Eileen Myles and Alice O'Malley - Press conference for a tree

WHO: Mathilde, an 83-year-old London Plane Tree with 1000people1000trees
WHERE: At the southeast corner of the southernmost grassy field in East River Park,
just off the Houston Street entrance
WHEN: Tuesday, 9AM, January 10, 2023
IG @1000people1000trees
Twitter @1000treesNYC

This is a gathering of media, local politicians and educators, artists, community
members, environmentalists and activists to underline the scorch and burn approach
taken by the DDC, City Planning, The Parks Department, the City Council and two
mayors over the past twelve months in the name of Climate Resiliency, wreaking havoc
on the abundant biodiversity of East River Park, home to 120 varieties of birds, squirrels
and endangered bumblebees, offering to people of all ages access to green space, river
views, sports, relaxation and health.

Mathilde is an 83-year-old London Plane, recognizable in the neighborhood for her
solitary stance at the southern end of the largest field in East River Park. People,
since the half-razing of the park, come to hug and be near her. There’s a new nest at
her top and by state law it is illegal to cut this tree down. One local resident has taken a
photo of Mathilde every day for the last 2 years. We call attention to this tree because of
the violent uprooting of 700 trees before this one; trees are speechless, and we gain so
much from their life-giving powers. A sewer is now being built in the park and with the
enormous resources of our city we are demanding an alternative approach to cutting
down this tree and ask the broader question of how to protect the five hundred and five
trees that remain north of this tree. New York City Parks Dept. is proud of their intention
to expand our city’s tree canopy. By cutting down trees that are seven and eight
decades old, one by one? Is that the way forward?

London planes live for 200-300 years. Mathilde was originally accompanied by seven
other London Planes, all blown down during Sandy, but Mathilde survived. The day after
Sandy, the field she resides in was mostly dry and so this tree stands as an exemplar of
true storm and flood water mitigation. She protects us. In 2013 the Parks Dept. planted 
a row of saplings and this tree was an elder to them, entangling roots and exchanging
nutrients and info with the new family. And those trees were torn out when the city
began its demolition of this park last December under the auspices of a non-
environmentally friendly and deeply unpopular flood protection plan (ESCR). We want to
begin a broader conversation by talking about just one elder tree. The destruction of this
park has often been explained by the city as done in response to an overriding need to
protect the residents of the NYCHA housing across the street. It’s been recently
revealed that there are high levels of arsenic in the drinking water of the same public
housing and even one fatality and it is not being treated like a crisis. We say it is all a
crisis and we know we can do better.