There were four trees growing in the small plaza on the southeast corner of Newark and Jersey avenues in downtown Jersey City. Now they are but a distant memory.
On February 25, also Ash Wednesday, workers from the Jersey City Division of Parks and Forestry did what some view as an unrepentant act by cutting down the trees in just three hours.
The trees – three of the Cavalry Pear variety and one Zelcova, according to Parks and Forestry – had been fixtures in what was known as the William Mercado Garden, named for a seller of frozen ices on that corner until he was murdered in November 1994.
That has some residents living in the area wondering why they were taken down.
Theresa Rizzio, a pet stylist and artist who lives in one of the apartment buildings on the Newark and Jersey corner, was at home the morning the trees were felled.
“I felt like these were my family being taken away from me,” Rizzio said. “It may sound crazy, but I really loved those trees, and the birds that lived in them.”
There is an explanation for what was classified as “treework” on signs in the vicinity of the Mercado Garden, but they were only posted the night before the tree removal, according to Rizzio.
City Councilman Steven Fulop, who represents downtown Jersey City where the trees were located, said the cutting is part of a larger plan that has been discussed since 2006 to improve the streetscape of Newark Avenue from Grove Street to Jersey Avenue with new sidewalks and lighting. The corner of Newark and Jersey will be redone with new trees, along with new pavers and planters. This project is slated to start in mid-April.
However, Fulop admitted he received “a lot of angry calls” about the cutting of the trees.
More than just trees
To say Theresa Rizzio had a love affair with the trees that grew in front of her apartment in the five years she has lived there is an understatement.
“I have a song dedicated to the trees,” Rizzio said. “Whenever I looked out, all I saw were the trees and how they changed along with the seasons, and all those songbirds.”
Rizzio had her arborist heart broken when she looked out Ash Wednesday morning to see her beloved trees subjected to saws and cutters. Fortunately, she managed to retrieve sections of the trees that she uses as benches and/or tables to keep their memory alive, and has plans to hold a “memorial” for the trees.
And she is not the only one who laments the trees being gone.
Carl Sullivan has lived a few doors down from the Newark and Jersey corner for the past 20 years. He finds the planned renovation of that corner is not a good reason for the trees to have been removed.
“I have been involved in construction for many years and in my opinion, they could have built around the trees,” Sullivan said. “It makes no sense to me to take down those trees when they contribute to the environment, and they looked healthy to me.”
Both Sullivan and Rizzio also took issue with the last-minute notification of residents in the area about the cutting.
However, Rodney Hadley, director of the Division of Parks and Forestry, said the trees had to be taken down on Ash Wednesday. The contractors working on the Mercado Garden are planning their preconstruction to start as early as the end of this week, and needed the area cleared away.
Hadley also said the trees had a 10-year lifespan and were weakening over the years, which prompted him to “make the call” to cut them down.
Not cutting out the public
Phillip Stamborski actually can sympathize with what Rizzio and Sullivan are feeling.
Stamborski is the owner and operator of the Gallerie Hudson, the custom frame and antique shop at 197 Newark Avenue, which has ground-level view of the trees. He also serves on the board of the Historic Downtown Special Improvement District (HDSID), the coalition of property owners and business owners that covers Grove Street to Newark Avenue, and Newark Avenue from Grove Street to Jersey Avenue.
Stamborski said that even he misses the trees, joking he feels “naked” with the trees longer providing shade in front of his store.
Stamborski also said while the HDSID did engage in public dialogue with storeowners and residents in the past, he said they will work towards doing a better job in the future of informing the public of the renovation on Newark Avenue.
He also admitted that the signs about the cutting of the trees should have been posted in the area the week before the cutting rather than the day before, a mistake on the city’s part.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonrreporter.com.