Giving Newark Year-Round Beauty

Giving Newark Year-Round Beauty

Angel Rodriguez, aka Tiger

Supervisor of Operations, NDD

Tiger has worked for Newark Downtown District for 12 years. As Supervisor of Operations, he oversees the quality of the cleaning and landscaping in the district, and he also runs the horticulture department.

The plantings are changed three times a year: for the summer, fall and winter seasons. Springtime sees daffodils blooming in the planters, and the bulbs are planted in the fall so they overwinter and bloom naturally in the warm weather.

His biggest challenge is the busy schedule during the seasonal horticulture changeovers. The district has 268 planters of different sizes and shapes, and the changeover from season to season usually happens in a rapid two-week period. In addition, the district conducts a popular community plant donation program to distribute the old plantings to residents instead of simply discarding them.

“You’ll never know unless you try.”

Tiger oversees the process. First, the old plantings need to be removed and set up for donations. The program is wildly popular; people wait in long lines to receive the plants. This is one of Tiger’s favorite parts of his job, to see the enthusiasm and excitement among the residents as they receive the plants.

Then Tiger and his team receive the new plantings, coordinate the designs and plans, and place the plantings in their appropriate containers.

He receives a lot of encouragement from his superiors at NDD, which he appreciates. He finds joy in the way his work uplifts the residents: the obvious pleasure people take in the beautification process is very rewarding to Tiger. 

Favorite Newark place:

Fortress of Solitude, a comic book store located on University Avenue. He collects figurines of all different types. When asked if he prefers Marvel or DC, he laughs. “Neither. It’s hard to pick a side. Why can’t I just have it all?”