QBP RICHARDS’ TREE CROWDSOURCING CAMPAIGN TO CULMINATE WITH NORTH CORONA PLANTINGS
Wednesday, May 24 at 9am on Northern Boulevard
(May 23, 2023 at 12:30pm)
QUEENS, NY – Six months after launching a crowdsourcing campaign to determine the most appropriate locations in the borough to plant new trees, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. will join NYC Parks to plant trees along Northern Boulevard in North Corona tomorrow, May 24, at 9am.
In September 2022, Borough President Richards asked Queens residents to recommend locations in their neighborhoods where they thought a tree should be planted. In the following months, the Borough President’s Office received a whopping 417 submissions from residents all across Queens, which were processed and analyzed with the assistance of public interest technology nonprofit Beta NYC,
In consultation with NYC Parks, approximately 30 locations across Community District 3, 9 and 12 were selected to have trees planted. These districts were chosen because each has historically suffered from severe heat zone effects, worsening health impacts for area families, and a stark lack of shade.
The crowdsourcing campaign was supported by a $100,000 allocation by Borough President Richards in Fiscal Year 2023 for tree planting across Queens. The funding was part of the “Million More Trees” initiative, a joint effort announced by all five Borough Presidents in February 2022 to have the City plant one million trees by 2030.
The initiative is a continuation of Borough President Richards’ staunch commitment to both correcting longstanding environmental inequities and ensuring Queens is a global leader in the fight against climate change.
On April 17, Operation Urban Sustainability — the Borough President’s working group of local environmental justice leaders and resiliency advocates — released its inaugural climate report, a 25-page blueprint to guide the Borough President Richards’ sustainability and resiliency efforts in topics such as urban agriculture, composting, energy-efficient development, environmental justice, education, nature preservation, flood prevention and transportation.
That same day, the Borough President embarked on a Queens Sustainability Tour, visiting the Queens Botanical Garden and Jamaica Bay to observe and highlight critical climate resilience work being done at each site.
Members of the media who would like to attend the tree planting asked to RSVP via email at [email protected] or via phone at 718-286-2640.
WHAT: Borough President Richards to Plant Trees in Corona
WHEN: Wednesday, May 24 at 9am
WHERE: 100-02 Northern Boulevard in North Corona
WHO: DONOVAN RICHARDS JR., Queens Borough President
Environmental justice advocates and local residents
Follow the Office of the Queens Borough President via @QnsBPRichards on Twitter and @QueensBPRichards on Facebook and Instagram
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