Extraordinary Parkies Working In The Wake Of Sandy

We continue to thank individuals for their extraordinary service during Hurricane Sandy.

Donald Giaccone, Scott Jordan, Stephen Maggio, James Schmitt, and Nicholas Susco: Queens Technical Services Plumbers; and Gustave Menocal: Supervisor
In the hours before and during Hurricane Sandy, our plumbers visited crucial sites to assure that all sump pumps were functioning and installed backup pumps with generators in locations prone to power outages. Not one of these sites visited sustained any damage due to flooding. These Parkies stayed overnight on standby at Forest Park Shops during the storm, and some even spent two nights.

Also, due to a power outage, the tide gates at the Porpoise Bridge in Flushing Meadows Corona Park were stuck in the open position which caused the first high tide surge to flood the low lying areas of the park, most notably Olmsted Center. Once this was realized, Gustave and Scott began the painstaking process of manually closing the two open tide gates (each one taking over an hour of cranking by hand). Their efforts, timed perfectly with the next incoming high tide surge, minimized the amount of flood waters flowing back into the park. They also designed and fabricated a tool that would allow future tide gate operations to be performed with a power drill (which only takes 10 minutes).

Yi-Wen Li: Senior Forester
Yi-Wen has worked endless hours (92 hours the first week post-Sandy) scheduling Forestry and Horticulture staff, and coordinating NRG and Capital staff to be deployed to the boroughs for inspections, contract supervision, and chainsaw clean-up work. Scheduling at the beginning of storm response was particularly complicated because many people could only be reached at home. She was up nearly all night reaching people by personal phone and email, radio, whatever way she could. She had to muster the entire division, train them on Toughbooks, ensure that each borough Forestry Director knew who was coming and when and what their skill set was. When Yi-Wen wasn't focused on staff scheduling, she worked on other endless storm-related duties. Her work was invaluable to Forestry, Horticulture, and Natural Resources storm efforts.

Ryan Ahern: Queens Forestry Staff Analyst
Ryan has been tasked with organizing all the inspections and work order tracking of the 14,000+ calls that Queens received. He worked around the clock to dispatch a small army of visiting resources who are utilizing the new “Forestry Storm Mobile” program with the handheld units, and additional sites on paper. Ryan trained the visitors, some of whom have never used this program before, and he troubleshoots issues while folks are using it in the field. Each day, he sets the plan in motion for his team by sorting the “storm mobile data,” which allows him to see which areas need the most work or inspections. Ryan then arranges for the necessary maps, and steers his resources to these areas the next morning starting at 6 a.m. Ryan is amazing because not only is he dedicated, but he also teaches folks how to use something that was new to him—and he does it in a professional manner.

If you have any stories or photos you would like to share, please email them to tips@parks.nyc.gov.

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