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The Brooklyn Paper / Ben Muessig

Dyker Heights resident Sonny Soave is protesting the city’s plan to plant a tree in front of his 80th Street home.

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For years, activists have been going to great lengths to protect trees, but Dyker Heights resident Sonny Soave is firmly planted against one.

The retired printer and school security officer is fighting the city’s plan to tear up the sidewalk in front of his 80th Street home to plant a tree.

The seedling, a part of Mayor Bloomberg’s Million Tree NYC program, has Soave reeling because Parks Department workers didn’t ask him if he wanted one before they marked his sidewalk with spray paint — a telltale sign that a tree is on its way.

“How is it that I have no say about what goes in front of my house?” he asked. “Am I living in a communist New York where the city makes the decision for you?”

The tree would reduce sidewalk space in front of his home, making it difficult for baby carriages and wheelchairs to navigate the block, and leaving Soave with less room to stow his garbage and recycling, he said.

He added that as the tree matures, its roots could damage the sidewalk and water and gas lines, which Soave would have to repair on his own dime.

And then there is every arborist’s biggest burden — raking leaves.

“I know it’s the city’s sidewalk, but once it’s planted, it becomes my responsibility to clean up,” Soave said.

Residents of the quiet stretch between 12th and 13th avenues are firmly rooted behind Soave. “If a person doesn’t want it, that’s his right,” said Joann Marino, who lives across the street from the would-be wood. “Why not just plant it somewhere else on the block?”

But once the plans for a new tree are set in stone, there is almost no way to keep it out of the sidewalk.

The city is in the middle of a 10-year tree-planting program that it advertises will create a more sustainable environment by improving air quality, reducing temperatures, removing air pollutants and preventing flooding, while increasing property values and revitalizing commercial districts.

“We’re trying to plant trees wherever possible and we believe that the benefits greatly outweigh any inconveniences,” said Parks Department spokesman Phil Abramson.

“If someone doesn’t want a tree, they could always contact us or call 311. If we determine that the spot is not conducive for a tree, we’ll take that into account.”

The Million Trees NYC policy replaces an older program that required the community board to send in an application with a signature from a property owner, said Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann.

Now that the homeowner’s signature isn’t needed to green light a sidewalk planter, the odds aren’t looking good for Soave.

But that doesn’t mean he’s about to start weeping like a willow.

If Soave can’t convince the city to rethink the planting, he will take a page from the playbook of the tree-huggers who chain themselves to conifers that are facing the bulldozer.

“I’ll stand right here and block them from putting that tree in if I have to,” he said.

©2008 Community Newspaper Group