The killer in Central Park

Central Park is the city's most famous green lung but unfortunately there have been some horrific deaths in the Park recently due to branches falling on people.The latest victim was a six month old baby. Is the prospect of killer branches going to stop you going to the Park? whose responsible for the upkeep of the trees in the park? Is it lack of funds or sheer neglect?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/nyregion/28tree.html?nl=nyregion&emc=ura1
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JenMac 2yrs+
What a dumb way to die. You kinda have to wonder what the crap is going on over there if that many incidents have happened in one year -- especially considering it's only been warm for a few months . . .
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hhusted 2yrs+
@JenMac: Well, it is hard to say what is going on at the park. Many of those trees have been there since the park was first made so they are old. Perhaps the storm that blew through here last Thursday caused the limb to weaken and crack and finally fall. It was just unfortunate that somebody was in the path of the fallen limb.
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uptowngirl 2yrs+
@JenMac there was a death in the park during the winter as well, but what really can be done about falling branches which can be deadly? I have been thinking about it but there seems to be no other solution but to avoid walking in Central Park but dont think anybody is ready to abandon NYC's iconic patch of green just yet.
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hhusted 2yrs+
@Uptowngirl: I think the real solution is for, whoever is supposed to care for the trees, to go into the park, evaluate all trees, take notes as to which ones are good and bad. Then remove all those trees that are old or look like trouble.
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JenMac 2yrs+
Didn't the article kind of imply that it's always the quiet ones though? Like the trees that they thought were healthy ended up being the killers.
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BroadwayBK 2yrs+
This is something that I've actually begun to worry about... I wonder why they don't send in some dudes with chainsaws to maintain these massively old trees. Jeez.

And there has to be some way to fix this problem. There has to be some way that the trees can be checked... I understand it would take a lot of man power, but a hundred pound branch just doesn't suddenly drop. There has to be some rotting involved, something that can be seen.

I agree with @hhusted, though I don't think entire trees have to be removed (probably not, anyway). My dad always maintained the huge oak in our yard with a chainsaw - you just get rid of the branches that aren't looking so hot before they drop on anyone's head.

And this situation is highly weird - a perfectly healthy tree branch just dropped? If that's really the case then this really is a freak accident... But I wouldn't be surprised if the parks department was just trying to cover for themselves say that the investigation in incomplete.
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BroadwayBK 2yrs+
Nevermind... it seems that there are some trees deemed removable.
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hhusted 2yrs+
@BroadwayBK: It amazes me how many people in charge of something, always has an excuse for why it failed instead of admitting wrong doing or making a mistake. The people in charge of those trees just need to go in and do an evaluation to see what condition the limbs are in. Normally, a slight pull could give you some hint as to the condition of the limbs.

As for falling limbs, they do not fall for no reason. Something caused it. For every situation, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is the law of physics. So for a branch to fall, either a storm came through and the wind was so strong that it cracked the limb enough so that it eventually gave way to a slight breeze and down it came. Or, someone could have been in the tree, seen the limb, started cutting, got interrupted on his radio, and forgot to finish the job.

Which theory do you folks believe better.
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NeverSleeps 2yrs+
Yeah, it does seem a little weird that a perfectly healthy branch could come tearing down so quickly as to kill someone. Such a tragic story....
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uptowngirl 2yrs+
@everyone for such an incident to take place thrice in a calendar year is worrying to say the least ..something definitely has to be done by the Central Park Conservancy. they can't just ignore it by saying these are freak incidents.. a tree patrol that regularly inspects and maintains the trees must be already in place,perhaps they should post warning signs around the really old trees..
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DBlack 2yrs+
I bet some of this could be prevented if people were more proactive about what happens in their own neighborhoods. The people who have lived in one neighborhood a long time would probably be able to tell which trees are looking like they have problems, since they see them every day.
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NeverSleeps 2yrs+
@DBlack People should keep a look out for these things - and complain about them for sure. But you would think after the first time this happened, someone whose job it is to keep up the park would've been on top of this problem...
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At the same time - and I don't mean to sound callous - s**t happens. This is a horrific tragedy, but we needn't extrapolate a single incident - or even a couple instances - to become paranoid about our trees- The Happening-style. Of course all necessary precautions should be taken, but at some point we must acknowledge that just plain living is dangerous (and in the end, always fatal), and live our lives anyway, however long they may be.
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BroadwayBK 2yrs+
@ajadedidealist You do have a point. And these days living is not as dangerous as it once was, so maybe we should just be grateful for that.
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hhusted 2yrs+
@NeverSleeps: People are lazy. Every movement undertaken by a paid employee is money out of the pocket of those paying the person. With the financial crisis that NYC is in right now, no department has the extra funds to have someone go into a park and perform extensive tests on something that just happened twice in a year. These are just coincidences. If such a situation had occurred every day, week, month, or several times a year, there would be a cause for concern. But two isolated incidents is not enough to warrant paying a large amount of money to investigate it. Like Ajadedidealist said, s*** happens.
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JenMac 2yrs+
I agree, life is dangerous. It's just that it's such a stupid way to die. All I can hope is that if I die from something other than old age / disease that it's a bit more glamourous than a rotten, old tree branch hitting me when I stopped to pull my underwear out of my butt during a run and I hate running . . . etc.
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hhusted 2yrs+
@JenMac: Yeah, that would be embarrassing. Although, if you were killed in the mishap, it would not be embarrassing for you. In reality, any kind of reason to die is stupid. If you die of old age is one thing. But most deaths are caused by ignorance, carelessness, lack of focus, being at the wrong place at the wrong time, abusiveness, lack of care for oneself, intolerance, and coincidence. In these cases, death could be avoided if the person showed more concern and alertness for his/her body, surroundings, conditions, and state of mind.

Granted, no one can anticipate a tree limb falling. So this can be ruled out. However, the blame for the occurrence still lies with someone. The question is who. It goes back to whomever is in charge of the trees. It is their responsibility for the upkeep of the trees and everything else in the park. So they should be blamed for anything that occurs in the park.
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NeverSleeps 2yrs+
I thought it was awful when the first falling tree branch killed someone - but when I told a friend about it he died laughing because it sounded like something that would happen in a Looney Tunes cartoon. He is not the most mature person I've ever met, but still: it is a rather preposterous way to end things.

@JenMac Ha...it's a death where everything leading up to that moment would have to happen exactly as it did, or you would narrowly miss dying. Damn undergarments.
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hhusted 2yrs+
@NeverSleeps: That guy was immature and rude. To laugh at someone's misfortune is simply wrong. He really needs to grow up and get some manners.
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That said, wasn't it Nietzsche that said we laugh in order to not weep? Humor is a defense mechanism against uncomfortable or absurd situations. Often, especially among teenagers, you'll find people laughing at serious subjects during films - Nazis, murder, etc. It's not that they're heartless, but rather that they're uncomfortable...
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hhusted 2yrs+
@Ajadedidealist: I understand that. But there is a time and place for everything. If I was in pain and saw someone laugh at me, I'd be pissed off at the guy. Maybe even get in his face about it.

On the other hand, if someone saw someone in pain, and he laughed about it behind closed doors where no one could see him, that is different.
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uptowngirl 2yrs+
@hhusted I have to agree with you on this one I would probably react the same way as well.
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hhusted 2yrs+
@Uptowngirl: Thank you. It is a matter of showing proper manners and knowing the right time to react.
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NeverSleeps 2yrs+
@ajadedidealist I think it's okay to laugh in order not to weep when it comes to your own pain, but as for other people's I think hhusted has a point - it's immature to say the least. In high school when that sort of thing happened around me I didn't really appreciated it (does that mean I was always so mature?). Anyway, looking back I can cut teenagers some slack on the matter. But these days I think people's reactions to tragic stories really says a lot about what kind of a person they are, and laughing at tragedy doesn't speak well for an adult.
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Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@NeverSleeps And it's probably a big warning sign as far as any men one dates!
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NeverSleeps 2yrs+
@Uraniumfish EXACTLY.
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Good point, @uraniumfish! And I'm not saying I'd laugh personally - far from it! - I'm just trying to explain how someone, especially an immature/young person, might have a reaction we consider tasteless and callous without actually being, for lack of a better term, a "bad person."
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hhusted 2yrs+
@Ajadediedealist: A callous or ill-mannered person does not have to be a bad person. Could be he just wasn't trained right.
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BroadwayBK 2yrs+
@hhusted Trained like a dog? I think there comes a certain age when people have to take responsibility for their own actions. Just because an adult man didn't learn how to act as a child doesn't mean he shouldn't have it figured out by now!
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JenMac 2yrs+
@everyone: I'm just playing devil's advocate here, but when people laugh because they're uncomfortable, they kind of can't help it. It's not really something that just "growing up" can change any more than any of us can just decide to be grown ups and lose all of the defense mechanisms that we have built up. I don't know that's it's necessarily immaturity so much as a physical manifestation of emotions you're not comfortable with revealing.
I don't laugh, by the way, when people get really hurt. But, I laugh my ass off when people trip and I expect others to as well. Because . . it's just plain funny.
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Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@JenMac true, sometimes laughter betrays a deep discomfort. Depends how one does it. In the moment, you cna probably tell the difference, no?
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True, @jenmac. A banana peel is a classic comedy trope for a reason! Who was the first banana peel guy, by the way? Was it Charlie Chaplin?
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NeverSleeps 2yrs+
@JenMac You make a fair point. But I still say the dude who laughed at the death by tree branch was just a jerk. An immature one.
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uptowngirl 2yrs+
@NeverSleeps I totally agree
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hhusted 2yrs+
@BroadwayBK: If you're not trained to show proper manners when young, how will you know unless someone teaches you at some point. Of course, there are some things that people can pick up on their own, but based on research, I have found that when it comes to behavior, if someone is not trained to act a certain way, they won't until someone comes along and trains them.
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@hhusted - I think that BroadwayBk was more referring to the use of the word "training," which is more commonly applied to dogs, than to people. It is an odd word choice. We tend to use things like "Learned behavior" and "adapt" to talk about humans, whereas I at least have never heard about humans being "trained" (other than humans "training" for marathons, etc)
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BroadwayBK 2yrs+
@ajadedidealist Yes, thank you. Word choice is everything sometimes. Or all the time?
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DBlack 2yrs+
@BroadwayBK All the time, is my vote.

"Training" the poor kids sounds like they get smacked with a rolled up newspaper if they pee on the carpet.
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BroadwayBK 2yrs+
It is kosher to say "potty training," though.
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JenMac 2yrs+
It scares the crap out of me when I hear a woman say "he's just not trained yet" about a husband or boyfriend . . and, I'm a woman.
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uptowngirl 2yrs+
Man oh man @JenMac I could never get away with that .. I am married to an alpha male and there is no way that I could 'train' him to do anything
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JenMac 2yrs+
Why would you want someone you had to "train" anyway? It's so bizarre.
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Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@JenMac I can think of an exboyfriend who would have seriously bristled and left me if I ever used any such language about him. Which seems right to me. I wouldn't respect a man who lets a woman talk about "training" him.
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uptowngirl 2yrs+
@Uraniumfish ditto
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NeverSleeps 2yrs+
I would never date a guy who could be "trained" to do anything, either. And I expect that my significant other would feel the same way about me!
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