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Read the press release here.

40 New Trees Coming to Myrtle Avenue in Clinton Hill

By Janet Upadhye | May 27, 2014 5:41pm
 These Zelkovas will be planted by the Parks Department through their Street Tree Planting program as part of Myrtle plaza.
These Zelkovas will be planted by the Parks Department through their Street Tree Planting program as part of Myrtle plaza.
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Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership

CLINTON HILL — Forty new trees will soon grow in Brooklyn.

The Parks Department plans to plant trees on Myrtle Avenue as part of Myrtle Plaza, a 25,000-square-foot, $6 million pedestrian mall, between Hall Street and Emerson Place.

There are currently six trees on the four-block stretch of Myrtle, but by the summer of 2015 nine Honeylocusts, 12 Pagodas, six Zelkovas, five Pin Oaks and eight Amelanchiers are expected the grace the sidewalks, according to the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, which will maintain the trees.

The trees will have a trunk diameter of more than 5 inches in order to create a fuller canopy over the avenue, the Partnership said.

"They will increase our street beautification efforts and have been shown to reduce car speeds," said a spokeswoman for the Partnership. "They cool the street and the city by providing shade in the summer and they provide cleaner air."

Councilwoman Letitia James, former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, the federal government and NYC Department of Transportation provided funding for Myrtle Plaza.

It is unclear how much the tree planting will cost.

The Parks Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.