Manhattan Town Hall Meeting On Ferry Service Takes Place Monday October 5, Show Up And Lend Your Voice In Support Of Roosevelt Island Ferry Service

You Tube video of New York Water Taxi leaving Fulton Landing underneath the Brooklyn Bridge

Residents are always asking when Roosevelt Island will be part of a comprehensive New York City Water Transportation System and are befuddled that there is no ferry service available serving this East River waterfront community. It is extremely frustrating to see the yellow New York Water Taxi traveling up and down the East River within shouting distance but knowing that it will not stop at Roosevelt Island.

Roosevelt Island's representative to the NYC Council, Jessica Lappin, has been an outspoken advocate to include Roosevelt Island in an East River Ferry Transportation system. Her Press Spokesperson, John Moore, sends the following message:

On October 5^th, EDC is sponsoring a town hall forum on their plan to expand subsidized ferry service throughout the city. In particular, they’re looking to identify the sites at which they would subsidize service. They’re holding a forum in every borough. For obvious reasons, we’re trying to get a good turnout from the Island to the Manhattan meeting to help convince EDC to include Roosevelt Island in their subsidized plan.

Click On Manhattan Ferry Town Hall Meeting Flyer For Full Details

Streetsblog published this message from NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn on NYC Ferry Service:

Dear New Yorker,

In May of 2008, the New York City Council and Mayor Bloomberg presented a three-phased plan to better utilize New York City's waterways. The first phase of our plan introduced ferry service between Rockaway, Queens, the Brooklyn Army Terminal and Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan (Wall Street). Phase 1 also included constructing a dock to complete the South Williamsburg landing to facilitate privately subsidized ferry service.

Now, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) have begun a six-month Comprehensive Citywide Ferry Study. This study aims to further expand ferry service around New York City and identify areas in each borough that are suitable for new ferry landing sites.

If you care about this issue as much as I do, please join us at a Manhattan Town Hall Forum and let your voice be heard!

Don't let Roosevelt Island's water transportation need be bypassed again. Attend the Manhattan Ferry Service Town Hall Meeting and make your voice heard. It would be helpful if RIOC sends a representative as well.

What's the current status of Roosevelt Island ferry service? Octagon developer Bruce Becker sent the following update to RIRA regarding Roosevelt Island ferry service:

There have been no remaining delays at all in getting the permits. We obtained all required permits more than a year ago from all City, State and Federal authorities. This was more than a 3 year process that we began in 2005 which cost us over $400,000 in legal and engineering fees.

The only delay and the real logjam is in getting NYC EDC to authorize their design consultants to proceed to review and complete the construction documents for the dock improvements so the work can be sent out for bidding. Carolyn Maloney obtained more than enough federal funding to cover all these costs which have been available to EDC for over a year. Jessica Lappin considers this to be an unacceptable bureaucratic delay and has been trying without success to move things forward at the EDC. The physical construction of the only takes 3 months. It is quite frustrating....

More on Roosevelt Island Ferry service here.

The August 29 Main Street WIRE reported about Bungling on Water Taxi Deck here.

The Waterfront Alliance, a great advocacy group for waterfront communities and interests, produced this excellent White Paper on Mass Water Transit.