The First Annual Greening the Ridge festival was held on June 22, 2008 on the 69th Street Veteran’s Memorial Pier in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. This festival brought the community together to celebrate our waterfront and learn about programs and initiatives to make our communities more eco-friendly.
Photo (left to right): Assembly Member Janele Hyer-Spencer, SRWA Board […]
[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.
SRWA pleads for ferry service back to Bay Ridge and Sunset Park
At her State of the City address, Speaker Christine Quinn stated her intentions for a five-borough, year round NYC ferry system (that the mayor has agreed to begin developing). This effort is well received as the first formal statement by City Hall to […]
[Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle]
BAY RIDGE — State Senator Marty Golden held an appreciation dinner on Jan. 31 at the Bay Ridge Manor to honor all those who volunteered for his events and initiatives this year, including the Halloween Art Walk, the Easter Egg Hunt and summer concert series.
Of course, the other man behind all these popular celebrations is Chip Cafiero, Golden’s longtime friend and event coordinator.
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Many high school groups were also honored — Adelphi Academy, Fontbonne Hall, Fort Hamilton, Xaverian and Brooklyn Tech among them — as well as such community volunteer groups such as […] the Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance.
[Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle]
Supporters Hope to Restore Service, Say ‘Ferries Are the Wave of the Future’
By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
SUNSET PARK — Wave goodbye for awhile to the ferry service between the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park and Wall Street. And say hello to more cars congesting the roads and more riders on cramped subways and express buses.
That’s what faced water taxi commuters on Friday, the first ferry-less day of N.Y. Water Taxi-TFWM Ferry’s service from the 58th Street Public Pier. The service, the owners said regretfully, can no longer be funded.
As the sun set on Thursday over New York Harbor, the last commuter ferry service in Southwest Brooklyn came to a halt, ferry operators said — until further notice, or maybe at least until later this spring. Commuters of what they called “the ferry family” lamented the loss, as ferry travel advocates and owners expressed both outrage for now and hope for the future at a morning rally and on the last Manhattan-Brooklyn run.
Brooklyn — Leading up to today’s vote on Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan, one City official has some harsh words for the Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission. Council Member Vincent J. Gentile (D-Brooklyn), along with elected officials, community board members and water taxi riders rallied today at the Brooklyn Army Terminal to denounce the City’s continued failure to prioritizing ferry service as a major transportation option throughout the city.
On Thursday, January 31, 2008, Council Member Vincent J. Gentile (D-Brooklyn), along with community members, elected officials and water taxi riders, will rally at the Brooklyn Army Terminal to denounce the City’s continued silence on prioritizing ferry service as a major transportation option throughout the city.
Given the latest developments, the Councilman has renewed his appeal to the city to expand subsidies to private operators, stating that rising fuel costs, inadequate infrastructure, and inaccessibility have contributed to the demise of the Sunset Park ferry service.
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: 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: Times Ledger]
Although politicians may not always be able to walk on water, two city councilmen are trying to increase funding so you can commute on it.
Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside) and Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn) called on the city to increase funding for and awareness of the New York City Water Taxi service that runs between Manhattan and Brooklyn and Queens at a news conference Saturday in Williamsburg.
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The Sunset Ridge Waterfront Alliance, a Brooklyn-based advocate group, praised Gioia and Yassky for taking the initiative. The group said government subsidies would not only lower the $5 one-way fare for the water taxis, it would save the city millions in eased congestion.
“The taxis are greener for the city, because they get people off the roads and on the water. This initiative has bipartisan support,” said Heather McGown, the founder of the alliance.
