At 15, BPC Parents Association Expanding into a Place for All The Battery Park City Parents Association is not just for Battery Park City. And these days, it’s not just for parents. “What we’re finding is maybe we should make this the neighborhood association,” said Martha Gallo, the group’s new president, who helped breathe life into the organization after Battery Park City lost many of its residents in the wake of Sept. 11. Membership had dropped by 75 percent, to just 75 families. What used to be largely a group of neighborhood mothers with young children who staged several annual events, including a Halloween parade, is now an organization looking to embrace everyone from teens and singles to retirees. “We don’t want to lose our focus,” said Gallo, a managing director at JP Morgan Chase and the mother of a four-year-old daughter. “But we want to make it clear that most of the things we’re doing is for everybody.” Last month more than 50 people took a bus trip to Duchess County for pumpkin and apple picking, and a ski trip is in the works. The group recently sponsored the neighborhood’s first block party, a teen dinner-and-movie night and a Halloween celebration at the Winter Garden, and hopes to start a lecture series, a neighborhood choir, a children’s book club and more. The organization, formed 15 years ago, played a major role in advocating for and planning what became P.S./I.S. 89. And the group wants to be a force to push for “family-friendly” amenities such as a community center and library. Gallo, who is active in Community Board 1’s efforts to establish a YMCA or YMHA in Lower Manhattan, said she became interested in expanding the group after meeting Bob Townley, director of Manhattan Youth, who runs a program for middle schoolers and other afterschool activities. “I started to realize that the parents organization needs to focus on more than just the toddlers,” said Gallo. Now what it needs to drive its ambitious plans are volunteers, she added. “We need people’s ideas and we need their energy.” The group meets to “brainstorm” every three or four weeks. (“We drink a lot of wine and eat a lot of popcorn,” Gallo said.) Those wanting to join or volunteer should call her at 786-0443. For more information on the parents association and its activities, go to www.bpcparents.org.