A ‘Disturbed’ Cane-Wielding Man Just Targeted One of Park Avenue’s Most Beloved Springtime Traditions

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One of the Upper East Side’s most photographed annual displays was damaged in a daylight act of vandalism last weekend, and the nonprofit responsible for it says nothing like this has happened in the more than four decades it has been beautifying the corridor.

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The Fund for Park Avenue, which has planted seasonal flowers along the avenue’s center malls every year since 1980, confirmed that the tulip heads in two beds between East 76th and East 77th Streets were sheared off on the morning of April 18. The organization said in an Instagram post that this is the first incident of its kind it has experienced, and noted that the plantings are funded entirely through donor contributions — which made the damage especially painful to absorb before the public had a chance to fully enjoy the bloom.

Christian Ortiz, a 33-year-old doorman at 850 Park Avenue, witnessed the act and called the police. Ortiz told the New York Post the man walked with a limp, swung his cane “like a golf club,” and was wearing what appeared to be a Yankees shirt. He said the vandal also yelled slurs at bystanders who looked at him before storming off in the direction of Lexington Avenue. NYPD officers responded but were unable to locate him.

Amy Sheldon, executive director of The Fund, told the Post she could not understand the motive, describing the tulips as harmless and the man as “obviously a very disturbed person.” A 75-year-old neighbor quoted in the same report, Blair Brown-Hoyt, characterized the act as a punishment of “Park Ave. for its wealth and its beauty.”

This year’s planting carried particular significance. The Fund placed 68,000 red, white, and blue tulips along the malls between East 54th and East 86th Streets in honor of America’s 250th birthday.

There is a silver lining. The bulbs themselves were left undisturbed beneath the soil and remain viable, meaning the flowers will bloom again. The Fund also confirmed that its annual Tulip Dig program will go forward as planned, allowing residents to take bulbs home in mid-May.

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