In January the sycamores along the Passaic stand stripped and pale, and you can see the shape of the whole west side of Kearny straight down to the water. Garden Tree Services, Corp. is out under those bare branches with plow and shovel, opening driveways, cutting walks back to their true width and salting the shaded stretches that never quite thaw. River air keeps the snow heavy here, the kind that packs hard behind a parked car and sets up like stone by noon. Getting to it early is most of the job, and the rest is care around what is planted — clearing wide of the shrub line, keeping brine off the roots that will need to wake up in April. When the storm quits, the property looks handled: the pavement dark, the piles set where they will not blind a driver backing out.