Downtown Alliance and NYC Parks Department Beautify Lower Manhattan with MillionTreesNYC

City plants eight more trees as part of ongoing initiative

The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation planted eight more trees throughout Lower Manhattan Wednesday, bringing the total to 15 trees planted by the city in Lower Manhattan through the Bloomberg administration’s MillionTreesNYC program.

“Mayor Bloomberg’s tree-planting initiative and the efforts of Commissioner Benepe and the Parks Department are helping to green Lower Manhattan,” said Elizabeth H. Berger, President of the Downtown Alliance. “Ninety percent of Downtown’s workers take public transportation or walk to the office. More than ten million square feet of green office space is planned at the World Trade Center site. And our very walkable one square mile is filled with some of the best new parks in the city. Lower Manhattan is setting the standard for green central business districts.”

The Parks Department planted two London Plane trees at 1 Battery Park Plaza, two Zelkovas at 10 Hanover Square, one at 36 Water Street and another at 105 Broad Street, and two American Lindens at 180 Water Street.

The Alliance-Parks partnership is part of the Alliance for Downtown New York’s Going Green Downtown initiative, a series of community-building events. The Going Green series runs year-round, and includes three park beautification events: Adopt A Geranium Day and Fall Community Planting Day in Bowling Green, and Spring Community Planting Day in Mannahatta Park. The series also includes Mulch Mania, where, in partnership with NYC Department of Parks & Recreation and Department of Sanitation, Downtown residents’ holiday trees are recycled into mulch to be used in city parks.

“MillionTreesNYC is pleased to plant new street trees in Lower Manhattan in partnership with the Downtown Alliance,” said Morgan Monaco, the Parks Department’s Director of MillionTreesNYC. “The new trees will clean the air, reduce stormwater runoff and beautify the neighborhood, and they are a wonderful complement to the Alliance’s Going Green Downtown Initiative. MillionTreesNYC is excited to help transform Lower Manhattan into one the nation’s greenest Central Business Districts.”

MillionTreesNYC is a key component of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC to create a healthier, more sustainable city. A public-private partnership between the City of New York and New York Restoration Project, MillionTreesNYC is planting and caring for one million new trees in the five boroughs by 2017. Since the initiative was launched in October 2007, more than 400,000 trees have been planted citywide. Through MillionTreesNYC, the Parks Department is planting trees in parks, natural areas and on streets, including those in Lower Manhattan.

Last April, the Parks Department planted five London plane trees at 1 New York Plaza on Water Street, a honey locust in front of 75 Wall St, and a male ginkgo in Trinity Plaza. Building owners and decorative tree pit guards designed by the New York Tree Trust ensure a safe environment for the trees.