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Battery Park City
On the Southwestern side of Manhattan there is a lovely park and promenade with
views of the Statue of Liberty and the Hudson River. Battery Park City is beautifully
landscaped with lush green lawns, flower beds, plazas for lunchtime or evening concerts,
bistro style tables, running trails, and several high end restaurants. Situated in the publicly
owned park are several high rise apartment buildings. Equipped with the latest amenities
and river views, these apartments are expensive even for Manhattan with rents starting at
$2200 for a studio apartment.
During the hour or so that I strolled along the promenade I counted seven
uniformed security guards patrolling an esplanade that was about a mile long. Several
were on bicycle and others were equipped with modern, SUV style patrol vehicles. The
guards wore arm patches designating them as employees of the Parks Service. One
explained to me that there were no homeless people because the area was carefully
monitored by employees of the Battery Park City Authority, which he described as a city
within a city with its own rules and regulations. If someone tried to lie down on one of
the benches or caused other patrons to feel uncomfortable, that person would be asked to
leave. The guard explained that the tenants of the luxury condos were demanding and
insisted on high standards of cleanliness and safety.
During a half a dozen visits to Battery Park City I never saw a homeless person
but I did speak to Elmira, an elderly woman from Columbia who was collecting cans and
bottles. She told me that the maintenance staff often told her to leave the area, insisting
that is was a private park. But she was skeptical of their claims and kept returning. Then
she brought up the garbage problem in New York City (the city recycling program had
just been severely curtailed because of budget problems). She was worried that so much
garbage was being dumped in the oceans and the politicians did not care. By collecting
bottles and cans, she was “helping herself and everyone else a little bit too.” As she
rinsed off her hands in the drinking fountain, she told me that she did not understand why
the park staff did not want her to come back.
Where would someone who did not seem clean enough go? Right outside of the
confines of Battery Park City is Historic Battery Park. The security guard admitted “it is a
totally different world over there.” While the landscaping in Historic Battery Park is
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Convention