By Jennifer Warren
“It's like an obsession – those lines,” he said recently in a telephone interview, explaining that when his home is clean and organized, all's well with the world.
Now Murphy will officially bring his obsession to his new official position in Queens, which has more parkland than any other borough.
“I want my parks clean and organized,” he said. “In my garages, the trucks are parked in neat rows.”
The role of borough parks commissioner had been vacant for five years. Ron Cianciulli left the position in 1995, and since then Murphy had been acting as the surrogate commissioner under the title “chief of operations.”
But after starting as a tree pruner 30 years ago with the city Parks Department, Murphy, 55, was appointed to the top Queens post by City Parks Commissioner Henry Stern at a Dec. 20 meeting with the other borough commissioners. Murphy's current salary is $85,000, but that will change in his new position, Murphy said.
His first plan of order is to reorganize the Parks Department's support division – the store houses, machinery, garbage trucks, plastic bags, and rakes. The houses, which are in Flushing Meadows Corona Park will be a “little Home Depot” by the time he and his men are finished, Murphy said.
When Murphy first joined the Parks Department in 1970, he worked in Jamaica as a climber and a pruner, removing dead trees and clearing the streets on which they fell. The work was more exact than most people think, Murphy said.
“It's dangerous. A lot of people end up with broken legs. And it's an acquired skill. You have to drop things without taking out the petunias,” he said.
But it was also an inspiring training ground. The parks at that time, Murphy said, were in their heyday. They were peopled with “parkies,” thousands of park attendants stationed at maintenance rooms and bathrooms. They handed out checkers and basketballs at recreation sites.
“Nowadays, that's not exactly like that,” Murphy said, citing the city's fiscal crisis of the mid-'70s. “Maybe someday it'll go back like that.”
From tree pruner, Murphy advanced through the forestry division until he was managing park operations throughout the borough.
Over the past six years the parks have undergone a renaissance, largely due to Henry Stern, Murphy said.
“It's the coolest thing. He's the god of management techniques,” Murphy said. “If other agencies would just mirror his techniques, we'd have a great city.”
Every Wednesday, Stern's philosophy is imparted during his weekly borough commissioners' meeting. His credo, said Murphy, is to instill a sense of urgency in everything they do.
“By the time [instructions] come to a foot soldier, they shouldn't be diluted,” Murphy said. “Things will get done today as opposed to tomorrow. You've got to feel it. Think it. Communicate it.”
Murphy's militaristic manner may come in part from his days in the Marine Corps where he was trained by Navy Seals as a reconnaissance diver in the late 1960s in Key West, Fla.
From there, Murphy joined IBM to work indoors with machines, a stint that revealed his nature as an outdoorsman.
“I hated it. I never saw the sun,” he said.
In his new high-ranking position, however, Murphy isn't worried that he'll be trapped indoors behind a desk. His Ford Expedition, he boasts, still carts around a trunk-load of climbing gear.
“Power saw, cleats, spikes, rope saddle, pruning saw, graffiti removal,” he recited, roll-calling the tools of his trade. He said that when a cat is up a tree and the Fire Department is not available to bring her down, Murphy is the one to call.
“I love that,” he said. “They call me, and I'll get that bad boy outta there, no problemo.”
