree beds, planting daffodil bulbs for spring, adding fresh mulch and fences to protect our little slices of wildlife in the concrete jungle!

Bring your friends, your gloves, and your spades to help us renovate as many tree beds as you feel up to! We will be working along 3 blocks of Franklin Street in Greenpoint. If you're sorely missing your small backyard plot that you had back in the day, digging up dirt with us is a great way to fulfill that urge!

This is the first step in our neighborhood improvement pilot program sponsored by Neighbors Allied for Good Growth and Open Space Alliance as well as local businesses along Franklin Street.

Hey! I'm Growin' Here!

We've seen a lot of bikes locked up to street trees, especially young trees, particularly on Bedford Ave and Franklin Street. While there is clearly a lack of bike parking relative to demand in the neighborhood, it's not cool to lock a bike to a tree.

The jostling and scraping from a bike lock or chain can cause scarring of the bark and can make the tree more vulnerable to diseases by offering an opening for fungus and parasites. We've lost a lot of trees to the Asian Longhorn Beetle and can't afford to lose any more. Street trees not only absorb global warming-inducing carbon dioxide, they seem to filter other pollutants from urban air that have very local impacts on respiratory health.

So if you're doing your part to reduce car traffic and pollution by biking, please respect the trees and lock your bike to a bike rack, lamppost, or street sign pole. (And while you're at it, please try to keep it from creating a choke point on the sidewalk or blocking gates or subway entrances.)

What would a good phrase for a sign asking people to not lock their bike to a tree be? Leave your answers in the comments.

Take Action
There's clearly not enough bike parking in the neighborhood. Request a bike rack from the city for your home, work, or a place you frequent online.

Handy Tips
How to safely lock your bike in New York City.