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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, JAN. 20, 2019
CANARSIE
sociation, who in 2017 collected
more than 6,000
signatures on a petition
demanding a ferry stop at
the Canarsie Pier.
Hizzoner announced
the new Coney stop during
his state of the city
address, delighting Coney
Islanders who fought
to bring the ferry to their
neighborhood for years.
But Want accused those
Brooklynites of taking the
wind from his own campaign’s
sails, and stealing
the stop that he said
should be destined for Canarsie
instead.
“Every meeting that
we were at with the city,
Coney Island was trying
to join in. Coney Island
was trying to piggyback
on us, and now they got
it,” he said.
Last August, DeBlasio
told Canarsie residents
that the city would decide
on a possible expansion
of the NYC Ferry service
by the end of 2018, following
a feasibility study conducted
by offi cials at the
Economic Development
Corporation, the agency
that oversees the waterborne
transit system.
That study examined
six potential new stops in
the borough in addition to
Canarsie, including sites
in Bath Beach, Gowanus,
Sheepshead Bay–Manhattan
Beach, at Sunset
Park’s Bush Terminal, at
Coney Island Beach, and
at Coney Island Creek —
where offi cials ultimately
chose to install a dock.
Canarsie missed the
boat because its existing
transit options get passengers
where they need to go
faster than a ferry would,
and due to the lack of commuter
parking at Canarsie
Pier, according to agency
spokeswoman Stephanie
Báez, who said the dock
managed by Feds with the
National Parks Service
only permits recreational
parking.
A direct ferry from
Canarsie would make
the roughly 22-mile trip
to lower Manhattan in
67 minutes, two minutes
slower than the average
time it takes to get to the
distant isle using subways
and buses that currently
serve the neighborhood,
according to the study,
which shows the ferry’s
travel time would only
increase with additional
stops along its potential
route.
And the neighborhood’s
councilman agreed that
the pier’s parking rules
made it harder to bring a
ferry stop there, but said
the city could have informed
his constituents
of its decision before they
heard it in the mayoral
address, especially after
their passionate pleas for
the service.
“I understand that the
parking may have been a
hurdle too high, but they
should have let us know.
We gave them 6,000 signatures
and sat down with
them several times, so it
would have been nice to
hear about it in advance,”
said Councilman Alan
Maisel (D–Canarsie).
Want also admitted the
current parking rules are
an obstacle, but claimed
people regularly fl out
them, arguing there are
often a lot more vehicles
parked at the pier than
the dozen or so revelers he
sees visit the area on any
given day.
“Every day I see more
than 100 cars parked
there in the middle of the
day, so it’s being used as
a commuter parking lot,”
he said, speculating that
some of those cars’ owners
ditch their rides at
the pier and catch the B42
shuttle bus to the Canarsie–
Rockaway Parkway
L-train station, or carpool
towards Manhattan
via the nearby Belt Parkway.
The city’s feasibility
study, however, ruled out
a Canarsie ferry stop before
Gov. Cuomo pulled
the plug on the 15-month
L-train shutdown this
month, Báez said. And
now that the new plan to
repair the line includes
night and weekend work,
locals are even keener for
another means of getting
around, even if it only
shaves minutes — or no
time at all — off their commutes,
Want said.
“I don’t think anyone’s
going to mind fi ve to 10
minutes longer,” he said.
FERRY HAPPY: From far left, Coney Island ferry proponents including Alliance for Coney Island executive
director Alexandra Silversmith, Councilman Mark Treyger, and Coney Islanders 4 Ferry founder
Daniel Ioannou, joined other locals to cheer the city’s decision to create a new ferry stop in the neighborhood
by 2021. Photo by Steve Solomonson
CONEY
Continued from page 1
Island — will eliminate
both the Bay Ridge stop,
which will become part of
the express line between
Coney and Manhattan, and
the Dumbo stop, which will
become part of the East
River route.
The news is “another
great victory” for Coney Island,
according to its Councilman
Mark Treyger, who
pushed for a local stop
since the fi rst batch of citywide
routes debuted in May
2017, and said the new boats
will ease the commutes of
neighborhood residents
and summer tourists alike.
“From day one, I made
public transportation improvements
a top priority,
and the expansion of
the NYC Ferry system to
Coney Island is a major
step forward for Southern
Brooklyn’s students, working
families, seniors, and
the millions from across
New York City and beyond
who visit the iconic
People’s Playground and
Riegelmann Boardwalk every
year,” Treyger said.
DeBlasio’s announcement
came months after
locals last fall demanded
the city include Coney in
its latest study of where to
expand the ferry system,
and more than a year after
Hizzoner promised residents
that offi cials would
look into adding a stop in
the neighborhood during a
2017 town hall there.
Coney Islanders for
years pushed for a local
stop, arguing a nautical
commute would improve
access to jobs and education
citywide for residents
who otherwise must trek to
the Coney Island-Stillwell
Avenue and West Eighth
Street-New York Aquarium
stations to catch the D, F, N,
and Q lines — a trip that requires
a bus ride for locals
living in Coney’s West End,
where the tentative plan
calls for building the new
Coney ferry dock.
The city fi rst fl oated
launching a ferry service
in 2012, when offi cials suggested
creating a Coney Island
Creek stop at a derelict
fi shing pier at Kaiser Park
— a few blocks east of the
newly announced tentative
site . But offi cials ultimately
rejected the creek location,
saying it was too far from
the amusement district.
The 2012 study also proposed
a stop at W. Eighth
Street near the New York
Aquarium and Steeplechase
Pier, off the Boardwalk near
W. 16th Street, which it then
called it the ideal mooring
location for ferries.
But the proposal to dock
there came with a couple of
conditions, including the
construction of a $20-million
bulwark at the Steeplechase
Pier to control
choppy ocean waves, and
further study of the site
found that even after construction,
the operation
would hemorrhage money,
according to offi cials.
A year later, a group
called the Friends of Coney
Island Creek Ferry and
Landing proposed another
dock location deeper inside
the creek, at W. 21st Street
and Neptune Avenue —
where they set sail on a test
run in a bid to get offi cials to
consider the site , which Borough
President Adams endorsed
in a December 2017
statement supporting the rezoning
of a nearby block.
Local environmentalists,
however, argued that
the dock should go elsewhere
, claiming that the
fi lthy creek is already fi lled
with derelict boats, debris,
and toxic waste — which
they noted would have to be
regularly dredged — and
that a dock at W. 21st Street
and Neptune Ave. would interfere
with recreational
use of the channel.
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Continued from page 1
SUNKEN DREAMS: From left, ferry advocates Sharon Long, the
chief of staff to councilman Alan Maisel, Dorothy Lee, Mark Want,
the head of the Canarsie Improvement Association, and Beth
Malone were devestated to hear the city will not include a stop
at Canarsie’s namesake pier in its forthcoming expansion of the
NYC Ferry Service. Photo by Steve Solomonson