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The Asbury Park City Council honored a set of volunteer who tend to the city’s gardens and open space areas this week.

Led by Tom Pivinski, the members of the Environmental and Shade Tree Commission [ESTC] were presented with a Proclamation that honored their ‘years of dedicated service.’

“The City of Asbury Park has been asking Tom Pivinski if he would accept a Proclamation from the City,” Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn said before reading the accolade into record.

Pivinski declined each year but finally relented when the option to honor the group as a whole and their newly formed fundraising arm – Friends of the ESTC, was presented, Quinn said.

“This is a result of that and this is a result of not only [the work] of the commission members but all of the volunteers you see here and the ones that aren’t here,” Quinn said.

Aside from maintaining the trees that line the city roadways, the Asbury Park Shade Tree Commission tends to 11 gardens and other open space areas through routine trimming, hazardous tree removals and tree replacements, insect and disease control, and planting projects; such as the new westside Art Park and City’s St John’s Island restoration, and parklet. They assist residents with planting, trimming and public tree removal projects, with assistance from the City’s Department of Public Works. Their greening projects run from March through October but they meet 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of every month in City Council Chambers, located at 1 Municipal Plaza.

“It’s a pleasure and it is an honor,” Pivinski said. “Look around here, every Wednesday and every Saturday you can find just about all these people [working]. It’s a great experience. We are getting so many good words from people who pass by or drive by and are just very thankful for what is happening in the city.”

Pivinski credited Commision member Russell Lewis, owner of Watermark, for underwriting the garden at Municipal Plaza, which donates the yields of their spoils back to the community on Wednesday and Saturdays throughout the season.

“So, we have a great support from Watermark, the City, the City Council and the manager, and DPW,” Pivinski said. “And, with all these incredible people, we can’t go wrong.”

For more about the all volunteer community group, click here.

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