PARK SLOPE — This wasn't the kind of tree trimming they wanted.
Residents of Bergen Street between Flatbush and Fifth avenues say their Christmas spirit was crushed this week when workers pruned the block's trees and ripped out holiday lights along with dead branches.
“The whole street is a little less festive this season,” said Erik Goetze, owner of Blue Sky Bakery at Fifth Avenue and Bergen Street. "The holiday spirit was stolen from Bergen Street. It's depressing on a wet night."
Resident Ian Dutton said he watched in dismay as the pruning crew made its way down the block on the afternoon of Dec. 22.
"I could see them tugging at the light strings and unplugging power bricks — and now that they've gone, cut and torn light strings and plugs hang from the trees and litter the sidewalk," Dutton said in an email.
As dusk fell, the block's customary seasonal glow was replaced by gloom, as even the few remaining lights couldn't be turned on because the wires had all been cut.
“Always love(d) the lights on our block this time of year,” Tom Adams of Bergen Street Comics tweeted on Tuesday, along with a photo of the twinkling lights during a previous winter. “But the goon squad that shut down block yesterday to prune trees hacked/destroyed all the lights too."
The Parks Department routinely prunes trees as part of its regular maintenance work, to help the mature trees stay healthy, a spokeswoman said.
"Our contractors take care to prune around the lights on street trees whenever feasible," said Parks Department spokeswoman Meghan Lalor. "We are happy to work with community members to permit these light installations in the future."
Neighbors said they look forward to the festive light display on Bergen Street each winter, which lasts until March. The seasonal beautification has been installed for roughly the past six years by the Pintchik family, which owns several buildings on the block, as well as Pintchik Hardware at the corner of Flatbush Avenue.
Michael Pintchik said he was "heartbroken" when he heard that the lights had been removed, but he chalked it up to bad timing, not city grinches.
"It takes away that depressing winter from the block and it’s so nice,” Pintchik said of the light display, which costs about $9,000. “But I understood. I wouldn’t tell the Parks Department that they shouldn’t maintain their trees, it was just poor timing. They were just doing their job.”
