The good, the bad, and the truly ugly

The really good news was the Christmas tree mulch that has been spread around the trees at the SW part of the park. Beautiful green and white speckled design, delightful scent of pine, two sweet little ornaments decorating the clearing, and, oh yeah. it's good for the trees, the ground etc. Hopefully it will stay beautiful and aromatic for a while, or at least until it snows.

And, we spotted a little art project in the Parade Grounds,

Three little white ducks (Muscovy?) happily wandering around the beach. I think they might be sleeping in a hollow trunk by the lake. But no one was feeding them, and they seemed really at home. Their neighbor is a cormorant.

The bad news: we have only seen 9 of the 10 swans in the last few days. Only 4 of the 5 cygnets seem to be there. B reminded me that one of the cygnets seemed to go off on his own a lot, so maybe he has found his own little spot. I hope so, but we worry about them, especially the park seems to be on the anti-goose kick again. Gooose-buster man, dog and truck have been patrolling the lake lately. No signs of any geese. I miss them.

The really ugly news is about the trees. Yesterday we saw SEVEN tree-cutting trucks along the road. I asked them what was going on, and they said they were trimming and cutting the old trees to make them "safer." I protested, and we had quite a chat about why. the Park is getting constant complaints from a certain two people. One of my anonymous commenters mentioned last October, when I first got upset about cutting down the old trees, "You can blame the glory hound duo for that scaremongering,."

Anonymous was so right. We used to be friends with the glory hound duo. They watched out for the geese and swans and ducks, and were very concerned about the fishing line. But then, everything that they did had a reporter writing about in the paper. Their "concerns" expanded to a false, paranoid level, The duo takes credit for everything that happens in the park. For example, Dog Beach in Long Meadow is closed every winter. The duo claims that it 's closed because of their publicity about the toxic water. The water is NYC tap water (it is NOT a natural water habitat), is tested regularly, and supports a wide variety of healthy wildlife. It is not toxic.

Now, the duo is railing against the trees and the ladders, claiming both are dangerous. What nonsense! Yes many of the trees are 100 years old or more. They are beautiful. When there are bad storms, they lose some branches. People are not in the park during bad storms. Even the homeless go to the rustic shelters, under the bridges, or even to other shelters in the city. The Parks Dept. seems to be spending a ton of money and time on the silly and paranoid complaints of the duo. PLEASE STOP.

The ladders are even sillier. The duo thinks that the ladders are bad, and people will drown. They imagine hordes of Brooklynites rushing into the lake and drowning. Or accidentally falling into the lake when the lake is iced over, and drowning. First, the lake around the edges is quite shallow. People go into the lake on clean-up days (with boots, it is muddy and a little disgusting). Is the Parks Dept. really going to spend thousands of dollars for better ladders?

I could go on and on about how the duo treats all the other park groups as their enemies, and accuses them of all kinds of anti-park activities, but this is enough. The rest of the people who watch the park, save the birds, pick up trash, report park problems, monitor the plants and animals, etc., need to let the Park know that the duo is not the only voice. Please, While there are still some old trees standing.

I have said nice things about Emily Lloyd, who seems to b e doing a great job running Prospect Park. But if she's listening to these two to make decisions about trees, ladders, and who knows what else, we are in trouoble.