Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance

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.”

[Press Release: Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance]

On Monday, May 5, 2008, Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn will announce the first subsidized ferry service from Rockaways to Lower Manhattan as part of a 5-Borough ferry service initiative of PlaNYC 2030. This service will include a stop at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where the announcement will be made at noon.

This ferry service will be operated by the NY Water Taxi, and will be reinstated as early as Monday, May 12, 2008.

[Source: Columbia Daily Spectator]

A maritime evacuation plan for Manhattan announced last month, in which a fleet of small boats will be used to ferry people across the Hudson River to New Jersey in the event of a serious blackout or terrorist attack, has been dubbed a Dunkirk-esque plan by bloggers and social commentators.

Gothamist, a well-known New York City blog, noted shortly after the Trans-Hudson Emergency Transportation Plan was announced in early January that the officials who designed this plan seem to have emulated aspects of the Dunkirk evacuation with their proposal to utilize “small craft to move millions of people in the event of an emergency.” Similar claims have also been made by other bloggers.

The reference alludes to the 1940 evacuation of Dunkirk, France during which hundreds of thousands of trapped allied soldiers were ferried to safety across the English Channel by a hastily assembled fleet of 860 small fishing vessels and privately owned pleasure boats, pressed into service for the operation.

The Trans-Hudson plan, which was drawn up jointly by the Office of Emergency Management in New York City and Office of Emergency Management in New Jersey, will rely on over 100 private water taxis and dinner-cruise vessels, along with the larger Staten Island ferries, in order to quickly evacuate millions of New York workers across the Hudson River to a staging area in New Jersey’s Liberty State Park. The plan forms part of New York’s general area evacuation plan and was drawn up in response to the 2003 blackout in which the subway system closed down and thousands were stranded throughout the city.

[Source: Queens Times Ledger]

A pilot program to bring ferry service from the Rockaways to Manhattan will launch in the summer, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) said in her State of the City address last week.

The idea for Rockaways ferry service was born following a Council Transportation Committee hearing last year in Broad Channel, Quinn said, where the speaker, City Councilman Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) and Council Transportation Committee Chairman John Liu (D-Flushing) heard the community’s gripes about their two-hour commutes to Manhattan.

[…]

Under the city Economic Development Corporations request for bidders on the pilot program, those interested in providing ferry service would need to develop a plan that connects a point in the Rockaways to one in Lower Manhattan. The plans may include other stops on the peninsula or the Brooklyn waterfront.

[Source: Queens Gazette]

[…] She also announced an agreement with Mayor Michael Bloomberg to create a five-borough, year-round, comprehensive New York City ferry system.

Quinn said, “Imagine getting on a ferry in Hunts Point (The Bronx) for a day trip to Coney Island, or traveling from Brooklyn to Queens without waiting for the G train.” The Speaker said the plan would be one of the most significant transit initiatives in recent New York City history.

[Source: Gotham Gazette]

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn endorsed the creation of a citywide ferry service and an expansion of a small business insurance program in her State of the City address last week. Now advocates and stakeholders are weighing in, and - for the most part - appear to be praising the proposals.

Last week, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced her support for a five-borough, year-round ferry system that Mayor Bloomberg and the city Department of Transportation are developing. Such a proposal may seem like a pipe dream to many New Yorkers, who have seen ferry service remain fairly stagnant, either from a shortage of funding or an apparent lack of demand.