Last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio, as part of his Executive Budget for FY 2019, announced $300 million in a new capital allocation for the NYC Ferry Service including two more stops in Soundview (Bronx) and the Lower East Side but failed to mention any new ports in Brooklyn.
Among the items not included was money to even study the possibility of locating city ferry service to either transit-starved Canarsie or Coney island.
City Council member Alan Maisel (D-Canasire, Mill Basin, Bergen Beach, Flatlands) said he delivered a petition to the de Blasio administration several months ago with 6,000 signatures requesting the ferry make a stop at the Canarsie Pier, which as part of Gateway National Recreation Area, is under federal jurisdiction.
“We asked them to do a study and the mayor promised, but to this point it’s lip service,” said Maisel.
Maisel noted there were some issues that would need resolving such as permitted parking for ferry commuters, but all that would be part of the study.
While it would take an act of Congress for the federal government to come to some kind of lease agreement with the city, Maisel said U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-central Brooklyn, Coney Island, Western Queens) is aware of the need and supports a city ferry service there.
“Hakeem is aware of the situation, but there’s nothing he can do until the city moves forward with a study. There’s no point in buying a wedding dress if there is no groom yet,” said Maisel.
Likewise in Coney Island, City Council Member Mark Treyger (D-Coney Island, Bensonhurst, Gravesend) supported an online petition to get the ferry service in Coney Island, but the community was not even mentioned in the $300 million capital investments towards the ferry.
De Blasio Spokesperson Seth Stein responded, “We appreciate the enthusiasm for expanding NYC Ferry to more neighborhoods. We share it. Right now, our focus is on launching two new routes from the Lower East Side and Soundview in 2018, after which we’ll make decisions about possible future expansion.”
Anthony Hogrebe, spoksperson for the city Economic Development Corporation, the lead agency handling the city’s ferry service, said following successful implementation of those routes, EDC will commence a new comprehensive study on potential locations for expansion of the system later this year, and will work closely with elected officials throughout the process.
Hogrebe went on to note that the new expansion of the ferry routes was based on “priority to serve neighborhoods that have historically lacked access to affordable mass transit, and those with a high concentrations of middle and lower-income families – including more than 15,000 families living in NYCHA.”
Those particular neighborhoods targeted by the city included Soundview, Astoria, Red Hook and the Rockaways.
