Not Just Planting and Pruning
Along with its picturesque lakes, joyful playgrounds and grass-covered paths, Central Park of course has its share of homeless residents. In the North Woods section of the park, Peruggi works with Rudy to collect garbage. The rubbish in this zone of the park is a little different, thanks to the drug-using and homeless population. Peruggi and the gardener discover and collect hundreds of crack cocaine vials. Dog poop isn't the only thing to avoid stepping in here -- homeless people have left some human droppings behind as well.

Sometimes a gardener's job can be dangerous, when he is confronted with drug-dealing or drug-using park visitors. One such shady character gets a little aggressive when he sees the "Back To The Floor" camera capturing his image (Hey, the cops could identify him!) and violently rushes the film crew. The cameraman doesn't wait to see if the attacker is friendly or not. He runs.

Many of the gardeners are actually expert horticulturists, and Peruggi is concerned that they spend too much of their time collecting garbage instead of tending to the park's immense amount of flora. Some mornings, these trained professionals spend as many as three hours picking up trash. "You just wonder how much do you need to spend on garbage pick up everyday and you're really wasting the talent of somebody like John who really knows horticulture, who could be doing horticulture all day long," Peruggi says.

Next: Results - Fewer Managers and Less Garbage Duty >>>