BPCA President Departs to Implement Similar Solutions City-Wide
B.J. Jones, who has served as president of the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) since 2018, is resigning to join the administration of Mayor Eric Adams as executive director of “New New York,” a panel convened by Mr. Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul in 2022. In this capacity, he will oversee implementation of the “Making New York Work for Everyone” action plan that was issued by the panel in December.
“New York City’s story has exemplified resilience time and time again, and I’m grateful to Mayor Adams and his administration for the opportunity to help our City thrive in its latest chapter,” Mr. Jones said, citing his BPCA tenure as one in which “we advanced ambitious climate adaptation plans, housing affordability, vibrant public space, and meaningful community programming. My time at BPCA was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my public service career, and I’m eager to get started in my new role working every day for all New Yorkers.”
Mr. Jones joined the Authority’s staff in 2014, as vice president of administration. In that capacity, he oversaw internal BPCA operations, as well as cultural and educational programming in Battery Park City Parks. He also focused on the Authority’s emergency and continuity planning, and was in charge of streamlining operations through initiatives such as online event permitting. Mr. Jones also managed efforts to expand the BPCA’s minority- and women-owned business procurement goals.
But the centerpiece of his legacy as BPCA president will be guiding resiliency plans from conceptual discussions to design to groundbreaking, a process that began in earnest shortly after Mr. Jones took the helm at the BPCA in 2018. It has thus far seen completion of one phase (hardening the community’s ballfields against future storms), the start of another (demolishing and rebuilding Wagner Park), and the evolution of design for a third (coastal resilience along the community’s north and west edges, stretching from South Cove into Tribeca). In the process, he has spearheaded the effort to fund these plans, through a bond issue of new BPCA debt, which will total many hundreds of millions of dollars.
BPCA acting board chair Martha Gallo said, “thanks to B.J.’s vision, talents, and leadership of our terrific team, Battery Park City has made extraordinary progress toward becoming the inclusive, resilient, vibrant, and forward-looking community that New Yorkers could only dream about some 55 years ago,” when development began on 92 acres of landfill between West Street and the Hudson River. “Over the months ahead, our board will conduct a search for a successor befitting our organization’s significant and urgent agenda.”
Tammy Meltzer, chair of Community Board 1 (CB1), said, “City Hall and New York City overall have gained a great leader who knows how to bring diverse groups together; he will be missed in the Battery Park City Community. BJ is well-skilled at the development of public parks, open spaces and community programming. He has been a considerate and contemplative partner to work with. His unique understanding of the importance of park land in relation to work and play from his experience at the Battery Park City Authority will help him transform our business districts to become vibrant and resilient 24 hour communities.”
Mr. Jones’s transition to “New New York” will be, in some ways, a continuation and expansion of his tenure at the BPCA. The “Making New York Work for Everyone” action plan cites the experience of Lower Manhattan in the years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 as a precedent and paradigm for successful urban revival. But the study also notes that Downtown (along with Midtown) has been among the business districts that have been slowest to rebound from the Covid downturn among any urban centers in the five boroughs.
To remedy these shortfalls, the report makes a series of recommendations, noting that “in Lower Manhattan, we must build on the investments from the first two decades of this century and seek to further transform this walkable neighborhood into a truly pedestrian-friendly destination for office workers, residents, and tourists alike.” In response to record-setting levels of office vacancies, the report notes, “converting outdated office buildings to homes is one tool to soak up excess supply of commercial office space while also helping to tackle the housing affordability and supply crisis that we face as a nation.”
The study concludes its diagnosis and prognosis for Lower Manhattan by noting that, “this area is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The stretch of shoreline between the Battery and the Brooklyn Bridge is expected to see frequent flooding due to sea-level rise starting in the 2040s, and daily tidal flooding by the 2080s. This poses a threat to the city’s economic vitality, with impacts to transit, businesses, and residents.”