After almost 2 years of being identified by Beacon’s Tree Advisory Committee as good plots for trees to grown in, the City of Beacon has planted 3 new trees on Main Street, the City Administrator Chris White announced during a City Council Meeting on April 24, 2023, just days before Arbor Day.

“I’d like to thank the Highway Department for planing tress. At Rite Aid, 2 tree wells were filled with old roots. They did an amazing job. [Took] several days work to dig those out.”

Pete Bailey, the Chair of the Tree Committee, said that the plot across from Beacon Reads also received a new tree, but not before a tree stump was dug out first to clear the area.

The Beacon Reads tree was chosen as the location for the City of Beacon to hold its annual Arbor Day event. Because of its designation as a Tree City, the City of Beacon must hold a tree planting event and read the Arbor Day Proclamation, Pete said.

The Tree Committee identified the three plots in a list of other location recommendations back in the fall of 2021, Pete told A Little Beacon Blog. Said the City Administrator during the City Council Meeting: “In addition the one we are doing for Arbor Bay, 20 new trees are being planted. Each year we are trying to ratchet that up a bit.” It has not been announced during a City Council Meeting where or when those 20 new trees are scheduled to be planted.

Pete confirmed to ALBB that the type of tree planted was a Little Leaf Linden. “It is a beautiful spring blooming flowering tree. It doesn't drop any fruit, grows quickly but is more vertical. It is a great tree for Main Street.”

People interested in donating a tree can do so through the City of Beacon’s website. Perhaps if it is being done in memoriam, it will be planted sooner.

Scenic Hudson, keepers of Long Dock Park, the manmade peninsula that "connects the river's power and majesty" with people, pets and wildlife, will be presenting plans to enhance Long Dock Park to Beacon's Planning Board on Tuesday, August 9, at 7pm, in the hopes of securing a site plan in order to move forward. Plans in the proposal include:

infrastructure for food trucks
a shaded plaza for informal dining
shade pavilions, lawns and a native-plant meadow
a boardwalk and river overlook deck

Designers of the park upgrades will be at the meeting should the public wish to meet them. This meeting is not open to public comment, but a future meeting may offer that opportunity. People who want this project to move forward are encouraged to attend the meeting to show support.

Long Dock Park was a critical 19th-century transportation link between New England and points west, and once contained a rail-ferry terminal, warehouses and other buildings. More recently, it was home to an oil terminal, a salt-storage facility and a junkyard. Scenic Hudson has been responsible for removing all traces of that land's commercial and industrial past, and designing the infrastructure used today, including a kayak pavilion and beach for launching boats, rehabilitated wetlands and meadows that attract wildlife, and the restored, historic Red Barn, now Scenic Hudson's River Center for arts and environmental-education activities.