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Update June 3, 2015- The BPCA’s Robin Forst presented an update before the CB1 last night. Various problems of park disrepair were discussed. Among them, the Police memorial was brought up.
The BPCA is still not moving forward with the repairs required. The water fountains and pool for the memorial have been inoperable for nearly three years, ever since Hurricane Sandy flooded the electrical pumps in October of 2012.
The BPCA intentionally did not repair anything in the park for a year after Hurricane Sandy, being bureaucrats in fear of looking bad in case another storm came long. In 2014, there was still no progress. In 2015, they are study “studying how to make repairs”, according to Forst. However, this conflicts with what the BPCA stated in 2013 (see below), which was that they had approved the funding and design for the repairs. What happened to the money set aside?
The BPCA day-to-day operations are controlled by Shari Hyman. She had no prior experience at her current job and was appointed by Governor Cuomo’s chief aid Larry Schwartz. Mr. Schwartz has since been fired in the wake of the Moreland Commission and corruption scandals. Ms. Hyman reports to BPCA CEO Dennis Mehiel.
July 30, 2013- By Steven E. Greer, MD
The BPCA board met today and approved the funding to repair the killed-in-action NYPD police memorial. recall, Hurricane Sandy flooded the electrical vaults and pumps housed on the higher level near the dog run. The systems provide the water pumps for the elaborate fountains. Since last year, the memorials has been in disrepair, collecting trash, until BatteryPark.TV began reporting on the situation.
BPCA Chairman commented on the plans that could have completely replaced the electrical systems, back into the old flood-probe vaults, in time for the October police ceremonies. He said, “I would feel like a complete moron if we did that and another hurricane came and flooded it.” The plan will be to begin the work in November, after hurricane season, then work on building an above-ground vault to permanently host the same equipment that would be relocated.
An outside contractor, D’Onofrio General Contractors Corporation, was chosen, despite no other contractors submitting bids. D’Onofrio submitted a bid of $517,000 and the BPCA performed its own estimate to check whether those costs were in the right ballpark. Then, an additional $15,000 was added on for “unforeseeable expenses”. No explanation as given as to why other contractors in the Tri-State area were not aware of the RFP and did not submit bids.
The various other stalled repair projects throughout the Battery Park City parks were not discussed. The West Thames field remains under repair with picket fences warning kids away from holes in the ground. The South Cove looks like Rikers Island with hideous chain link fences on the perimeter, to name a few.
