A Tree (Doesn’t) Grow in Brooklyn Part 2

By on May 6, 2010 4:09 pm in Brooklyn Heights

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This just in from a BHB tipster… more on the Clark/Henry tree controversy:

Alas, another reason why a tree (or two) can’t grow near the Clark Restaurant on Henry Street– this time, a Shop Rite truck protruding quite far onto the sidewalk (at around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday). Would it be worthwhile to let our neighborhood merchants know, along with officials and such, that we expect them to help us protect our sidewalks and trees?

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  • treelover

    What exactly do you expect the local merchants to do? Throw themselves in front of the truck? I do recall that years ago they had a cemement flower pot there. One day it was gone, probably someone complained that it was not original enough.

    But the bigger question here is: Why a shop rite truck? What supermarket around here are they associated with?

  • Ari

    Gristede’s sells a lot of Shoprite products.

  • Adam G

    I gotta say, I think that at this point I’d prefer them to just fill the hole in the sidewalk over rather than let it sit and be full of stagnant water. A sapling is clearly not going to survive at that location.

  • martinlbrooklyn

    GRISTEDES DOESN’T OWN THE STREETS
    Living around the corner from Gristedes I have noticed that they make no effort whatever to arrange for truck deliveries at times when traffic would be at minimum. This, despite the fact that their 18-wheelers create hazards to humans, normal car traffic, and, of course, sidewalk trees.
    They park their huge trucks with abandon on Clark, reducing Clark to one lane creating a jam up and a seriously dangerous, one vehicle at a time, traffic pattern. Today’s demo on Henry had traffic honking and backed up to Pineapple. What do I want? I want them to re-arrange their deliveries so that they don’t obstruct normal traffic and endanger pedestrians. Early morning or late night would work. A responsible business would see to that, even if it was inconvenient to them and would cost a few bucks.

  • nabeguy

    A responsible business? Gristedes? Martin, I suspect you’ve inhaled too many fumes from their trucks.

  • bornhere

    I’ve never given much thought to the stocking process of a supermarket, but when you really think of all that goes in (and much of what comes out), it’s amazing that it’s not a 24/7 operation.
    The problem with late night/early morning, of course, would be the increase in late/early truck traffic through our streets and the resulting noise — and complaints. I think so much of this is just the luck of the draw for a residential neighborhood with narrow streets.
    Of course, we should all probably be encouraged by learning that fresh (?) foods are periodically delivered to Gristedes…..

  • David on Middagh

    We could ask for bollards up and down the block to protect a new sapling. There are bollards by Gristedes…

  • ClarknHenry

    Just last night, I was awaken at 4am by a delivery truck… blowing it’s horn to get another vehicle out of that space right by the hole! The truck then climed onto the sidewalk and right into the hole, making it even deeper. I would LOVE to see a tree in that spot, even if it take huge metal poles to protect it from the trucks. I went into Clarks to talk to the proprietor, who said he had spent $33,000 on the sidewalk so far. Long story short, if it is NOT an oprtion for the trucks to part there, they will have to figure something else out. It is an unsightly mess as it is, and the stagnant water nothing more than a breeding groumnd for misquitoes.

  • davoyager

    I don’t think trucks of that size should drive these little streets. Let them offload their local deliveries to smaller neighborhood sized trucks at the foot of Atlantic Ave for local deliveries. Ban the 18 wheeler from local streets. The big rigs are for interstate hauls not urban shared roads.