Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance

The Center for the Urban Environment is hosting their 4th Annual Green Brooklyn…Green City 2008 Fair & Symposium!
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 […]

Support the troops & hear great music at the upcoming Sonia Montez concert! 
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 […]

By Stephen Witt
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 […]

By Helen Klein
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 […]

By Ben Muessig
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 […]

By UMAR CHEEMA

Published: May 6, 2008

[Source: The New York Times]

Correction Appended

A subsidized ferry route between southern Queens and Lower Manhattan, via Brooklyn, will begin next week to give commuters another option, the mayor and the City Council announced on Monday.

The two-year pilot Rockaway Service, which will be run by New York Water Taxi, will be financed using $1.1 million allocated by the City Council.

The new route, which begins on May 12, will run from Riis Landing in Breezy Point, Queens, to the Brooklyn Army Terminal to Pier 11 at Wall Street. It will run twice a day in each direction: 5:45 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. from Breezy Point, and 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. from Lower Manhattan. The trip will take about one hour each way. The cost will be $6 per trip.

Separately, New York Water Taxi will restart East River ferry service next month from Pier 11 and 34th Street to Long Island City, Queens, which it suspended in January because of lack of passengers and rising fuel costs. Service to South Williamsburg, Brooklyn, will be restored when a new $1.25 million city-financed launch center being built at Schaefer Landing is completed, Water Taxi officials said in a statement.

By UMAR CHEEMA

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.

[Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle]

Water Taxi Service Welcomed By BP Markowitz, Sen. Golden

By Tom Kane

SUNSET PARK — Well, finally. Bay Ridge and Sunset Park riders now have ferry service to Pier 11 in Downtown Manhattan near Wall Street … Again.

It started on a rainy Monday morning, a little late, but when Delia Vitale saw the boat heading towards us in the rain, she exclaimed, “Here it is!”

Vitale, who lives in Sea Gate and for the last three months has driven into Manhattan paying over $200 a week to park, was thrilled with the new service.

“They stopped in February, telling us that because of maintenance and inspections the boat would be out of the water indefinitely. I’m glad they’re back,” she said.

[Press Release: Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance]

***MEDIA ADVISORY***

Friday, May 9, 2008
Contact: John Quaglione
(917) 232-2966

SENATOR GOLDEN TO MEET 58TH STREET FERRY MONDAY AT THE BROOKLYN ARMY TERMINAL

Brooklyn- State Senator Marty Golden (R-C, Brooklyn) will be at the 58th Street Pier at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, Monday at 8:15 a.m., to greet passengers and see the first ferry off as it set sails to Manhattan. The ferry service, which begins in Rockaway, restores the service in Brooklyn, and continues to lower Manhattan was announced last week. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn will be aboard the ferry riding from the Rockways when it arrives in Brooklyn.

[Press Release: NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg]

City and Council-funded programs to be joined with federal funding and allocations from Congress-members Nadler and Maloney

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn joined other elected officials today to announce that key parts of the plan developed by the Bloomberg Administration and the Speaker to bring ferry service to all five boroughs will begin May 12, when a new City Council-subsidized route from Far Rockaway to Lower Manhattan starts service. The route, which will run from Riis Landing in Far Rockaway to the Brooklyn Army Terminal to Pier 11 on South Street will connect commuters in Brooklyn and Southern Queens with Lower Manhattan. Additional East River ferry service from Pier 11 and 34th Street to Long Island City and South Williamsburg will be re-launched by a private operator in July, and expanded East River ferry service is expected to begin in two years. The City will also be analyzing additional launch locations across the five boroughs as it looks to expand and encourage the use of this convenient, environmentally sustainable transit mode to places like West 125th Street, Riverdale, Coney Island and Camp St. Edward on Staten Island, among other locations. At the announcement at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, the Mayor and Speaker were joined by DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, Economic Development Corporation President Seth Pinsky, United States Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, and New York City Council Member Sarah Gonzalez.

“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 Hunters Point - ferries are going to become an even bigger part of our city’s transportation network,” said Mayor 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.”