Timber! Buzz saws busy at ex-Met Mo Vaughn’s Brownsville apt. complex

Ex-Mets slugger-turned-landlord Mo Vaughn has fouled out with tenants at a Brownsville housing complex. Residents of the DCA Central Brooklyn complex are mad because Vaughn has had nearly every tree on the property chopped down over the past two weeks. They charged chopping down the 17 leafy giants at the Mitchell-Lama affordable-rental development was part of over-zealous security measures. “I feel an injustice has been done to the tenants, to the children, to anyone who walks down the street here,” said Jeannette Cruz, 49, who lives in the nine-building complex on Park Place, Howard Ave. and Sterling Place. “It makes it seem ‘ghetto’ with no trees,” said another resident, Karen Joyner, 44. The arborcide is one of several outdoor changes Vaughn’s company Omni New York has made at the complex, which it bought late last year. Highly visible green security bars on windows, omnipresent security cameras and intense floodlights are new, too. “If my kids wake up at night, it’s so bright [because of the floodlights] they think it’s time to get up,” said Estella Sheldon, 41. “There’s no privacy; it makes me feel like we’re in a cage,” said Clarence Williams, 34. The trees, tall as the four-story apartment buildings, sheltered kids at play and seniors seeking a breath of fresh air — and even made the grim courtyard seem like a cold-weather wonderland. “It looked so beautiful out here in the winter with the snow on top of the trees,” resident Sandra Perry, 50, remembered wistfully. Tenants were upset the landlord didn’t warn them the buzz saws were coming, which was “disrespectful,” said Joyner’s sister Maurice, 42. In place of the trees, Omni plans to plant flowers, bushes and small trees, said spokesman Juda Engelmayer, who denied chopping down the trees was part of the security plan and didn’t know the timetable for planting. The landlord will install a security gate for cars entering the parking lot that’s in the courtyard, he said — but won’t build gates to limit pedestrians’ access to the courtyard or hire security guards. “Omni has a solid security plan for all its buildings, including this one,” Engelmayer said. Residents worried the landlord would close off their courtyard with gates the way he did at another Brownsville housing complex, Noble Drew Ali Plaza. Vaughn — who’s been doing affordable-housing rehab for eight years — has been criticized by Noble Drew residents for strict security measures and for not providing recreational facilities for teens. A 12-year-old boy died there in May when playing “chicken” on a roll-up gate. A staffer for U.S Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-Brownsville) called on the former baseball player to do one-for-one replacement of the felled trees at the Park Place complex. “Renovations are coming along but they’ve cut down trees — and that’s horrible,” said Clarke spokeswoman Latrice Walker. “It’s like one step forward and two steps back.” Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/timber-buzz-saws-busy-ex-met-mo-vaughn-brownsville-apt-complex-article-1.1118907#ixzz21gq1NLDT