In the Fight Over N.Y.C. Sidewalks, Tree Beds Are the Smallest Frontier

Over 660,000 trees line the streets of New York City, and the beds around them take up more than 400 acres, according to a city estimate. While many people just walk by the rectangular openings in the sidewalk from which the trees spring — or, worse, use the spaces as trash cans and doggy litter boxes — others lay claim, unofficially, to these pocket-size patches of land.As the weather warms, these caretakers…