On August 17, 2012, Sea Cliff POC Chairman Anthony Losquadro was interviewed on-air by Linda Schmidt of FOX 5 news NY for the 6pm broadcast.

Ms. Schmidt reported on the tree permit issue in the Village of Sea Cliff. Until recently, residents had the right to remove one tree per year without any permit from the Village. Subsequently, the Board of Trustees voted to enact a bureaucratic, costly, and restrictive tree permit scheme. In addition to costly permits, residents are now required to obtain permission from a “tree committee.” The tree committee usually demands that replacement trees be planted as compensation. This greatly and unnecessarily burdens the property owner, and diminishes his sovereignty over his own land.

Anthony Losquadro stated in the interview, “It is the property owner that makes the mortgage payments and pays the taxes, he should have discretion over the management of his own property. Additionally, as our entire power grid is above ground, every time a storm passes through our area trees inevitably come down, causing blackouts. Hence we should be encouraging residents to remove trees, not discouraging them!”

Reverting the tree laws back to the old code has been part of the Sea Cliff POC campaign platform.