Cycle of Rage: Here’s Why Your Dead Christmas Tree Should Be in the Road, Not on the Sidewalk

What’s the opposite of a heartwarming holiday story?

It’s the story of Barbara Hutson, a 75-year-old woman who suffered two broken arms after she tripped on some Christmas trees that had been dumped on the sidewalk — only to then be victim-blamed by the perpetrators for more than four years.

This ain’t no Hallmark Christmas special — it’s a cautionary tale of life in a city that refuses to put garbage, including Christmas trees that have been depleted of their holiday relevancy, in the curbside lane, not on the sidewalk.

This story started on the morning of Jan. 9, 2020, when workers at Regis High School added a massive arbor to an existing pile on the sidewalk of other discarded trees that they’d created with workers from the neighboring coop building on E. 85th Street.

The school and the coop certainly knew, as we all do, that putting coniferous trees of any kind on the sidewalk is legal in December … but somehow ignored the fine print in the city administrative code, section 19, subsection 136:

“Storekeepers and peddlers may sell and display coniferous trees during the month of December,” it states, “but in any such case … a passageway shall be kept open on the sidewalk so obstructed for the free movement of pedestrians.” [Emphasis ours.]

That’s definitely not what happened in Hutson’s case, as this video obtained by Streetsblog from the court record (and edited by Streetfilms) shows:

If you watch closely, about 15 minutes after dumping the big tree on the sidewalk, one of the very same workers nearly trips on it. Over the next few hours (mere seconds in the edited version above), three people, including a traffic cop and a woman who dropped her phone, trip on the tip of one of the trees.

The action resumes at around 10 a.m. the next morning … with multiple people again tripping on the spiky tip of one of the trees. Two men barely avoid completely wiping out. Another woman loses her balance and is only saved from falling because her companion grabs her.

The video provides beyond countervailing evidence to Regis’s claim in court documents, “There was ample room for pedestrians to safely walk on the subject sidewalk despite the presence of the discarded Christmas trees” and that “multiple pedestrians, including pedestrians with wide baby strollers, travers[ed] the area of sidewalk between the discarded Christmas trees and the rear of Regis High School without incident.”

Hutson makes her appearance at around timestamp 4:17 in the video. You’ll spot her standing on the sidewalk making a cellphone call as two women pushing strollers brush against the tip of the tree as they maneuver strollers between it and the Regis HS fence.

At timestamp 4:40, Hutson puts the cellphone in her pocket and starts walking — just as a woman pushing a stroller (with three kids outside the stroller) approaches from the other direction. Hutson tries to them pass, but she trips and lands face first on the pavement.

She broke both her arms. Naturally, she sued Regis and the neighboring coop.

“Hutson did not see the branch before the fall both because the bulk of the trees placed on the sidewalk obscured it from view and the narrowness of the remaining sidewalk, caused by the placement of the trees, made it difficult for her to avoid the branches sticking out from the tree while the woman and children approached from the other side,” her court documents said.

Yes, the testimony is dry, but the underlying pain is saturated with frustration and humiliation.

“As a consequence of being tripped by the tree, Hutson suffered terrible
injuries, sustaining multiple fractures to both of her arms. This rendered her incapable for many months of carrying out the most basic tasks of daily living, including using the toilet and washing herself, without significant help.”

Her lawyer, Adam White, sought a settlement, but to add insult to Hutson’s injuries, Regis and the coop rejected it — first moving to have the case thrown out in court, then appealing when it wasn’t, and then fighting before a jury.

Late last month, that jury award Hutson $1.1 million for past and future pain and suffering, a verdict that Regis and the coop are likely to appeal, continuing this four-year saga, even though, to my mind, the $1.1 million is completely reasonable.

“The jury heard the evidence of how incapacitated Barbara was for over one year — and for at least six months, she required a home heath aide to feed her, dress her and clean her,” said White (full disclosure: White’s law firm advertises on Streetsblog). “Her left arm has significant and permanent loss in range of motion.”

But on the larger issue, White hopes that this jury verdict will send a message not only to Regis High School and its neighboring coop building, but to all tree-tossing residents of this city and, indeed, the city government itself.

“This would not have happened if Regis and the coop had not left the trees to occupy 70 percent of the sidewalk width,” he said.

Bottom line: Mulchfest can’t come early enough for me.

To read prior Cycle of Rage columns, click here.