Un-bee-lievable.
The NYC Parks Department is giving a terrified Queens neighborhood a stinging response over a massive hornets’ nest — telling worried residents to pay out of their own pockets to humanely relocate it.
Reps for Councilman Phil Wong’s office swarmed the agency with complaints this week after constituents spotted a wasp fortress the size of two basketballs hanging 10 feet up in a city tree at the corner of Cowles Court and Dry Harbor Road in Middle Village, mere steps from a 79-year-old woman’s home.
They asked the agency to exterminate the pests or remove the hive – only to be told to buzz off.
Parks Department worker bee Camile Easterling told the councilman’s staff the city won’t touch the stinging horde of bald-faced hornets because they “play an important role in our ecosystem.”
“Bees and wasps serve as plant pollinators and help control populations of harmful insect pests,” gushed Easterling, an assistant to the department’s borough commissioner, in a Monday email to Wong’s chief of staff, Daniel Kurzyna, obtained by The Post.
If relocation is deemed “necessary,” Easterling said the agency “recommend[s] hiring a qualified insect relocator” — but reminded Kurzyna that “any work performed on or involving a city tree requires” a tree work permit from the agency, adding another layer of red tape.
Hiring contractors to relocate bees and wasps’ nests from NYC trees typically costs anywhere from $200 to $800, according to Angi.com.
Easterling also suggested residents call 911 if it’s an emergency as the NYPD has a dedicated beekeeping unit.
Wong called the Parks Department’s response “absurd.”
“Residents should not have to pull a permit, hire a contractor and pay out of pocket to relocate a wasp nest from a city tree, while the other option is apparently to wait until someone gets stung and call 911,” the moderate Queens Democrat told The Post. “Parks needs to do its job before somebody gets hurt.”
Betty Coccaro, who spotted the nest hanging from a tree outside her home last week, questioned whether the city is putting the health of bugs ahead of residents — especially since some people have life-threatening allergies to stings.
“Of course I’m concerned,” said the 79-year-old. “What happens if the nest falls?
“I could see if it was bees because you can get honey out of them, but the only thing you can get out of this is being stung. Why won’t they get rid of them?”
Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, coordinator of Cornell University’s Integrated Pest Management program, said bald-faced hornets usually build nests higher up on trees and avoid interacting with people, but she understands why residents are concerned.
The stinging-insect expert also dismissed the Parks Department’s suggestion of relocating the nest, adding that this is a job best suited for an exterminator.
“Relocating the nest is not a thing,” she said. “You can’t remove and move a wasps’ nest. You can do that with honeybees. They can be moved because they can be domesticated.”
The Parks Department did not return messages.
