Zulch said that he and members of the Pelham Parkway Preservation Alliance, newly formed in the wake of this news, want written, legal safeguards in place that will guarantee that the city work carefully, and in many cases “use hand and shovel” as opposed to heavy equipment.

“The big focus and concern now is root damage during construction of the roadway, and damage to the trees in a delayed effect,” he said. “They’re digging up the whole parkway, and that will mean many, many trees dying. It’s going to be deceptive to the public, because they’ll look and see all the trees still there, but then in a couple years the trees damaged by the construction will die, and it will be too late.”