As an engineer, Local 375 member Reza Mashayekhi is a friend of the environment and the taxpayer.

To reconstruct the Ederle Amphitheatre in Flushing Meadows Park, he designed and developed special concrete planks to replace the costly and scarce tropical rain forest timber normally used for city boardwalks.
“I try to come up with innovations to save the city money while also protecting the environment,” said Mr. Mashayekhi, an Associate Engineering Technician II.

“By relying more on talented in-house staff like Reza instead of consultants, the city would get more bang for its bucks,” said Local 375 President Claude Fort.

As a public employee, Mr. Mashayekhi prides himself on uncovering contractors’ waste and urging management to put union members in charge. When he found flaws in a consultant’s design for a Bronx River seawall, the Parks Dept. saved $600,000 and let him take control.

But Mr. Mashayekhi’s outspokenness doesn’t always sit well with his managers. In some cases, they have denied him public recognition for stellar work. Management didn’t invite him to the Sept. 20 opening ceremony for the 835-foot Ocean Breeze Fishing Pier on Staten Island or mention him in an article on the project in an internal publication.

Mr. Mashayekhi served as project manager for the innovative $9 million pier, which includes rod holders, bait cutting tables and fish cleaning stations with running water. The edge is scallop-shaped, and 160 bronze medallions of lobsters, crabs and other ocean life adorn the pavement.

His enthusiasm and camaraderie have won Mr. Mashayekhi fans among pier users and co-workers. Last year, 43 Parks workers signed a petition urging management to promote him.

“Reza is the most creative engineer I’ve worked with,” Hui Mei Grove wrote in the petition. “He has been most energetic and willing to take on the nightmarish workload, due to understaffing, without any recognition or promotion.”

— Gregory N. Heire

 

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