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["Brungardt, Sam" <Sam.Brungardt@state.mn.us>]

Title: Stinky ginkgo trees gotta go, says pol

Stinky ginkgo trees gotta go, says pol
BY BILL FARRELL
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Female ginkgo trees have been banned in Beijing, removed from the streets of Washington, D.C., and Lexington, Ky., and from the campus of the University of Iowa.

Now one Brooklyn legislator also wants them out of New York City.
Known for their shallow roots and beautifully shaped leaves, ginkgos are among the most popular and attractive urban trees. Provided they are not the fruit-producing female ginkgo trees.

"The fruit not only smells, it has the same substances found in poison oak and poison sumac," explained Assemblyman William Colton (D-Gravesend). "There are 13 other jurisdictions in the United States that have cut these trees down."

"We should be cutting them down as well," he added.
As a rule, the city does not plant ginkgo trees, and most nurseries kill the female plants before they can be sold.
And, according to Parks Department Forestry and Horticulture Director Fiona Watt, it can take more than a decade for the trees to bear fruit.

Unfortunately for the residents along W. Fifth St. in Gravesend, the city planted three female trees side-by-side there some 25 years ago.

Each fall, 85 year-old Mary Ciccolella, who has one of the trees in front of her house, has to cope with the smelly, oily fruit.

"From September to Thanksgiving. It's horrible," said Ciccolella. "I love trees but we can't take it anymore."
Colton, who has written numerous letters to parks officials requesting the trees be taken down, said he continues to receive the same response. "The Parks Department policy is they will not remove a heathy tree."

A department spokesman confirmed that policy again yesterday.
That will not stop Colton.
"I'm going to go the city's Law Department and present evidence of the health concerns," said Colton.
"This is no longer just a quality-of-life issue over the smell. This is an issue concerning people's health," he said.
"No one is saying we don't want trees. Plant other trees, of course," said Colton.
"It's a matter of putting the welfare of residents above that of a tree," he added .