Opposing Tree Views Clash at Mineola Village Board Meeting

Save a tree. Cut one down. Those two ideas were on display at the regular meeting of the Mineola Village Board on March 6 at the village hall when East Hills environmentalist Richard Brummel – making his fourth consecutive appearance in front of the board – and Brown Street resident Bernadette Quinn each made opposing requests of the trustees.

Brummel first appeared before the village board on January 16 concerning a red oak tree in the rear yard of a foreclosed property at 208 Roslyn Road that he believed was about 125 years old and had the potential to be destroyed if the property were sold to development.

He was since proven wrong on the tree’s age by deputy mayor Paul Pereira, who said that the tree does not exist on historical aerial photographs. At the February 20 meeting, several residents expressed their frustrations with Brummel’s efforts as well as reportedly trying to add signatures to his petition at the Mineola Library one weekend.

“When I mention to them the kind of treatment that I received by the board, the kind of statements that Sen. Martins made to this board, they’re not supportive of that; they’re very concerned about that,” he said of residents.

Brummel stated that to the board that he had 168 signatures on his petition, but after the meeting said the number was in excess of 200. Brummel was chided by Pereira at a previous meeting for gathering signatures from residents outside of the village.

“There’s a lot of public support for protecting this tree and other trees,” he said, adding that he had been going door-to-door along Fairfield Avenue “to make sure I got a good sample of people. What I’m finding is that people are extremely supportive of protecting this tree, 80, 90 percent of the people.”

Though the preservationist said that he had asked some people to whom he had spoken and whom had signed the petition to attend the March 6 meeting, yet he was unable to produce such supporters.

“In any event, there is that support, that I believe the board should listen to,” Brummel insisted. “People not only support this tree but express concern about many trees that they say in their experience have come down throughout Mineola during the time that they’ve lived here in what seems to be a manner in that’s not consistent with really protecting the environment.”

He then asked board members to call those who signed the petition and ask residents themselves.

“The assurances that you’ve made that it’s unlikely that anything will happen to this tree is belied throughout our communities: East Hills, Roslyn Heights, country club, Herricks,” he said.

“I’m the opposite,” Mineola resident Bernadette Quinn said as she approached the board after Brummel, asking that a “very, very old” tree at 140 Brown St. be taken down.

Quinn reported that during Hurricane Sandy a tree fell between two houses on her block affecting her neighbor to this day.

“She just repaired her entire house... and her and her husband are actually, they sleep in their basement when it gets this windy,” she said, adding that there are nine children under the age of 11 in three homes neighboring the tree, including Quinn’s 

“They’re scared; they hear us talking about this tree, another limb just came down today,” she said, reiterating her request for the tree to be taken down. Quinn said that they would want to plant a replacement tree.

“We’re going to evaluate the tree, I can’t say for sure that it has been evaluated, I’m sure it has,” Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss said. “It’s an ongoing situation. I’ll have it reevaluated for you.”

The mayor added that if the tree was on the list to be removed he was unable to give a timeframe as “there’s a lot of trees that are on that list and some of them are very, very hazardous. We don’t take down healthy trees unless it’s posing a certain issue, whether it’s a tree-root sewer issue, it’s overgrown it’s space, which many of the trees have and the street’s uplifting, the curbs are uplifting.”

Quinn reported that a tree at 144 Brown St. was inspected and treated by an arborist and which came down during Hurricane Sandy.

“Mother Nature’s a powerful lady,” Strauss commented. “I’m aware of the situation there, we’re going to do what we canto give you guys some relief, nobody should be sleeping in their basement because of fear of a tree.”

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