When:  Thursday, September 18th 11:30am-5:30pm

Where:  Brooklyn Borough Hall

How:  FREE!!

Green Brooklyn…Green City 2008 will feature workshops and discussions led by several of the city’s preeminent leaders in sustainable design, green manufacturing, transportation alternatives, energy efficiency, environmental education, and sustainable food.

 For more information, visit the website here.

If you have an event that you would like SRWA to post, please send an email to heather@srwalliance.org

When:  Saturday, September 27th, 2008 from 6:30pm-9:00pm

Where:  Jacob Riis Bathhouse, Rockaway Beach, click here for directions

How:  Dressy Beach Attire

6:30pm  Cocktail Reception with live music * (Ticket needed)

7:30pm  FREE screening of “City of Water”

8:15pm  FREE Q&A Discussion with film’s creative team

Individual Tickets for reception are $50

Supporter Tickets are $150

Sponsor Tickets are $400

 For more information, please click here to be redirected to the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance website. 

100% of proceeds to the RWA will go to benefit RWA EnviroMentor School Programs.  Screening and Q&A sponsored by HSBC and free to the public!

See you there!

The Narrows Botanical Gardens presents a FREE, NEW, and EXCITING MUSICAL EVENT! 

Where:  Narrows Botanical Gardens, on Shore Road between 72nd & Bay Ridge Ave. in Brooklyn

When:  Wednesday, August 20th at 7:00pm

Bring a recycled DVD & provide FREE entertainment to the troops in an environmentally friendly way!!

For more information about the Narrows Botanical Gardens, please click here!

The Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance is a proud sponsor of this concert.

Music in the Narrows Botanical Gardens Park with KAGERO (Japanese Gypsy Rock Band)  will be a great evening to enjoy the summer weather, with unique and beautiful music.  Bring a chair, blanket, and your friends and family to hear the new sounds of the band “KAGERO”!

They have been written up as “….a haunting yet upbeat violin and guitar that is edgy yet with a little of the gypsy travelling within its strings. This band is cool ” - ANIMEFOOD MAGAZINE

Date: Wed July 23
Time : 7:00 P.M.
Location: Narrows Botanical Gardens - off Shore Road between Bay Ridge Ave & 72 St

FREE!

Please visit NBG website here

For more information on the band please visit here

The Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance proudly sponsors this event. 

Click here for more local event listings

May 19, 2008

[Source: Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill Courier]

Ferry service might return to Red Hook, an area underserved by mass transportation.The waterfront neighborhood, which was a stop for the New York City Water Taxi from March of last year to February 1 of this year, is being studied as a possible stop in a citywide ferry transit study, according to city officials.The south Brooklyn neighborhood was named for inclusion in a ferry feasibility study last week as the city kicked off a new ferry service from Far Rockaway to the Brooklyn Army Terminal at 58th Street in Sunset Park to Lower Manhattan.Also being looked at in the borough for ferry service are Coney Island, Sheepshead Bay, Bay Ridge, north and south Williamsburg and Greenpoint.“Ferries are fast, affordable, and environmentally friendly. As our waterfront becomes even more dynamic – with new housing and open space in communities like Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and Hunter’s Point – ferries are going to become an even bigger part of our city’s transportation network,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.“That vision of a revitalized waterfront is an important element of PlaNYC, and over the past year we’ve worked closely with Speaker Quinn and the Council to make it a reality.”City Councilmember Sara Gonazlez, an advocate of a ferry service to the area, welcomed the idea of increased transportation options to her community.“Imagine not enduring bumper to bumper traffic, but instead cruising along our historic waterfront, enjoying the fresh air and the views of the Statue of Liberty, Governors Island, and the Manhattan skyline - all while protecting the environment, saving gas and getting there in a fraction of the time “ said Gonzalez, adding, “I look forward to joining with the community, my colleagues on the Council and the administration to build on this important first step. We have to get the word out so our residents utilize the service.”New York Water Taxi President Tom Fox, which suspended service to Red Hook earlier this year due to low ridership, has been an advocate of city-wide ferry service.

“I think Red Hook makes tremendous sense for something we call the Brooklyn coastal route [which includes Red Hook, as well as piers in Sunset Park and downtown Brooklyn],” said Fox, who has responded to the Request for Proposals the EDC released to find a consultant to study ferry service feasibility to areas like Red Hook. “I think that if you bring those stops together you could build the service over time.”

As part of the feasibility study, the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) will head a multi-agency task force together with the community’s input to scope out potential sites for all the possible ferry launches, said a DOT spokesperson.

Fort those areas that will be developed, the two-year pilot Rockaway service is being funded with $1.1 million in City Council funds, and a second phase of the plan will add new stops to North Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

About $4.4 million in federal transportation funds along with $1.1 million in city money will pay for construction of the Williamsburg and Greenpoint landings as well as another at Roosevelt Island in the second phase.

Unrelated to the city’s waterway plans, ferry service from Pier 11 in lower Manhattan to Ikea’s dock in Red Hook will begin when the home furnishing retailer opens on June 18.

Seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Ikea will operate a free ferry service every forty minutes for its customers using the New York City Water Taxis.

“While it’s nice for a lot of reasons, it will cut down on the use by Manhattanites of automobiles,” said Gonzalez spokesperson Michael NAME. “That’s a very welcome development.”

–with Meredith Deliso

May 8, 2008

[Source: CourierLife Publications]

Ferry service is coming back to the Brooklyn Army Terminal.The service will be restored May 12th, as a stop on the new Rockaways to Manhattan route that the city is subsidizing as part of its five-borough ferry initiative announced earlier this year.Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn shared the welcome news during a press conference at the 58th Street ferry pier, on May 5th.New York Water Taxi will operate the route, Monday through Friday, between Riis Landing, at Breezy Point, and Pier 11 at the foot of Wall Street, with a stop at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. There will be two morning runs, stopping at 58th Street at 6:25 a.m. and 8:25 a.m., and arriving in Manhattan 20 minutes later.

The two afternoon runs will leave Wall Street at 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., with stops at 58th Street at 4:50 p.m. and 6:50 p.m.Between July 4th and Labor Day, there will be daily service, to allow Brooklynites access to Rockaway’s beaches.The restored ferry service is fueled by $1.1 million in councilmanic funding allocated through the efforts of Queens Councilmember Joseph Addabbo. This summer, additional service will be instituted along the East River, from South Williamsburg and Long Island City.In addition, the city has committed $500,000 to funding a study of potential ferry terminus locations in all five boroughs, including both Bay Ridge and Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn.

“Ferries are fast, affordable and environmentally friendly,” noted Bloomberg. “As our waterfront becomes even more dynamic, ferries are going to become an even bigger part of our city’s transportation network.”

“Ferries offer New Yorkers an affordable, convenient and environmentally responsible way of getting from point A to point B,” added Quinn. “By making them a key part of our city’s transportation infrastructure, we are helping to ensure that New York City remains a shining example of urban sustainability for cities all over the world.”

The announcement was hailed by Heather McCown, president of the Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance, as “good news.”

But, she added, still needed is restoration of ferry service between the 69th Street Veterans Memorial Pier and Manhattan. That service was discontinued in the 1990s, when the pier was closed for rehabilitation, and both City Councilmember Vincent Gentile and State Senator Marty Golden, who represent the area, have pressed for its re-establishment.

“We’re getting there. We haven’t won but we’re definitely on the right track,” noted McCown, who pointed out that this is the first time the city has underwritten any ferry service other than the Staten Island ferry.

“We are happy to see elected officials following through on their promise,” McCown added. “They said today that this was one step of many and one ferry of many. We are going to hold them to that and keep pushing for ferry service to Bay Ridge.”

Golden, who had been instrumental in getting ferry service at 58th Street in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, also applauded the news.

“With the rising price of gas, with the increase in tolls and parking, and, simply, just due to traffic congestion, taking the waterways instead of the highways to work is by far the better way,” he noted.

Golden was joined in this sentiment by Gentile, who had put $500,000 into the city budget in 2004 to add a ferry slip at 69th Street that city officials still have not tapped.

“I’m pleased that the need for citywide ferry service has finally been realized by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg,” he remarked. “Through this effort, the city is showing that we understand that our communities need more transportation options.”

The full trip between Riis Landing and Pier 11 is one hour, each way. Fares are $6 one way, the same as before service was halted February 1st, with a $1 transfer fee to other New York Water Taxi commuter routes along the East River.

“The good news is that the fare hasn’t gone up, even though the cost of fuel has doubled in the last year,” remarked Tom Fox, the president and CEO of New York Water Taxi.

Fox acknowledged that maintaining ferry service between Brooklyn and Manhattan had been a challenge because of, “Ridership levels and lack of public support from government,” and said that the subsidy, “Provides us with the opportunity to supplement the service from the Brooklyn Army Terminal with service from the Rockaways.

“We are hoping that, within the next two years, we can make the service grow exponentially,” Fox added, pointing out that if the ferry service can be integrated into the MetroCard system ��“ as Bloomberg suggested at the news conference ��“ that would be a major step toward “economic viability.”

May 17, 2008

[Source: The Brooklyn Paper]

The new ferry service between Bay Ridge and the Lower Manhattan is a long way from being able to stay afloat without help from the city.

For the just-rechristened boat route to survive after its two-year, $1.1-million city subsidy runs out, 700 commuters will need to be riding it each day, said Tom Fox, president of New York Water Taxi.

The ferry, which shuttles commuters between Rockaway and Manhattan with a stop at the 58th Street pier at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, started on Monday — three and a half months after Fox cancelled a similar service because of low ridership, high gas prices, and a lack of city funding.

Now that he has public funds and additional riders from Queens, Fox says he will be able to counter fuel costs that eat up about $200 per trip. So when the city subsidy dries up in 2010, Fox will need a surge of passengers paying the $6 fare.

“If we had 700 passengers a day, we’d break even without the subsidy,” said Fox, whose boats carried a maximum of 150 commuters per day during the first three days of its much-ballyhooed service this week.

“But this just started, so the numbers [of riders] are going to go up,” said the optimistic Fox. “As the word gets out, we’re hopeful that there will be additional demand.”

The city is also banking on increased demand for waterborne transit.

Mayor Bloomberg announced last week plans to bring new ferries to South Williamsburg in July to shuttle commuters from Schaefer Landing to the Financial District and East 34th Street.

By 2010, the city plans to construct two federally funded piers in North Brooklyn — one at the Edge condos at North Sixth Street and another at a yet-to-be-determined Greenpoint Avenue site.

Similar service was scuttled this winter due to lack of ridership and high fuel costs.

May 10, 2008

[Source: The Brooklyn Paper]

The Bloomberg Administration announced this week that it will provide more than $1 million in subsidies to bring ferry service back to Sunset Park next week.

Ferries will return to Brooklyn Army Terminal on May 12, Bloomberg said, three and a half months after New York Water Taxi terminated service from the 58th Street pier because of low ridership, high gas prices and, at the time, no city subsidy.

But now, Mayor Bloomberg is coughing up, calling ferries “fast, affordable, and environmentally friendly.

“As our waterfront becomes even more dynamic with new housing and open space in communities like Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Hunters Point, ferries are going to become an even bigger part of our transportation network,” Hizzoner said on Monday at the Army Terminal.

The two year, city-backed pilot-program will start Monday, with New York City Water Taxi sailing two ferries from Rockaway, Queens to the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park each morning.

The two-deck ships, which can carry 149 passengers each, will depart at 6:25 am and 8:25 am and bring passengers to Pier 11 at South and Water streets in Manhattan’s Financial District at 6:45 am and 8:45 am, respectively. Return trips will depart from Pier 11 at 4:30 pm and 6:30 pm and will arrive at Brooklyn Army Terminal at 4:50 pm and 6:50 pm.

Each voyage will cost $6. With the purchase of a 40-ticket book, commuters receive a 10-percent discount bringing the fare to $216 — which planners say is comparable to the costs of express buses and a bargain compared to driving.

“It will be much cheaper than driving when you consider the cost of gas, the cost of tolls, and the cost of parking,” said Water Taxi CEO Tom Fox. “It will be fast, too. Do you think you can drive from Sunset Park and get a parking spot in Lower Manhattan in 20 minutes?”

Fox is confident that these ferries will stay afloat even though similar routes have struggled in the past.

“This subsidy from the city will help cover some of the base operating costs,” said Fox, whose ferries haven’t been subsidized since the Federal Emergency Management Agency offered support in the two years following 9-11.

By July, new ferry routes will shuttle South Williamsburg residents from Schaefer Landing to the Financial District and East 34th Street in Midtown, Bloomberg said.

Starting July 4, South Brooklynites can enjoy waterborne trips to Queens beaches when ferries begin offering recreational day trips between Brooklyn Army Terminal and Rockaway, said Water Taxi CEO Tom Fox.

The far-reaching ferry plan also calls for the construction of two additional federally funded North Brooklyn piers by 2010 — one planned for the site of the Edge condos at North Sixth Street and another at a yet to be determined Greenpoint Avenue, said Department of Transportation spokesman Seth Solomonow.

Published: May 13, 2008

[Source: The New York Times]

Amid whipping wind and rain and beneath gloomy gray skies, a new ferry service was born yesterday, setting sail from Breezy Point, at the tip of the Rockaways, to Lower Manhattan, with a stop in Brooklyn along the way. A total of 51 commuters were aboard for the first two trips, putting on brave faces and rain-slicked coats, and carrying umbrellas.

“Ferry service will make the very difficult commute between the Rockaways and Manhattan much easier and less expensive,” said Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker. The service leaves from Riis Landing, in Queens, and is being provided by New York Water Taxi. Also along for the maiden voyage were Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., a council member from Queens, and Anthony D. Weiner, a congressman serving Brooklyn and Queens.

But this first journey was, in fact, the end of a long planning process: New York Water Taxi made a test run, for example, seven months ago. And discussions about introducing a ferry line started long before that. Mr. Addabbo persuaded the Council to set aside $300,000 a year for each of six years as he argued for the Rockaway run. Of that $1.8 million, $1.1 million will subsidize the operation, and the remaining $700,000 has been given to the Department of Transportation in case the subsidy falls short.

Mr. Weiner also helped direct federal money toward the project. “I’ve contributed $3 million for the ferry landing,” he said.

“I am very excited, very happy,” said Deirdre Rossi, a commuter on the second morning run. Ms. Rossi, a resident of Rockaway Park, works as an administrative assistant at Goldman Sachs. The ferry, which docks at Pier 11 in downtown Manhattan, shortened her commute by about 20 to 30 minutes.

Tom Fox, the president of New York Water Taxi, said the company’s initial target is 300 commuters a day. “It will take a while to get this number,” he said, noting that even 300 daily riders would still not be enough for the run to become profitable, especially with fuel costs increasing. Profitability, he said, would require 700 passengers a day.

Most of the first-day riders were commuters who said they usually took the bus or drove their own cars to reach Brooklyn subway stations, where they hopped on the subway to Manhattan.

Among them were Mary Brady, who works on Wall Street and previously used the car-subway combination to get to work, and Paula Reich, who relied on the bus-subway relay.

They are almost the commuters that New York Water Taxi is seeking.

“The real target is not getting people off the subway or express bus, but to get them off the car,” Mr. Fox said.

There are two trips in the morning, at 5:45 and 7:45, and two later in the day, at 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. The journey takes an hour, with a stop at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, in Sunset Park, about 20 minutes from Manhattan.

“I can’t make it for the 5:30 ferry,” said Jack Flanagan, a lawyer working in Midtown who was aboard the 7:45 trip. He said many people who had jobs there might not be able to reach Pier 11 in time for the evening sailing.

It is commuters in the western part of the Rockaways, more than those in Far Rockaway, who are expected to benefit the most.

According to the Department of Transportation, about 565 residents of the western Rockaways work in downtown Manhattan. “Of these, 33 percent drive alone, 12 percent carpool, and the rest take the subway and/or bus,” according to a study by the department.

“Potential riders will be from Breezy Point, Roxbury, Belle Harbor and Neponsit — the neighborhood of Rockaway,” Mr. Fox said.

There was little potential benefit seen for those who live farther away. “Sixty percent of the population lives in Far Rockaway,” said Jonathan L. Gaska, the district manager for Community Board 14 in Far Rockaway. He was not optimistic that people from his area would drive 15 to 20 minutes to Riis Landing for the ferry. But, he said, he remained open to the possibility: “I am curious to see what happens.”

For his part, Mr. Gaska said he rode the subway.

While Mr. Gaska said that he thought many working-class residents would balk at the $12 round-trip cost of the ferry and stick with the subway, Mr. Addabbo, who represents the western Rockaways, said he believed the ferry was cost-efficient when other commuting expenses, like parking and gas, were added in.