Brooklyn Borough President

MARKOWITZ JOINS BLOCK PARTY TO CELEBRATE HIS NEIGHBORHOOD BEAUTIFICATION FUND

Photographs by Laura Geiser

On Saturday, August 20, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz attended the Rog-Mark Block Association’s annual block party in Crown Heights which this year celebrated his Neighborhood Beautification Fund. The fund, now in its second year, provides community groups and block associations with the opportunity to make Brooklyn neighborhoods more attractive with tree plantings and tree guards.

“Street trees not only shade our streets, improve the quality of the air that we breathe and beautify our environment, they also make our homes more attractive and more valuable,” said Markowitz. “The Neighborhood Beautification Fund is more than just a grant to buy trees and tree guards — it’s a partnership with the community to improve its appearance, and along with it Brooklynites’ quality of life. Those are the building blocks of a brighter, greener future for Brooklyn !”

The fund was increased from $1 million to $3 million this year to accommodate the overwhelming response last year. This year 130 block associations will be able to buy 100 trees and 1800 tree guards. The fund was originally conceived by Rog-Mark Block Association President Barbara Brown-Allen as a way of making Brooklyn’s streets more aesthetically pleasing and residents proud of their blocks.

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation will oversee the planting of the trees and tree guards. Groups have four tree-guard designs to choose from.

In photo: Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz (far right) at the Rog-Mark Block Association’s annual block party with (from left to right) Assemblyman Clarence Norman, Jr., Rog-Mark Block Association President Babara Brown-Allen, and Councilmember Letitia James.