NEW PIERS
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COURIER L 12 IFE, MARCH 1–7, 2019 G
nounced on Feb. 19 .
The exact list of city piers the party
cruises can run from, however, is undecided,
according to reps for the mayor,
the Economic Development Corporation,
and the Department of Parks and
Recreation.
But one location is the economicagency
operated marina at Brooklyn
Army Terminal, according to a spokeswoman
for Mill Basin state Sen. Roxanne
Persaud, whose constituents last
year protested a mayoral proposal to
dock the boats in their neighborhood .
“Party boats, according to City Hall,
will be relocated from Sheepshead Bay
to the Brooklyn Army Terminal,” said
Matthew D’Onofrio.
Mayoral spokeswoman Meyer confi
rmed that the Sunset Park terminal,
where other booze boats already operate
, is among the viable locations for the
vessels banished from Sheepshead Bay.
“We will work with boat owners if
they want to move, and Brooklyn Army
Terminal is one of the options,” she
said.
Offi cials ruled out using three of the
four other economic-agency-operated
piers in Brooklyn, claiming two — the
Bayview Marina at 2825 Flatbush Ave.,
and the Mill Basin Wharf at 2731 Flatbush
Ave. — do not have the required infrastructure
for party boats, according
to Meyer.
And the third, the South Brooklyn
Marine Terminal in Sunset Park, is
only for commercial and industrial use,
according to Economic Development
Corporation spokeswoman Stephanie
Báez.
The fi fth agency-owned dock, at a
landing area within the Atlantic Basin
off the coast of Red Hook, features
similar infrastructure and amenities
as Brooklyn Army Terminal, but Báez
could not confi rm by press time whether
it would also welcome the party boats.
by the time sailing season begins this
year, making their recent banishment
from the Emmons Avenue pier a huge
relief to locals who worried they might
return with nowhere else to go.
But one local cruise operator, who
agreed the booze boats’ noise and
crowding issues needed addressing,
said the new ban is too broad, because
it unfairly punishes smaller tours like
his — which was not among the vessels
DeBlasio banished last year, because it
only hosts events for no more than 150
passengers, and only offers booze with
larger catering packages, unlike other
vessels that pour it more liberally, he
said.
“The city has to react because of
the problems that go with it, so I’m not
faulting anybody, but there are ways
of going about that without having collateral
damage,” said Fred Ardolino,
whose New York Cruises company offers
tours and events on his vessel, The
Atlantis. “The last time they did this
they separated The Atlantis from the
rest, because they knew that we didn’t
do booze cruises.”
The veteran skipper said there is
another smaller boat that runs similar
tours from the Emmons Avenue pier,
but described the rest of the cruise operators
that dock there as booze boats.
This newspaper contacted many of
those companies, reps for which did not
respond or declined to comment.
And Ardolino hopes the city will
again spare his ship, claiming he already
booked several events for this
summer.
“I have three weddings, and I have
half a dozen schools and nursing homes.
I hardly think that it’s fair, people who
booked it more than a year ago,” the
Gerritsen Beach resident said.
Whether or not Ardolino and similar
operations are exempt from the
ban is up to offi cials with the city’s
Department of Parks and Recreation,
which owns and operates the Sheepshead
Bay marina, and Economic Development
Cooperation, which oversees
other docking locations in the
fi ve boroughs, according to a rep
for Cymbrowitz.
“Parks and EDC are responsible for
the regulations, and any questions can
only be answered by them,” said Adrienne
Knoll.
A Parks Department spokeswoman
confi rmed that only fi shing boats can
operate at the Emmons Avenue pier under
the ban, suggesting charter-boat
owners contact the economic agency
to fi nd other ports through its so-called
Dock NYC program.
“Event charters will not be permitted
to operate out of Sheepshead Bay
piers, with the exception of fi shing vessels.
Boaters can reach out to Dock NYC
for information on alternative operating
sites,” said Maeri Ferguson.
Still, the booze-boat prohibition
came as good news to a local civic
leader, who said making exemptions for
certain charters would be unfair.
“How could we say, ‘We’re asking
for all boats to leave except boat A and
B,’ ” said Community Board 15 Chairwoman
Theresa Scavo. “How can you
pick and choose? If it’s good for one it’s
got to be good for everyone.”
But Ardolino — who said his family
has operated boats from the Emmons
Avenue pier since 1947, fi rst as fi shers
then as cruise captains starting in 1990
— remains optimistic that offi cials will
revise the ban, so locals who responsibly
set sail won’t lose a beloved form of
recreation.
“I think that the city will reassess
what they’ve done,” he said. “It not only
hurts me but it hurts the community.
The seniors and the kids are not going
to go on any other boat, this boat does a
community service.”
A spokeswoman for Deutsch did not
respond when asked if the councilman
thinks the boat ban is too broad, or if
there can be exceptions to it.
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the expectation is that it
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BOAT BAN