Thursday, August 21, 2008
Preserving trees and protecting lives – Gramercy Park
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Arlene Harrison, the Mayor of Gramercy Park, has been sending warning announcements following a tree fall. One cannot blame her, it could have been disastrous. On June 24th, around 6 00 pm, Kate Ballinger, secretary to the Trustees of Gramercy Park, was sitting on a bench, with her two children, one a baby, under a large Norway Maple , west of the center. She heard a loud crackling overhead, and realized that a branch was about to break off... Fortunately, they got out of the way just before a huge limb of the maple fell down, demolishing the bench.
Examination by Bartlett'a Tree Service showed that both the limb and the trunk of the tree were entirely hollow, caused by squirrels, and the limb was weakened by the recent heavy rainfalls. The tree was removed, and a part of the trunk and the limb were left, along with the bench, for public examination, to establish cause. This precaution was evidently caused by the private park's history a decade ago, when a major brouhaha, with lawsuits, was caused by the removal of several old trees that was deemed unnecessary by some locals.
Trees do get feeble with age, as recently exhibited by a limb falling of a huge healthy looking old oak in Stuyvesant Square Park East, causing an injury, and prompting the removal of the entire 140 year old patriarch, and the cutting of other damaged but seemingly healthy ones, a precaution all parks should follow. Gramercy Park is also doing deep root fertilization of certain trees, to provide extra nourishment and stimulation. After this process, a five-foot area around such tree remains unplanted, to give the roots a chance to breathe.
Gramercy has planted 15 butterfly bushes in north and west parts, now blooming purple. They are truly butterfly attracting but fragile; only two of mine survived this last severe upstate winter. Gramercy’s yellow and green Eonymous bushes will also do well, mine get eaten by deer. What else do we have in common? Well, my hydrangeas are also doing fine, and my Cleome flowers ditto – Gramercy might consider pairing them with Cosmos, a top combination. The park is also planting blue fescue grass, dianthus flowers, and tall ferns around the Ruggles fountain.
For the newcomers, herewith a brief introduction to the Founder, Samuel B. Ruggles, who graduated from Yale in 1814, at the age of 14, seemingly destined to read law at his father’s accounting office in Poughkeepsie. But the young tall man had other ideas. After qualifying to plead before the courts, he opened a law office in New York, married a wealthy girl and started buying and developing land in 1825, the year Erie Canal commenced bringing boom times to the city. By 1830 he owned some 500 lots north of 15th Street.
A hilly farm with a creek running through it, called Crommersie Vly, or Cedar Creek, caught his eye. The 1811 Commissioners’ Plan, that ordered the development of Manhattan streets in fixed rectangles, made for difficulties in dividing the property. Originally part of Peter Stuyvesant’s farm, it was briefly held by Francisco Bastianense, a freed slave. The surrounding areas were owned by James Delancey, sometime Lieutenant Governor, John Watts , developer of Rose Hill further north, and James Duane, a future Mayor (1786), who eventually bought the Bastianense property, as well as six acres from the heirs of the Tory Watts.. His daughter sold it to the grandmother of James Renwick, the architect of Calvary Church, and Ruggles bought her out, in 1830. With this base he assembled 60 (sometimes called 66) building and 42 park lots, to be developed on a grand plan modeled after the private squares of London. A million cart loads of earth and stone had to be moved, streets around parks planned (he was also material in prompting legislature for Madison Square, Washington Square and Central Park), and most importantly, tax-free status obtained for "ornamental squares…unoccupied by buildings." In anticipation, he deeded the 42 park squares to trustees.
The plan succeeded, and mowing fast-forward we find the private structure intact, with some 900 families in 39 buildings off the private park, enjoying the grass and the trees, and paying $350 a year for the use of park keys, only available to residents in lot owners’ buildings. The park is sparsely populated, but that is not much different from most of the city’s parks, thinly used by mothers’ helpers and transients during the day, while residents are at work. It is only in the tourist rich areas that parks are crowded, such as Union Square with its Greenmarket and Central Park with its facilities, lakes and restaurants.
The current Trustees are James M. Clark, Jr. (Chair), Arthur H. Barnes, Arlene S. Harrison, Steven U. Leitner and Rev. Dr Thomas S. Pike. Arlene, who looks after the management of the Park, is also President of the Gramercy Park Block Association. Her organization plants and maintains the trees in the Park’s periphery, under the guidance of the Trustees.
Arlene Harrison, the Mayor of Gramercy Park, has been sending warning announcements following a tree fall. One cannot blame her, it could have been disastrous. On June 24th, around 6 00 pm, Kate Ballinger, secretary to the Trustees of Gramercy Park, was sitting on a bench, with her two children, one a baby, under a large Norway Maple , west of the center. She heard a loud crackling overhead, and realized that a branch was about to break off... Fortunately, they got out of the way just before a huge limb of the maple fell down, demolishing the bench.
Examination by Bartlett'a Tree Service showed that both the limb and the trunk of the tree were entirely hollow, caused by squirrels, and the limb was weakened by the recent heavy rainfalls. The tree was removed, and a part of the trunk and the limb were left, along with the bench, for public examination, to establish cause. This precaution was evidently caused by the private park's history a decade ago, when a major brouhaha, with lawsuits, was caused by the removal of several old trees that was deemed unnecessary by some locals.
Trees do get feeble with age, as recently exhibited by a limb falling of a huge healthy looking old oak in Stuyvesant Square Park East, causing an injury, and prompting the removal of the entire 140 year old patriarch, and the cutting of other damaged but seemingly healthy ones, a precaution all parks should follow. Gramercy Park is also doing deep root fertilization of certain trees, to provide extra nourishment and stimulation. After this process, a five-foot area around such tree remains unplanted, to give the roots a chance to breathe.
Gramercy has planted 15 butterfly bushes in north and west parts, now blooming purple. They are truly butterfly attracting but fragile; only two of mine survived this last severe upstate winter. Gramercy’s yellow and green Eonymous bushes will also do well, mine get eaten by deer. What else do we have in common? Well, my hydrangeas are also doing fine, and my Cleome flowers ditto – Gramercy might consider pairing them with Cosmos, a top combination. The park is also planting blue fescue grass, dianthus flowers, and tall ferns around the Ruggles fountain.
For the newcomers, herewith a brief introduction to the Founder, Samuel B. Ruggles, who graduated from Yale in 1814, at the age of 14, seemingly destined to read law at his father’s accounting office in Poughkeepsie. But the young tall man had other ideas. After qualifying to plead before the courts, he opened a law office in New York, married a wealthy girl and started buying and developing land in 1825, the year Erie Canal commenced bringing boom times to the city. By 1830 he owned some 500 lots north of 15th Street.
A hilly farm with a creek running through it, called Crommersie Vly, or Cedar Creek, caught his eye. The 1811 Commissioners’ Plan, that ordered the development of Manhattan streets in fixed rectangles, made for difficulties in dividing the property. Originally part of Peter Stuyvesant’s farm, it was briefly held by Francisco Bastianense, a freed slave. The surrounding areas were owned by James Delancey, sometime Lieutenant Governor, John Watts , developer of Rose Hill further north, and James Duane, a future Mayor (1786), who eventually bought the Bastianense property, as well as six acres from the heirs of the Tory Watts.. His daughter sold it to the grandmother of James Renwick, the architect of Calvary Church, and Ruggles bought her out, in 1830. With this base he assembled 60 (sometimes called 66) building and 42 park lots, to be developed on a grand plan modeled after the private squares of London. A million cart loads of earth and stone had to be moved, streets around parks planned (he was also material in prompting legislature for Madison Square, Washington Square and Central Park), and most importantly, tax-free status obtained for "ornamental squares…unoccupied by buildings." In anticipation, he deeded the 42 park squares to trustees.
The plan succeeded, and mowing fast-forward we find the private structure intact, with some 900 families in 39 buildings off the private park, enjoying the grass and the trees, and paying $350 a year for the use of park keys, only available to residents in lot owners’ buildings. The park is sparsely populated, but that is not much different from most of the city’s parks, thinly used by mothers’ helpers and transients during the day, while residents are at work. It is only in the tourist rich areas that parks are crowded, such as Union Square with its Greenmarket and Central Park with its facilities, lakes and restaurants.
The current Trustees are James M. Clark, Jr. (Chair), Arthur H. Barnes, Arlene S. Harrison, Steven U. Leitner and Rev. Dr Thomas S. Pike. Arlene, who looks after the management of the Park, is also President of the Gramercy Park Block Association. Her organization plants and maintains the trees in the Park’s periphery, under the guidance of the Trustees.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 2:59 PM 
