Back in early June, Battery Park City parents filled the meeting room of Community Board 1 to vent their anger.

The NY Waterway ferry terminal near the Mercantile Exchange was about to close, making way for the construction of a new, enlarged terminal nearby. In the meantime, a temporary terminal would open across from the Rockefeller Park playground, bringing commuter ferries and the clouds of diesel exhaust that accompany them.

“They chose the worst spot they could,” said Magdelena Hasiec, the mother of two small daughters, who had gathered more than 200 signatures on a petition to protest the siting of the terminal. “The children at the playground will come in direct contact with the fumes.”

In a voice full of contrition, George Cancro, the Port Authority’s director of ferry operations, told the parents that this was the only available site for the temporary terminal while work is done on the new five-slip facility at the World Financial Center, due for completion in 2005.

“We know this isn’t the most desirable location for the temporary terminal,” Cancro told them. “We want to get it out of there as quickly as possible.”

Perhaps. But as the ferries puffed away through the summer and cautious parents avoided the park when the wind blew east—or stayed away altogether—no work at the new terminal site had begun. That left some parents wondering: what was the rush to put a terminal near the playground in the first place?

“They could have left the terminal where it was and moved it when it was necessary,” complained Herbert Bauernebel, the father of 16-month-old Maxwell. “But we still go there, depending on the direction of the wind.”

Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said the old terminal, near the Mercantile Exchange, couldn’t remain in use because it was in disrepair, and it didn’t pay to fix it “if we’re going to put a new facility in real soon afterwards.”

In July, Coleman said that work on the retaining wall, in preparation for the permanent terminal, was to begin “shortly.” (The terminal itself is being constructed off-site.) But late last month, he amended that start date to “by the end of the year.”

“Outrageous!” exclaimed Monika Dralle, when told by a reporter that work on the ferry site was still months away. Dralle, who used to enjoy taking her daughter to the park, characterized as “convenient” the Port Authority’s talk of disrepair as a reason for opening the temporary terminal so soon.

“That wasn’t in the discussion at all,” she said of the June community board meeting with Port Authority officials. She said she left that meeting feeling assured that work on the new site needed to begin immediately.

“I thought, ‘Oh great, they’re going to start working right away.’ Then we’re waiting, waiting and we just noticed there’s not one thing being done. Not a thing.”

The Battery Park City Authority responded to parents’ fears about air quality by asking the Port Authority to monitor ferry emissions. Coleman said that study would begin this month, but it is not clear what steps would be taken if the results are unsatisfactory. No matter what, many parents don’t want their children exposed to the dark exhaust; meanwhile, NY Waterway says it already is working as fast as it can to put its cleanest boats on the route.

BPC Authority president Tim Carey, who ordered the tests, wouldn’t speculate. “I don’t deal in what-ifs,” he said.