DOT Pulls the Plug on the Beach 116th Christmas Tree

By Katie McFadden

You’re a mean one, DOT. The NYC Department of Transportation was looking awfully grinchy before Christmas, as they aggressively pulled the plug on the Beach 116th Street Christmas tree and nativity scene a few days before Christmas. Further investigation found the seemingly Scrooge move stemmed from a complaint, but the man behind the manger, Tom Elges, and the FDNY weren’t going to let it ruin Christmas.

On the night of Monday, December 23, local resident, Tom Elges, the man who builds the nativity scenes for the Knights of Columbus, noticed that Mary and Joseph, and the Christmas tree behind them, were dark on Beach 116th Street. Upon further investigation, he found that the cables connected to a lamp post near the display were disconnected. “We’ve been lighting up the tree here for the last 15 years, plugging it into the outlet in the base of the streetlight without issue,” Elges said. “They went and cut out the outlet and locked the box back up.” Trying to determine who the culprit was, Elges contacted Councilwoman Joann Ariola’s office for assistance.

“We were informed by a constituent that the lights had been out. We went there thinking there was an issue with the extension cord or outlet, and when we got there, we realized the entire outlet box had been ripped out. It was no longer there. We were shocked,” Councilwoman Ariola told The Rockaway Times. “I reached out to the firehouse, and they informed us that the DOT had knocked on their door and asked if the tree was theirs and when they said no, DOT proceeded to take out the box and the tree was no longer lit, and even worse, the manger was not lit anymore. We tried to get a couple people to look at it but since it was ripped out, it couldn’t be fixed.”

However, the FDNY and Elges weren’t going to let that stop them. Elges built a box with a battery-operated inverter to plug the wires for the manger and tree into, just so they wouldn’t be dark on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. However, it wasn’t an ideal solution. “Unfortunately, the battery only lasts for 24 hours, so I’ve been charging them and switching them out,” Elges said. By December 26, the day after Christmas, the tree and nativity scene were dark again.

Meanwhile, while Elges was trying to keep the tree and manger aglow, Ariola’s office was busy holding DOT’s feet to the fire and get to the bottom of why this took place. But it wasn’t an easy task over the holiday. “I had been reaching out to Nicole Garcia, the Queens Borough Commissioner for NYC DOT, but she did not get back to me,” Ariola said. On December 26, Ariola followed up with a text, to which Garcia told her she was with her family over Christmas and would look into it. “She said she would check with the electric team and that they have a permit process for holiday lightings, including Christmas trees and other festive lights,” Ariola said. “So, my response to her was that we have trees throughout the entire district that have been lit for decades without any issue, and the way that this was removed, with the box ripped out, leaving not only the tree unlit, but a religious icon of the nativity, was unacceptable. She said she’d get back to me.”

Ariola called the lack of answers as to why the DOT aggressively removed the electric panel before Christmas, “unacceptable,” and with the Beach 116th Street menorah lighting set to take place on Sunday, December 29, it caused concern over another holiday display possibly being interrupted.  “I’m concerned about the menorah. Are we to expect another visit from the DOT and another religious icon to not be lit during this holy time of year?” Ariola said. On the first night of Hanukkah, the menorah was lit, but with questions still in the air about what happened with the tree and nativity, Ariola wasn’t sure what would come of it ahead of the official lighting ceremony. “If a permit is necessary, the DOT could have reached out to my office to discuss if anything was improper, and we certainly would have addressed it. But we’ve never before, in all the tree lighting we’ve done, had to get a permit from the DOT, and if it does exist, it was never enforced,” Ariola said on December 26.

But by Friday, December 27, Ariola’s office had a better explanation for why the tree went dark before Christmas. “This was generated by a complaint,” Ariola told The Rockaway Times. “Someone complained that it was a trip hazard on the center mall.” Ariola says the DOT also told the firehouse that since the electric panel was not sealed, it could be damaged by salt water. Ariola says the firehouse offered DOT a solution, saying they could put a cap over it so it wouldn’t be exposed. “The DOT declined the help,” Ariola said. She added that Garcia thought they had just removed the plugs, but when Ariola explained that the entire interior mechanism in the bottom of the streetlight was removed, Ariola said Garcia expressed concern about the streetlight possibly no longer working.

“So, this was about a cord over the center mall,” Ariola said, adding that while they were happy to have an explanation, things could have been handled better. “That’s why the DOT came out, but they didn’t have to address the issue so aggressively. They could have worked with our office or the fire department to make sure it was not exposed, or we could have moved the tree closer to the pole, so the extension cord wasn’t stretched. There were many quick fixes that could’ve been done so the tree and manger could’ve remained lit.”

Ariola says she hopes this can be avoided next season, and that the DOT can repair the electric panel. “DOT was apologetic and does not want to be viewed as Scrooges. We’re moving forward in a positive direction and will work more closely with the DOT to make sure this never happens again. We’ll make sure next year, we have everything we need, so there will be no complaints. The last thing we want to do is put anyone’s safety in jeopardy,” Ariola said, adding that the DOT said they’d be sending a crew out to look into fixing the electric box in the streetlight.