Extraordinary Parkies Working In The Wake Of Sandy

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

Victor Versace: Climber & Pruner, Brooklyn

Victor has worked some long days on extremely large trees, including a 110’ tulip poplar that almost fell on top of a church on East 19th Street. This complicated job required the use of a crane to assist, and he coordinated his crew and the crane operator to successfully clear the downed tree that was under a lot of load in several directions. Management was onsite during the removal and all agreed that it was one of the most intimidating jobs seen in a long time. This was at the end of a long day removing trees from houses. During much of the storm and recovery efforts, Victor has been staying at the office, away from his family.

Jeremy Barrick: Deputy Chief, Central Forestry

Jeremy has worked tirelessly since the storm hit to administer and manage the Forestry, Horticulture, and Natural Resources storm response effort -- he has been a great captain at the helm of Hurricane Sandy. He organized our reporting team, staffing that was sent to help the boroughs with inspections, work orders, contract supervision, and chainsaw crews. He also entered data at night, and trained people in Toughbooks (the hand-held computer that is used by field inspectors to record what they are seeing). Jeremy has been stalwart and strong, and deserves recognition for his sound work.

Gabriel Simon: Forester

Gabe has worked around the clock to create daily reports, oversee data entry at night, conduct field inspections, and contract supervision. He has made himself available for any and all tasks storm related and has barely had time to breathe. Gabe has stepped up his already high-level work ethic during storm clean-up.

John Damour: APSW, Queens

John, assigned to Cunningham Garage, is the only APSW in Queens (and possibly the entire agency) to possess a hazmat endorsement on his CDL license. Since the storm hit, John has been traveling to Rockaway and other sites in Queens and Brooklyn with generators to deliver fuel to keep them running. Even though John lost power in his own home for almost two weeks, he has not taken a day off working long hours to help keep our facilities operational.

President Bill Clinton: Honorary Parkie

President Clinton joined Extraordinary Parkies Joe Block (Queens Outreach Coordinator, PFP), Jason Schwartz (Director, PFP), Jill Weber (Rockaways Administrator, NYC Parks), and Leah Worrell (Technical Assistance Coordinator, PFP), as well as volunteers from the Clinton Global Initiative, at a recent Far Rockaway/Beach 30th cleanup. Thank you, Mr. President!

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

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