It was the early 2000s, and the city that never sleeps was holding its breath. Streets echoed with silence where there should’ve been sirens, ambition, and bustle. Lower Manhattan, shaken by the unthinkable, faced not just the debris of buildings but the collapse of confidence. While the world turned to emergency responders and military might, New York’s long recovery would be shaped, in part, by an unassuming man in a suit, Derek Bryson Park.