'It could collapse.' Bed-Stuy homeowner warns city-linked tree is damaging her home
“That room is going to collapse,” Uzun said. “If it’s not next week, it’s next month or six months. People are going to get hurt.”
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Thick tree roots are tearing into a Bed-Stuy home, a growing concern homeowner Erin Uzun says could eventually cause part of the building to collapse.
“That room is going to collapse,” Uzun said. “If it’s not next week, it’s next month or six months. People are going to get hurt.”
For the past two years, Uzun says she’s been locked in a battle with the city over the removal of a towering, two-story elm tree in her backyard. Despite repeated requests, she says progress has been slow.
“I’ve been opening these 311 complaints with the city, and the majority of them have been closed with no action,” Uzun said. “I don’t know what the holdup is.”
Cracks are now spreading along the walls of her tenant’s apartment, damage Uzun says is tied to the expanding roots beneath the home. She says recent inspections by the city’s Forestry Department and NYC Parks’ GreenThumb program have led to little change.
Darryl Montgomery, a steward and founder of Hancock Community Backyard Park, says the issue has been known for years.
“There’s an annual inspection of the park,” Montgomery said. “Every year someone has noticed this, and it has gone unaddressed.”
Running out of options, Uzun applied for a permit to remove the tree herself — only to learn the cost would exceed $90,000 in penalties.
“I have to remove the tree, pay them a penalty to get the permit, and then I also have to fix the foundation of my house,” she said.
NYC Parks told News 12 that a recent assessment found the tree to be low risk for now but noted it lacks enough space to remain stable. The agency says the tree is currently scheduled for removal in early 2026.
NYC Parks also states that, "in accordance with the latest industry standards set by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)" they prioritize tree work based on a technical tree risk assessment process, including "likelihood of tree failure," "likelihood of impact" and "consequences of impact."
