Gonna need a bigger boat...

 

Roosevelt Islander

 Earlier this month, a Roosevelt Island resident asked on Twitter:

"why is it impossible to get on a ferry at Roosevelt Island?! They are coming full from East 90th. This is a constant issue on weekends"

This Memorial Day Weekend Sunday afternoon was a perfect example of a full NYC Ferry Boat coming from East 90th Street with little room for passengers waiting to board at Roosevelt Island. After a few people boarded at Roosevelt Island, a NYC Ferry Crew member announced only "one more" spot on the boat was available even though there were at least 25 other people in line to board.

Upon hearing this, a frustrated man waiting with his family to board walked to the front of the line and told the NYC Ferry Crew member that the people already allowed on the boat cut ahead of those waiting in line and that NYC Ferry needs to do a better job organizing the line at the Roosevelt Island dock.

This is not a new problem. Larger capacity boats are needed during the summer.

Update

A proposal by mass transit guru Larry Penner:

 

 I enjoyed reading "Gonna need a bigger boat" concerning Roosevelt Island customers left at the dock unable to board.

My old friends at NYC EDC (who directly manage their Private Ferry Operator program) for some reason I can't understand continue year after year to ignore Federal Transit Administration funding that could be used to purchase larger size ferry boats. Perhaps you might consider the following...

Why Not Apply For Federal Funding Available To Purchase Larger Ferry Boats for Roosevelt Island Service by Larry Penner

Here is one way City Hall can find additional funding to pay for larger ferry boats to support greater passenger capacity benefiting Roosevelt Island and other destinations served by the NYC Economic Development Corporation Private Ferry Operator program. The United States Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration will announce a NOFA (Notice of Funding Availability) in coming months. This is an opportunity to apply for a portion of the $30 million in Fiscal Year 2022 competitive grant funding for passenger ferry projects nationwide. FTA’s Passenger Ferry Grant Program, funds capital projects to improve existing passenger ferry service, establish new ferry service including the purchase of ferry boars along with repair and modernize ferry boats, terminals, and related facilities and equipment. Under this program, a portion of these funds are usually set aside for low or zero-emission ferries or ferries using electric battery or fuel cell components and the infrastructure to support such ferries.

FTA recipients such as NYCDOT can also choose to spend whatever they receive under their share of 2022 Fiscal Year Section 5307 Urbanized Area; $6.4 billion, 5307 Passenger Ferry $36.5 million or Section 71102 Electric or Low Emmiting $49 million for ferry projects. The Federal Highway Administration has funding under several programs including Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ), Surface Transportation Program (STP) and others which can be flexed or transferred to FTA can also finance capital ferry projects.

New ferry services can be implemented more quickly than construction of new subway, commuter rail or highways. These can take years or even decades until completion of environmental reviews, planning, design, engineering, real estate acquisition, permits, procurements and construction before reaching beneficial use. Completing all of the above, along with finding funding for ferry boats, docks and parking with costs in the millions is easier than finding the billions of dollars for construction of new or extended subway, commuter rail or highways. Utilization of ferry boats equipped with fuel efficient engines can make a positive contribution to air quality

Consider past history for federal support of the NYC DOT Staten Island Ferry. The nation's largest municipal ferry system moving 66,000 pre COVID-19 daily riders has benefited by over $1 billion in grants from the FTA (previously known as the Urban Mass Transportation Administration), going back to the 1970's. A majority of the Staten Island Ferry system capital program, including the purchase of ferries, Staten Island Pier 7 ferry maintenance facility, both renovated St. George, Staten Island and Whitehall Street, Manhattan ferry terminals, midtown Pier 79 West 39th Street ferry terminal, St. George, Staten Island ferry terminal replacement bus ramps and other support equipment necessary to run the system were all paid for primarily with federal funding. Additional funding was provided to purchase and preserve the old abandoned North Shore Staten Island Rail Road right-of-way for future restoration of transit service. The original service was terminated in 1953. This would reestablish a direct connection with the St. George, Staten Island Ferry Terminal. A past $450 million Federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Improvement Act (TIFIA) loan paid for rehabilitation of the St. George, Staten Island Ferry terminal bus ramps.

Mayor Erik Adams, Queens Boro President Donovan Richards, Manhattan Boro President Mark Levine and the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation should ask NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez to apply for these funds which could help finance new capital improvements for initiation of ferry service to Coney Island. NYC Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Andrew Kimball can do the same on behalf of the Private Ferry Operators Program. This is another great example of Washington providing financial assistance to promote public transportation.

NYC can also apply for capital grants from the New York State Department of Transportation to assist in funding. Albany also provides State Transportation Operating Assistance (STOA). Ridership on any transit service generates yearly federal transportation capital assistance via the annual FTA Section 15 annual reporting process. Numerous past private ferry operators have come and gone. They could not financially survive without government subsidy. MTA bus, subway, Staten Island Railway, Long Island and Metro North Rail Road along with NYC DOT Staten Island Ferry is subsidized by a combination of City, State and Federal assistance for both capital and operating costs. All new ferry services will require similar subsidies to survive.

Who wouldn't want to enjoy the fresh air and breeze that only waterborne transportation can provide. Riding a ferry can be less stressful than being on a crowded subway car.

(Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously worked for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office. This included the development, review, approval and oversight for billions in capital projects and programs for the MTA, NYC Transit, Long Island Rail Road, Metro North Rail Road MTA Bus, NYC DOT Staten Island Ferry along with 30 other transit agencies in NY and NJ.)

Despite overdevelopment and rising population in western Queens, engine 261 remains dormant

THE CITY

As Amazon pressed last winter to bring tens of thousands of jobs to Long Island City, the FDNY seemed to agree with local calls for increased emergency services in the booming area.

 A fire official even told the City Council discussions for funding a long-shuttered engine company were ongoing.

But with Amazon’s plans for a Queens headquarters long extinguished, the FDNY is throwing cold water on the notion of reopening Engine 261— much to the ire of local officials and community members who say the neighborhood’s need is greater than ever. Engine 261 also responded to incidents on Roosevelt Island, which doesn’t have an active firehouse.

“Thousands of people have moved to Western Queens in the last decade and our brave firefighters are strained to capacity,” said Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Queens). “Green-lighting the rapid development of our LIC community without providing the necessary infrastructure to sustain population growth is a threat to public safety.”

In January, during the throes of the citywide Amazon controversy and a month prior to the deal’s Valentine’s Day collapse, a handful of FDNY representatives testified before the City Council’s committee on Fire and Emergency Management.

At the hearing, acting FDNY Chief John Sudnik said Long Island City’s need for additional fire and EMS services was the highest anywhere in Queens. He noted the neighborhood had been on the FDNY’s radar prior to Amazon’s November 2018 announcement of its pursuit of a Queens headquarters.

“Put simply, Long Island City is a neighborhood to which we were already considering adding resources due to the growing emergency response needs of the area,” Sudnik told the Council.

Four Freedoms Park President defends Katz gift

From Roosevelt Islander:

I asked FDR Four Freedoms Park Conservancy President Sally Minard:

Do you think it appropriate for a NY State park located in the Manhattan jurisdiction on Roosevelt Island to receive funds from the Queens Borough President discretionary capital budget earmarked for Queens parks?

Will FDR Park return the money to the Queens Borough President's Office for use in Queens parks?...

Ms. Minard replied:

Less than 1% of the Borough President’s appropriation is designated for FDR Four Freedoms Park. The funds, combined with funding from Manhattan, New York State and private sources will support installation of new lighting to illuminate the exterior of the memorial park. This lighting installation will make the remarkable Louis Kahn design, a sculpture in the New York landscape, visible from the Queens and Manhattan shorelines after dark. The beauty of the illuminated Kahn design will be a new experience that will be shared equally by residents of Queens and Manhattan.

Every month, thousands of Queens residents already share the free educational and public programming, commemorative events, musical performances, and health and fitness sessions offered to visitors at FDR Four Freedoms Park. They come to enjoy the Park’s lush lawn, tree shaded allees and peaceful waterfront promenades with spectacular Queens and Manhattan skyline views.

Well I didn't expect this lady to look a gift horse in the mouth, but by her logic, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer should be allocating funding toward Gantry Park in LIC because Manhattanites can see it and on occasion take the ferry over to use it. (Somehow I don't see that happening.)

How about we just keep it simple and require that the BPs spend their pots of money in the boroughs they represent? Is that really too much to ask? Or is helping developers sell real estate now the primary function of elected officials?

Weird ass project proposed for LIC

From Capital New York:

A group of investors led by Rudolph Giuliani's former chief of staff is proposing a multimillion-square-foot development near the Queens waterfront — a mixed-use project that would include a pedestrian bridge connecting Long Island City to Roosevelt Island, POLITICO New York has learned.

Three sources briefed on the plan described it as the brainchild of Bruce Teitelbaum, who has quietly been presenting it to people in recent months.

Teitelbaum hopes to build a mostly residential tower comprising at least one million square feet on a vacant lot north of 44th Drive, along the north south side of the Queensboro Bridge. The site, at 44-02 Vernon Boulevard, is currently owned by Vernon Realty Holding, L.L.C. according to public records; it is zoned for residential use and takes up 128,332 square feet on one lot and 84,338 square feet on another adjoining lot.

But Teitelbaum is likely to apply for a rezoning, and possibly try to purchase an adjacent lot owned by the city, to expand the project's footprint. The more ambitious plan would entail a host of other amenities, including open space, affordable housing and possibly a public school and a hotel, the sources said.

The bridge is envisioned as something akin to the High Line — a path for pedestrians and cyclists with views of Manhattan's skyline and space to sit and unwind. On the Roosevelt Island side it would land near the site of Cornell Tech, the applied sciences school that will dominate the south end of the island.

Oh, you mean just north of Four Freedoms Park? What a coincidence that the borough president threw money at a project that people living in this luxury condo development will have a great view of!

Katz issues statement on Manhattan park funding

From DNA Info:

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Katz defended the funding for Four Freedoms Park, which will be used to improve lighting on the park's shoreline facing Long Island City.

"Four Freedoms Park is a beautiful memorial that honors the life and legacy of President Franklin Roosevelt, and stands as a universal reminder of the Four Freedoms that still ring true today: for speech and worship, from want and fear," Katz's spokeswoman said.

"The lighting will make it more attractive and enhance visibility from Queens," she added.

Check out the comments. They're great.

You see, dear readers, Katz's developer buddies have poured billions of dollars into development along the LIC coast and they deserve to have our tax money thrown toward a project that can be used to attract interest in their overpriced condos. Katz obliged. Every weekly newspaper and news website just copied and pasted her press release last week without analyzing it. This is how it works around here. And this is how these bozos keep getting elected.

If you want a good chuckle, check out NY1's story. It hits the nail on the head.

Katz allocates $300K to Manhattan park

The press release speaks for itself. Sending money across the river while Queens parks look like crap.

Roosevelt Island-Cornell tech campus megaproject kicks off

From the Queens Courier:

Construction kicked off Tuesday on the $2 billion Roosevelt Island Cornell Tech campus, which many predict will be a feeder of skilled entrepreneurs for the western Queens technology community.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, were both in attendance to support the building of the applied sciences campus, which will span 12 acres on Roosevelt Island and house 2,000 graduate students and hundreds of faculty and staff. The first phase of the campus is expected to open in the summer of 2017.

“Mr. Mayor, you remember a phrase from a great American movie, ‘if you build it, they will come’? I think this epitomizes it,” de Blasio said to his predecessor. “I think Mayor Bloomberg’s efforts to create an environment for the tech sector had an extraordinary impact. This is one of the signature elements and we are proud to be building upon that tradition.”

Cornell Tech, which was selected by the city’s Economic Development Corporation over 17 other proposed schools in 2011, has been running out of Google’s Chelsea building since 2013.

Bloomberg doesn't care what you think

From the Daily News:

East Harlem community leaders are furious that Mayor Bloomberg is rushing to spend more than $300 million to develop three parcels of public land in their neighborhood — all part of what they say is a huge hidden subsidy to Cornell University’s new tech campus to be built on Roosevelt Island.

When Bloomberg revealed in December that he had selected Cornell to build the new $2 billion science school, he claimed the city’s only aid would be 11 acres of public land at the southern end of the island, plus $100 million for infrastructure improvements.

He never mentioned East Harlem’s contribution.

But as part of the deal, Bloomberg agreed to relocate by October 2013 hundreds of patients from Coler-Goldwater Hospital, a city-run long-term care facility that partially sits on the proposed island site.

To meet that deadline — and a possible ground-breaking for the new campus before Bloomberg leaves office — city officials are racing to erect several facilities in East Harlem that will house as many as 700 Coler-Goldwater patients.

They never bothered to ask locals what they wanted done with that land, according Community Board 11, which voted unanimously in mid June to oppose them.

Residents say they are amazed at how City Hall fast-tracked these projects.

The mayor issued a rarely used waiver to allow the new 99th St. building to be taller than zoning rules allow, while construction of the new North General building is being permitted six days a week starting at 7 a.m.

Where will the sick people go?

From DNA Info:

The tech campus heralded as making New York City even more cutting edge isn't being celebrated by everyone on Roosevelt Island.

Over the next 18 months, roughly 800 patients will have to be relocated from the 9.9-acre complex on the southern end of Roosevelt Island, built in 1939 as the first public hospital devoted to chronic diseases.

City officials had announced in 2010 that the outmoded Goldwater was slated to close but had not released a moving date at that time. The timeline was only announced after selecting the winning tech campus, which expects its first building on the island in 2017.

Few patients know where they're going yet, though the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation plans to move some to a renovated space in Harlem’s former North General Hospital. Others are going to a new apartment building that will rise on East Harlem's Metropolitan Hospital campus, and more will be scattered across various housing facilities across the city.

Goldwater's sister facility at the northern end of Roosevelt Island, Coler, will still have 800 beds for rehab patients, officials said.

Goldwater is presently home to 476 patients who have suffered spinal-cord injuries, strokes or have degenerative conditions such as cerebral palsy and require care focused on rehabilitation and improving functions for daily living, HHC officials said.

Another 323 are medically fragile patients in need of long-term acute care that can’t be provided at other hospitals. More than 100 of these patients are on ventilators — one of the largest such programs in the country.

For these most serious patients, the former North General hospital will have 201 beds. Another 164 beds will be created there for the rehab patients, HHC officials said.

What will happen to more than 400 other patients is less clear, for now.

Easier said than done

From the NY Post:

The city’s hospital system has promised to empty Goldwater Hospital on Roosevelt Island within two years to make way for the new graduate engineering campus envisioned by Mayor Bloomberg — and now it’s scrambling to find places for more than 500 long-term patients.

The race against the clock began when Cornell University and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology were selected last week as the winners of a worldwide competition to build a $2 billion applied-sciences school on Roosevelt Island, heralded by the mayor as a “game changer” intended to make New York a worthy competitor to Silicon Valley.

Cornell immediately announced that it intends to open the first phase of its 11-acre facility, encompassing 300,000 square feet, in 2017.

But that schedule is dependent on Goldwater being emptied by the end of 2013, an aggressive plan that would also allow the mayor to stage a ceremony heralding its demolition before he leaves office. Cornell hopes to start construction in 2015.

Officials of the Health and Hospitals Corp. insist they’ll meet the tight deadline.

One person involved in the process said that would require a herculean effort.

“It seems unlikely,” said the source. “At the least, this is a really ambitious target date given how far they’ve gotten so far.”

Cornell wins campus prize

From AM-NY:

Roosevelt Island, known for its iconic tram and sweeping view of Manhattan's East Side, will get a major makeover courtesy of Cornell University.

The Ivy League school is joining forces with the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology to build a 2 million-square-foot science and engineering campus for grad students, city officials announced Monday. The initiative is part of the Bloomberg administration's goal to turn New York into a tech hot spot to rival Silicon Valley.

"By adding a new state-of-the-art institution to our landscape, we will educate tomorrow's entrepreneurs and create the jobs of the future," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a news conference at Weill Cornell Medical College on the Upper East Side.

Cornell-Technion was chosen among seven candidates that made proposals. The campus, which will include student housing, will be built in stages and won't be finished for another 30 years.

Because it was so successful the first time...

From the NY Post:

Forget the L train; soon Brooklyn hipsters will be taking the ferry.

The city issued a request for proposals yesterday for a Williamsburg ferry landing, part of a plan to bring water taxis to the East River.

It's part of a pilot program that will begin next spring after a one-year delay.

The ferry would also make stops at Northside and Greenpoint.

Officials are also conducting studies to decide whether to add ferry service to La Guardia Airport and Astoria in Queens, and 125th, 20th, 75th and 90th streets along the East River in Manhattan.

They're also looking at the possibility of ferry service to Roosevelt Island and Coney Island.

The ferry-expansion project will be funded by $4.4 million in federal transportation money and $1.1 million in city funds.

Of that, $2.25 million will be used for construction work involving the Williamsburg ferry.

The ferries are expected to be run by a combination of city and private operators.

Concern over possible closure of Ladder 116

From LIQCity:

More budget cuts to hit Long Island City, only this time it’s not the MTA. It’s the FDNY and Dutch Kills is in danger of losing a very important firehouse (aren’t they all?) No. 116, which also serves Roosevelt Island. Needless to say, no one is very happy about this, and there’s already been the obligatory political/press protest of the firehouse closing on Friday.

Officially FDNY has not announced exactly which firehouses they’re shutting down in the city, but No 116 appears to be on the potential chopping block.

Why this is even under consideration is mind boggling. Let me remind the mayor and the city council that they UPZONED all of these neighborhoods over the past few years and if anything, there is more of a need for firehouses now than before. Especially since you closed another firehouse in LIC in 2003. If you are going to promote the BUILD, BUILD, BUILD!!! philosophy, then you need to provide services for the surplus population that it invites.

Hey, weren't all the new luxury condos supposed to pay for this stuff anyway?

They never factored in what would happen if they were sitting empty.

More from the Gotham Gazette.

Astoria, Roosevelt Is. schools close due to swine flu

The Child Legacy School on Roosevelt Island and St. Joseph's in Astoria are the latest schools to close due to the swine flu.

NY1 has the entire list.