BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC |
The new head of Battery Park City’s parks, Bruno Pomponio, recently talked about maintenance, rats and clarified the organization’s structure after the recent ouster of its executive director.
Pomponio was named director of operations of the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy last month after Tessa Huxley, who led it for 27 years, appeared to be forced out.
At Community Board 1’s Battery Park City Committee meeting on Tues., Sept. 1, he explained that Huxley’s position no longer exists and her responsibilities have been split between him, Eric “T” Fleisher, director of horticulture, and Abby Ehrlich, director of parks programming.
Pomponio said he reports directly to Shari Hyman, president of both the Battery Park City Authority and the conservancy.
Huxley’s departure from the conservancy raised community concern and ire.
At the meeting, Robin Forst, vice president for external relations and aneighborhood resident, confirmed another change: conservancy employees will become state employees.
“Nothing will change,” said Forst. “Our gardens will be as beautifully maintained. Our maintenance activity will continue. Programs will continue.”
Forst would not answer questions about the conservancy’s budget or if the community would be able to have input should some funding be cut. Forst said there is no anticipated reduction in the conservancy’s budget.
Ninfa Segarra, the committee’s co-chairperson and a former deputy mayor in the Giuliani administration, said, “As a separate not-for-profit, there was great transparency [at the conservancy]. It was a separate entity…When you collapse it into state government, it changes a lot.”
This was the first time Pomponio appeared before the committee in his new role.
The authority has recently taken over maintenance of the neighborhood’s eastern border and Pomponio said, “As of right now, I know you can see a lot of difference, the way it looks. The horticultural department has been doing the weeding, mulching and pruning of the trees all the way down to Chamber St.”
He and Forst also talked about what it is being done to reduce the rat population in the neighborhood.
Forst said the authority has received “a number of complaints about [the] seeming proliferation of rats in Battery Park City.”
Pomponio said his staff is filling rat holes with gravel, putting lids on trash cans as well changing their positions, keeping the park clean and putting out some traps.
“We would normally see the rats when the sun sets,” said Dennis Gault, committee member and resident for 20 years. “This summer, the difference is we see them in the day and a lot of them…It’s kind of alarming.”
Forst said cutting off the rats’ food source is paramount and they have also worked with some restaurants about trash disposal and making sure their dumpsters are closed.
Another problem is people feeding birds and squirrels and “any residual food that remains is food for the rats,” said Forst.
Pomponio said, “If you’ve ever spoken to someone trying to feed birds…and you go after it and clean it up, they kind of give you a piece of their mind. It’s just a tough scenario for staff to have deal with. We do the best that we can.”
He reaffirmed the conservancy’s policy against using poison and said, “We try to do as much as we can non-toxic.”
Anthony Notaro, the committee’s chairperson, said they have supported the conservancy’s green approach and unless the rat problem becomes “outrageous,” it will continue to do so.
“I saw one walk in front of me on South End Ave. like it was waiting for a cab,” he said to laughs.
