Office of Borough President James P. Molinaro
Staten Island, New York
Molinaro’s helpline flooded with calls for trees & sidewalks repair program
B.P. Thanks Staten Island Advance Coverage for Hundreds of Calls
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Borough President James P. Molinaro today announced that his Helpline has been flooded with hundreds of calls from Staten Islanders signing up for the City’s new Trees & Sidewalk Repair Program.
“My Helpline Director, Mary Senk, tells me her office has received at least 500 calls from residents reporting sidewalks damaged by trees,” said Molinaro, who had to re-assign staffers to help handle the huge volume of calls.
“As soon as the Staten Island Advance reported this program on its front page yesterday, the Helpline phones started ringing off the hook, and they haven’t stopped since,” Molinaro added. “The Advance got us action, and in turn, we’re going to get action for Staten Islanders.
“The sheer volume of calls is testament to just how important this program is to our hard-working, tax-paying homeowners,” said Molinaro.
Under the Trees & Sidewalks Repair Program announced last week, the City will fix sidewalks damaged by the roots of street trees citywide – which can cause as much as $1,000 damage per tree -- at no cost to the homeowner.
The popular initiative is funded by Mayor Bloomberg and Borough President Molinaro. Molinaro had allocated $500,000 in capital funding in FY ’05 towards the pilot program, and this week he will be providing an additional $500,000 from his FY ’06 budget
“My funding should sufficiently cover the repair of 1,000 damaged sidewalks in our Borough,” said Molinaro, who urges Staten Islanders who have sidewalks damaged by street trees to call his Helpline at (718) 816-2000. The Borough President’s Office will record the complaints and forward them to the proper City agency for action.
April 7, 2005