The situation is truly unbe-leaf-able.
In a baffling move, the city has placed enormous potted plants in Queens with the intention of curbing illegal parking near fire hydrants. However, these planters are obstructing FDNY trucks and hampering firefighters during emergencies, according to frustrated local officials and residents.
“The decision to place these planters is completely negligent. I can’t fathom how anyone thought this was a good idea,” stated City Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens), who criticized the agency for “putting the public in danger.”
While the city’s Transportation Department has been running the planter program for several years, Ariola, who chairs the council’s Committee on Fire and Emergency Management, only became aware of it after receiving complaints from her constituents this year.
“In emergencies, every second is crucial, and the time lost moving these planters could be the difference between life and death when someone is trapped in a fire,” she told The Post.
Julia Silber, a resident of Jackson Heights, mentioned that these hefty pots have occasionally obstructed fire trucks attempting to turn onto 34th Avenue in her neighborhood.
“They cannot fit and have to go back and forth trying to maneuver,” she said, recalling that the planters popped up about five years ago for a COVID-era Open Streets program.
“They do pose a danger, and we have reported it to the DOT many times,” she said.
A local resident association blasted the initiative in a September 2022 video showing firefighters unable to maneuver streets because of the large flowerpots as they reportedly responded to a child with head trauma at a school.
Another video posted to YouTube by the resident group Voices of Jackson Heights in May 2023 depicts several firefighters struggling to move a heavy planter, though it wasn’t clear whether they were responding to an emergency at the time.
Several recent photos provided to The Post show the heavy pots — which require multiple people to move — blocking fire hydrants.
DOT reps argued that the program actually calls for the planters to be placed at least 15 feet from fire hydrants so as not to hinder emergency response.
“These sidewalk extensions both help ensure vehicles are traveling at safe speeds along the 34th Avenue Open Street and prevent cars from blocking hydrants,” a DOT representative said.
The agency said it coordinated with the FDNY on its design and placements of the “not easily movable” planters to make sure emergency access wasn’t blocked.
But when asked about the photos of the floral faux pas, the representative acknowledged the “planters appear several feet out of place” and that the agency would work to immediately fix the positions.
Residents said it can sometimes take days for the DOT to respond to respond to reports of the planters blocking fire hydrants.
“These planters are very heavy, but sometimes they are accidentally moved by a car,” Silber said. “If [a planter] by a hydrant, we report it to the DOT, but sometimes it takes them days to move it away from the hydrant.”
The issue was reinvigorated during a Wednesday meeting of the council’s emergency management committee.
“This is a citywide problem, I see them in my district,” Councilman Phil Wong (D-Queens) said at the meeting.
“DOT’s approach of placing barriers and heavy infrastructure in the roadway raises real concerns about emergency access,” he told The Post.
“I support safer streets, but not at the expense of common sense or the ability for firefighters to do their job quickly and safely.”
DOT Associate Deputy Commissioner Sean Quinn said at the meeting that the agency is “very open to making changes once a project is implemented.
“A lot of our frequent communication is with the Fire Department on how we can make those changes [and] making sure that the planters and blocks that we have on the street, if they shift after we put them in, are being shifted back into place,” Quinn said.
