Ferry Point Park

The Daily Plant : Monday, December 2, 2013

Ferry Point Team Honored As Commissioner's Employees Of The Month

Photo by Malcolm Pinckney

The Ferry Point Team is the Commissioner’s Employee of the Month for October.

The team is composed of:
• Robert Gantzer
• Ken Dubin
• Sal Sorrento
• Robert Iaropoli
• Othniel Hanson
• Ramesh Singh
• Leroy Fredericks
• Chief John Natoli
• Anthony Macari
• Kay Zias
• Laura Prussin
• Charlette Hamamgian
• Gina Brugman
• Jenna Mascetti

The Ferry Point Park Golf Course Construction Resources Team was assembled in October 2009. The team was tasked with reviewing all plans and participating in job meetings with the selected contractor.

Robert Gantzer, Senior Resident Engineer, along with the help of Ken Dubin, Sal Sorrento, Robert Iaropoli, and Othneil Hanson, managed $160 million in design, construction, and supervision of contracts.

By September of last year, nine of the eighteen holes were completed, with the final eighteenth hole completed this September. In October, a ribbon cutting ceremony was held when we turned over the 18 holes to the Trump Organization. The team is still working to complete the parking lot and the driving range. To date, there have been 101 job meetings covered by this group.

The Ferry Point Park Golf Project would not have been a success without the extraordinary efforts of this team and the support of our Survey division, led by Ramesh Singh and Leroy Fredericks. Guided by the leadership of Chief John Natoli, ongoing collaboration and support came from Kay Zias, Director of Environmental Remediation, and Laura Prussin, Deputy Chief of Staff.

We also acknowledge the support of Capital’s Budget and Accounting division’s ACCO Charlette Hamamgian, and the efforts of Gina Brugman and Jenna Mascetti who ably assisted with preparing project updates, reports and the processing of contractor payments. Revenue Architect Anthony Macari has played a played a pivotal role in the project since its inception. Anthony has since shifted his focus and has recently played a key role in negotiations regarding the transfer of this property to the Trump Organization.

Together, the team worked with DEC to remediate complex issues that repeatedly emerged. Since this project was being built on a landfill adjacent to the Long Island Sound, it came with unique challenges. The team worked closely with the Contractor and the Engineering Audit Office to negotiate costs and work out solutions to problems. In the end, Parks had taken a landfill that had no public use and turned it into a spectacular Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course. Already recognized by the United States Golf Association as a design and construction triumph, the course will provide quality recreational opportunities to New Yorkers for many years into the future. The course will be the 14th golf course in New York City and the first one built since 1963.

For their persistence and hard work, the Ferry Point Team was nominated by Deputy Commissioner Therese Braddick and Commissioner White.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"Truth, like surgery, may hurt, but it cures."

Han Suyin
(1916/17 - 2012)