“From coastal resiliency and sustainable green practices to the preservation of affordable housing, world-class public art, and vibrant, year-round programming in award-winning public spaces, Battery Park City leads the way in many of the measures that makes cities livable."
BPC Parks Happenings is a monthly “snapshot” of the Authority’s work in maintaining Battery Park City’s parks and public spaces. Scroll down to see what’s happening in August!
Welcome Back, Wagner Park!
– After more than two years of construction, Wagner Park reopened to acclaim on July 29. Our Parks Operations team continues its daily work to maintain this beautiful new public space and to support our season-long lineup of free public events! The team has also placed a new compost bin near the lawn to collect more waste and divert away from landfills.
Birds in BPC
– In preparation for the coming fall migration, BPCA staff are completing work on the new bird-safe glass mural adorning the windows of the public restroom in Teardrop Park. This mural builds on the success of the work done this past spring in implementing bird-safe window paint to protect birds migrating through Battery Park City. The paint effectively disrupts reflections in the glass, which are known to cause often-fatal window collisions, in migratory bird populations.
– We collaborated with a P226M student who painted a bird-safe glass design installation on two windows at BPCA’s 75 Battery Place building.
– Curveballs and curved benches – This sample bench was removed from Wagner Park and reinstalled at the BPC Ball Field Terrace, its curved style nicely fitting its new location.
– Our masons will be working on repairing the expansion sections of hex pavers on the north esplanade. There will be some pedestrian re-routes for short periods to allow the repair work to happen.
– Water play features are located at each playground and operate from 9AM to 8:30PM. This includes the Kowsky playground, Teardrop Park water rocks, Rockefeller Park playground features, Real World moat (under repair but back online this month), West Thames playground, and the automatic water misters at West Thames turf play area. And for your pets, there’s the dog run water features at the North Dog Run and Kowsky Dog Run, as well as dog water fountains at all three runs. The North End Avenue dog run water feature is manually turned on at 1PM and turned off at 8:30PM.
– One willow tree, behind the Museum of Jewish Heritage, will be removed the week of August 18. Other tree pruning activities will also take place to maintain the health of our trees.
– Watering of hanging baskets and newly planted trees will take place three times per week to ensure optimal plant health. In October of last year, we planted eight native trees for our streets within Battery Park City; Two Red Maples (Acer rubrum), four Swamp Oaks (Quercus bicolor) and two Elms (Ulmus americana). These trees are being delivered as a part of the New York Power Authority’s Tree Power 2.0 grant program.
Biodiversity
– Scouting for Spotted Lanternfly Nymphs! Look out for our traps on our trees to help control spotted lanternfly nymphs and adults as they reach peak population levels later this month.
– If you see spotted lanternflies in our parks, you can report it to the BPC iNaturalist page so we are aware of where the populations are located.
– With Wagner Park newly reopened, we welcome the public to upload any pictures of wildlife to our BPC iNaturalist page. This data will help us establish a baseline for the biodiversity that call the new park home.
– We are continuing moth trapping this month, which involves using traps to capture and observe moths to provide us a sense of moth populations in the parks. Moth trapping locations for August will be in Rockefeller Park, South Cove, the Esplanade, Belvedere Plaza, the Irish Hunger Memorial, and Teardrop Park. Moths are important pollinators and play a vital role in our ecosystem.
Volunteering
– Battery Park City Authority is looking for volunteers who would like to join us in completing gardening tasks. If you’re interested email info.bpc@bpca.ny.gov for more info and fill out our application form.
– We appreciate your feedback when you see something in the parks! Please share what you see and experience with info.bpc@bpca.ny.gov.
Sustainability at BPCA
– In June we composted 4,727 lbs. of food waste, and 62 lbs. of dog waste from the community.
– With residential buildings across New York City now composting through the Department of Sanitation, BPCA has relocated the compost bins to capture food waste in the parks. Based on past waste audits, around 10% of the waste thrown in our landfill cans is food waste.
– Please remember to use our green compost bins to discard your food waste. And if you’re walking along the South Esplanade or in one of our three dog runs, help BPCA reach zero waste by composting your dog waste.
– Our community food compost drop-off bins are open 24/7 and are located at: 75 Battery place office; South esplanade near Rector Place; West Thames near the artificial turf; Police Memorial area; Belvedere Plaza; River Terrace near IHM; Rockefeller Picnic Benches; The Real World in Rockefeller Park; NEA island across from Stuyvesant High school; and at the Ball Field Terrace.
– Our Path to Zero! As a decades-long leader in sustainability, BPCA is striving to divert 90% of what is sent to landfill! To continue helping toward our Zero Waste goal, we ask that you rethink what you throw away in the parks, and please recycle or compost items.
