Holiday tree again called Christmas tree in Bay Ridge

BY MATTHEW LYSIAK
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS

Tuesday, November 20th 2007, 4:00 AM

'Christmas' tree on Shore Parkway and 90th St. State Sen. Martin Golden refuses to rename 'holiday tree'.
The Christmas is back in Christmas tree - at least in Bay Ridge.

After demoting its evergreen to just a "holiday tree" a year ago, Bay Ridge will let a 17-foot Brooklyn evergreen regain the lofty title after snowballing criticism.

State Sen. Marty Golden, who last year blasted the decision by a local group to eradicate Christmas, rejoiced.

"The people spoke last year, urging that in the future this tree-lighting event be known as a Christmas tree-lighting event, and the Shore Road Garden Council heard this message and willingly changed the event's name," Golden spokesman John Quaglione said.

The holiday jeer began last November, after hundreds gathered at the city-owned Shore Road Gardens Park for a tree-lighting ceremony - complete with a Santa Claus and signs announcing the "holiday tree" lighting.

"It is ridiculous and absolutely unacceptable," huffed Golden, an Irish-Catholic Republican, at last year's scene. "There is no such thing as a holiday tree."

Shore Road Garden Council Vice President Linda Allegretti said her group wasn't trying to play the Grinch - it was only intending to be considerate of the multiethnic neighborhood's Jewish and Islamic communities.

"We're trying to be inclusive," Allegretti said at the time.

Allegretti didn't offer an explanation for the retreat.

"After what happened last year, I don't think I want to make a comment," she said yesterday.

This year's celebration, advertised as a Christmas tree lighting, as part of a broader "holiday festival," appears to cover all bases, said Community Board 10 Chairman Dean Rasanya.

"If they wanted to try to widen the envelope a little bit and call it a holiday tree to be a little more inclusive, that's fine," Rasanya said. "If they want to call it a Christmas tree, that's fine, too."

Golden celebrated the switch as a victory.

"You cannot take away the fact that a Christmas tree is a Christmas tree and not a holiday tree. This neighborhood wants a Christmas tree to be called a Christmas tree - that is not too much to ask," he said.