BATTERY PARK CITY — Locals railed against a plan to hire a private security company to patrol Battery Park City while slashing the number of Park Enforcement Patrol Officers in the neighborhood — saying the move was done without any public input.
At a heated Community Board 1 meeting earlier this week, AlliedBarton Security Services presented its proposal for 57 unarmed "safety ambassadors" to walk the neighborhood, in their "high-visibility" uniforms — which will be "bright yellow," said John McArdle, the company's regional operations manager.
The guards will all be equipped with devices that gives them GPS tracking and their presence would be a valuable "deterrence" against crime, he said.
"You may be very nice, but you have no authority whatsoever," Ninfa Segarra, CB1's committee’s co-chair and a former deputy mayor in the Giuliani administration, said in response.
She challenged AlliedBarton representatives when they claimed to be "law enforcement extenders" who worked in concert with police in Camden, New Jersey, to report misdoings they saw in that area, while admitting that they are not authorized to make arrests.
Segarra added that it was not clear whether NYPD or Park Enforcement Officers "will want to be in partnership with you."
The hiring of the firm would mean the number of Park Enforcement Patrol Officers that secure the area's 36 acre of parkland — who, unlike security guards, are able to issue summonses and make arrests — would be decreased, the BPCA said.
Currently, there are about 45 PEP officers who patrol the neighborhood, and the BPCA pays the Parks Department $2.5 million annually for their services. The contract with AlliedBarton, which has not been signed yet, would cost $1.8 million for its total of 57 security guards, the BPCA said.
Robin Forst, a spokeswoman for the BPCA, the neighborhood's governing body, told the crowd that the decision to seek out a private company was in response to a "vast increase" in the growth of the neighborhood — in residents, workers and tourists — and they wanted to have a "more visible presence of security in our neighborhood."
She added that the hiring of the security firm would not replace PEP, but be an added security presence. Though some number of PEP officers would be cut — that number had not been determined yet, she said.
The new security plan did not include a study of the neighborhood's security needs, BPCA board member Martha Gallo admitted at the meeting.
Many of those present resented the sudden move.
"This seems ridiculous to replace PEP officers, who have an institutional knowledge of the neighborhood with this — it's ludicrous, its too weird," said longtime resident Paula Galloway, adding that the plan "seems like a police state."
Much of the animosity, however, was directed at the Battery Park City Authority, which voted to hire the security firm without public feedback.
Others blasted the BPCA for being in a pattern of making decisions that affect the neighborhood without consulting with residents — or, as CB1 committee Chair Anthony Notaro said, the BPCA's "complete disregard for the community's input."
Over the past several months, some unpopular moves by the BPCA include pushing out a beloved operator of the North Cove Marina, as well as the longtime executive director of the Battery Park City Conservancy, Tessa Huxley.
While BPCA member Gallo defended the board's move to hire a security firm — reminding the room that the community's relationship with the PEP has not always been perfect, she also acknowelged the need to take resident concerns into consideration.
“Given all I’ve heard tonight,” she said, “I’m not sure we’re ready to sign it in the next couple of weeks.”
Gallo said the BPCA plans to begin a series of quarterly meeting to connect with the community. The first will be held on Dec. 16.
