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Parks Racisim

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/parks-dept-workers-165k-discrimination-settlement-article-1.1300923Daily News

EXCLUSIVE: 13 Parks Department workers get $165,000 settlement afterclaiming race-based transfers in Battery Park CityThe Public Enforcement Patrol officers filed their suit after beingtransferred out of the area in March 2011 which came months afterescalating tensions between the mostly minority agents and someresidents and were replaced with white and light-skinned staffers.The workers also complained of racist graffiti in Battery Park Citythat was directed at them.

BY GINGER ADAMS OTIS / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

PUBLISHED: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2013, 10:40 PMUPDATED: THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013, 2:00 AMPrint

JEFF BACHNER/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

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The city will pay thousands of dollars to dark-skinned ParksDepartment workers who claim they were transferred out of tony BatteryPark City in favor of white and light-skinned staffers amid threatsand veiled complaints that they were too aggressive.

The workers filed a discrimination suit after the March 2011 transfers which came after months of escalating tensions between the mostlyminority agents and some residents of the ritzy enclave.

Swastikas and graffiti calling the Public Enforcement Patrol officersthugs, pigs and n-----s started popping up on benches and walls,according to the suit filed by 13 workers.

KEN MURRAY/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

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Public Enforcement Patrol officer Charles St. Louis is one of 13workers who received settlement from the city after being transferredaway from their post at Battery Park City.

The Parks Department wrongfully transferred eight dark-skinned workersout and brought in eight white, Asian or light-skinned Hispanics afterthe Battery Park City Authority a private trust that pays the city$2 million for 31 PEP workers on its 32 acres complained that someofficers were too aggressive in ticketing residents, the suit charged.

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Residents of the waterfront neighborhood were pleased when PEP workersticketed visitors but annoyed when they got tickets for the samepetty violations, said Charles St. Louis, a retired NYPD officer and

PEP agent who is a plaintiff in the suit.

NYC PARK ADVOCATES

A flier that was put up around Battery Park City targeting PEP officers.

Some people think that when they pay a hefty price for us asrentals, theyre entitled to act a certain way, said St. Louis, 49.

Theyre okay with us ticketing teenagers on a bench for drinking in apark, but not when its their wine and cheese party on the grass, hesaid.

The city admitted no wrongdoing in the February agreement of $165,000 $8,000 to each of the dark-skinned workers, plus the same payment tothe replacement workers, who charged they were unwittingly put in themiddle of a hostile situation.

NYC PARK ADVOCATES

More graffiti found around Battery Park City that expressed how someresidents felt about the presence of the Public Enforcement Patrolofficers.

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Civil rights still need to be constantly monitored, said Joe Puleo,president of the Local 983 union that brought the suit on behalf its

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PEP worker members. We all know privatization allows people to getextra privileges because of the wealth that they have, but theyshouldnt be able to manipulate the law.

One black worker, George Parker, 62, will get a payment of $14,000

because a white resident went after him in a fury after another parkworker questioned why his dog was off-leash.

NYC PARK ADVOCATES

Disturbing fliers were posted all over Battery Park City.

Ive been around a bit in my time, even Birmingham, Ala., and Ivenot seen much that was as bad as Battery Park City, said Parker. Igot a lot of I pay your salary and You work for me when I tried to

enforce the rules.

Geoffrey Croft, president of NYC Parks Advocates, a non-profitwatchdog group, said, "It is beyond belief that something like thiswould be allowed to happen in this day and age. The level ofincompetence is frightening. The city and the Battery Park CityAuthority should be ashamed of themselves."

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PEP worker Keshun Anderson, 40, said she was once called a f---ingn----- by the white resident who fought with Parker .

Linda Cronin, the lawyer for the 13 workers who filed the suit, saidthe settlement didnt address the blatant disrespect.

The lawsuit alleged that the outrageous and despicable comments madetowards the minority officers (and) the hostile work environment ...have gone unchecked, said Cronin.

City officials declined to comment.

gotis@nydailynews.com