Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance

The Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance (SRWA) is a grass roots, community-driven, organization that is dedicated to bringing ferry service to Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, and beyond.

What began in July 2007 as a petition drive to reinstate ferry service at the 69th St. Veteran’s Memorial Pier in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, has now grown to a non-profit organization that is fighting to keep ferry service at the 58th St. Pier in Sunset Park.

With over 1,500 signatures to date, and a growing number of committed citizens and activists interested in re-invigorating our waterfront areas in Brooklyn, SRWA is urging our elected officials to do their part in the fight for our much needed waterborne transportation via ferries.

With the East River Water Taxi service suspended until May 2008, and now the suspension of the ferry service to 58th St. Pier, it is clear that the ferry operators are badly in need of the city subsidies that all other forms of transportation are readily given. The ridership is there, but we need subsidies to help keep the fares affordable to ALL citizens.

[Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle]

BROOKLYN — The date when New York Water Taxi will suspend its commuter service from the Brooklyn Army Terminal at 58th Street in Sunset Park to Lower Manhattan’s Pier 11 — Feb. 1 — is approaching fast, and experts agree that something must be done to increase New Yorkers’ ferry ridership.

The Water Taxi company announced the suspension of the service — which will likely be reinstated in May, according to a company spokeswoman — earlier this month. This came on the heels of New York Water Taxi’s suspension of its East River route starting from Fulton Ferry Landing.

[Source: Right In Bay Ridge]

Kevin Walsh’s venerable Forgotten-NY website has once again returned home to Bay Ridge for a very visual presentation of our neighborhood - and especially Shore Road.

[Source: Bay Ridge Rover]

Sunset Park’s ferry service from Brooklyn Army Terminal is in danger of being sunk due to dwindling ridership, according to this week’s Brooklyn Eagle.

As it would turn out however, the answer to Sunset Park’s troubled ferry program may very well be in Bay Ridge’s future transportation solution.

Heather McCowen, the Bay Ridge resident turned activist and founder of Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance, who became a key figure in reviving the campaign to restore ferry service to Bay Ridge’s 69th street Pier virtually overnight, may, in the process, also be responsible for saving Sunset Park’s own endangered ferry - something that’s been a key piece of Community Board 7’s longterm waterfront revitalization plan from the get-go.

SRWA founder and Executive Director Heather McCown started circulating a petition to restore ferry service to the Bay Ridge 69th Street Pier Ferry Terminal in July of 2007. Within months the petition had been signed by over 1,400 residents of Bay Ridge and Sunset Park.
The SRWA petition has carried over to the internet, via The […]

The SRWA Ferry Initiative is dedicated to bringing ferry service back to the 69th St. Pier in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, as a viable and feasible transportation alternative.  The history of ferry service to this borough dates back to the late 1800’s.  Please see the link below for more:
The History of Ferry Service in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
By […]

*** FERRY SERVICE HAS BEEN RESTORED TO SUNSET PARK! ***

Current Ferry Service in Sunset Park, Brooklyn:
There is currently weekday ferry service from Breezy Point to Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park in Brooklyn, to Pier 11 (Wall Street) in Manhattan. This service is funded by the first subsidy for passenger ferry service in Manhattan as of May, 2008. 
Click […]

[Source: RightInBayRidge]

The Sunset Ridge Waterfront Alliance has launched a website dedicated to their grassroots effort to bring back ferry service to the 69th Street Veterans Memorial Pier.

As the Brooklyn Paper reports, the group, led by local activist Heather McCown, has been very busy as of late.

[Source: The Brooklyn Paper]

The prospects for a ferry from the 69th Street pier to the Financial District are in a holding pattern, but it was full-speed-ahead on Tuesday as proponents of the service invited passengers on board for a successful dry-run.

Organized by local activists Heather McCown, Adam Wasserman, and Peter Killen, the 20-minute ride from Bay Ridge to Lower Manhattan went off without a hitch.

[Source: News 12]

(11/14/07) BROOKLYN - Residents and local officials hopped on board a ferry out of Bay Ridge Wednesday to test out a Manhattan-bound route that could return to the neighborhood.

The passengers got on for service at the 58th Street Pier and took the 15-minute ride to lower Manhattan. Neighbors and elected officials are hoping the service will come back to the 69th Street Pier, where it took off from 10 years ago.