The tree is felled so that diplomats may live.

Security for the United Nations General Assembly involves thousands of NYPD police officers, Secret Service agents, diplomatic security service officers, the Coast Guard — and city Department of Transportation workers with pruning shears.

Since at least 2013, this Gothamist reporter has noticed transportation employees cutting down a large princess tree on First Avenue near East 47th Street every year ahead of the General Assembly. Each year, it grows back taller, only to be chopped once again.

Gothamist joined transportation workers last week as they trimmed urban flora near the U.N.’s extraterritorial edifice, playing one chord in a symphony of security that fills Midtown residents and drivers with dread.

“It's just part of the job. It k

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