EDC destruction of park space for new ferry landing gets kiboshed by CB

Queens Post 

Community Board 2 has rejected a city plan to demolish the existing ferry terminal at Hunter Points South Park and build a new dock about 300 feet away in front of the main boardwalk by the Oval.

The board voted against the project, in a 20 to 8 vote, at its monthly meeting Thursday via Zoom following a presentation of the plan by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which oversees the city’s ferry routes.

The plans call for the construction of a large floating barge about 100 feet out from the boardwalk. Two boats would be able to dock at the barge with the EDC looking to begin construction in the fall of 2023.

The CB2 vote is merely advisory but sends a clear message to the city that the local board opposes the plan.

The board said it rejected the overall plan and objected to a new ferry landing being placed in front of the Oval. The vote came after board members and residents voiced fears of increased pollution spewing onto the Oval and that the new ferry landing structure — and its docked boats — may block the waterfront views.

The board’s motion added that the EDC and Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) – which is responsible for approving a permit for the project – should consider all the concerns of the community and be more transparent about the process.

In rejecting the plan, many board members said they were unhappy about the conduct of the EDC, saying the plan was essentially finalized well in advance of Thursday’s meeting and that the EDC had sought to limit its public engagement.

“What do we have to contribute to this discussion because it seems like you have it all wrapped up already,” Lisa Deller, CB2 2nd Vice Chair, said to the EDC representatives. “This is kind of like window dressing to come to the Community Board because it’s not a real dialogue.”

Thursday’s presentation was the first time the EDC had presented its plans publicly, although it met with CB2’s Transportation Committee in June to discuss the project. It also notified Councilmember Julie Won about the plans in June – while Jimmy Van Bramer was also told about the project when he was in office.

The EDC then filed permits with the Army Corps of Engineers on Oct. 18 with the ACE issuing an initial deadline of Nov. 18 for public comments to be submitted.

Ferry barely good fare hike

THE CITY 

The base fare of the New York City Ferry will go up to $4 a ride — with new discounts for seniors and Fair Fare program participants — as the city tries to make its program financially “sustainable,” officials said. 

The hike and new pricing structure comes as the city’s Economic Development Corporation had begun pumping more tax-payer money each year into the system, which launched in 2017 under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The tack change also comes a week after Comptroller Brad Lander released an audit — spurred in part on THE CITY’s reporting — that found the system spent almost double the amount it originally said on subsidies to keep it afloat.

Under the new price system, set to launch Sept. 12, the base fare of $2.75 will go up to $4.

New Yorkers over the age of 65, those with disabilities, and participants in the Fair Fares program — which offers half-priced rides within the MTA system for low-income commuters — will get a discounted price of $1.35 per ticket, officials announced. 

Public housing residents within a mile of a ferry dock will also get two free boat rides a month.

“Getting around New York City shouldn’t feel like you’re running a 5K. Wherever you live in the five boroughs, we want you to have choices, and our vision for the NYC Ferry helps provide New Yorkers with those choices,” Mayor Eric Adams said at the announcement near the Astoria dock on Thursday. 

He said his administration’s “Ferry Forward” plan would be “built on the three pillars of equity, accessibility, and fiscal sustainability.” 

The $4 base fare will “offset the cost of everyday New Yorkers who need to take the system,” Adams said. 

There will also be discounted 10-pack rides at $27.50 to retain regular commuters who ride the ferry the most.

Finally, but there's still one thing they overlooked, the free Hornblower shuttle buses that the NYC Ferry provides. How about another fare for those? 

The gentrification of a rec center

THE CITY 

 The City Council member who backed plans to convert a Crown Heights armory into a recreation center charged Thursday the developers betrayed the community on discount access.

“I hope that when it opens, it closes,” Councilmember Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn) told THE CITY as the Major R. Owens Health and Wellness Community Center gets set to make its grand debut Oct. 27. “And it’s the biggest failure New York City’s ever experienced.”

The facility, she declared, was “designed for the third wave of gentrifiers who are coming into the community.”

Cumbo tinged her strong words at times with sarcasm, coupled with frustration at questions about her role in approving the deal. At one point she snapped: “The armory doesn’t even exist…. The whole armory is an illusion. You win. You found it out.”

She spoke after THE CITY called to ask about newly released details about long-anticipated local discounts revealed by the developer of the soon-to-open rec center at the city-owned former Bedford Union Armory.

The developer, BFC Partners, said 250 discount memberships will be available for as little as $10 a month and $8 for children. The area served by the new rec center has 45,000 low-income residents, according to census estimates.

BFC vows at least $1.3 million in annual “community benefits” from operators of the center’s pool, basketball courts and turf field, also including $10 swim and soccer lessons for local residents.

THE CITY reported in September that swim lessons for kids were being advertised at a steep $50 a half hour. Regular rec center memberships will start at $30 a month, BFC Partners announced this week.

But Cumbo, whose approval in 2017 cleared the way for the swimming pool, sports gym and nonprofit space inside the historic former drill hall in Crown Heights — along with hundreds of apartments to come — declared the outcome a disaster.

“It’s not going to be accessible to anyone in the neighborhood or anyone in the community. No one, no one’s going to have access,” she said. 

 “There are no affordable memberships for the community. There’s no accessibility. It was never designed for accessibility,” she added.

Queens gets a seat at the EDC table

 

Queens Post

Former Council Member Costa Constantinides was sworn into the city’s Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors Tuesday.

Constantinides, who is now the CEO of Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens, was nominated to represent Queens by Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. The NYCEDC’s role—as a quasi-private, city-affiliated corporation–is to utilize city assets to stimulate growth. The board helps set the agenda.

“I am honored and thrilled to nominate him to the NYCEDC Board of Directors,” Richards said in a statement. “Costa’s track record clearly shows his devotion to Queens’ economic growth and success, which will continue as long as Costa has a seat at the table.”

Constantinides represented District 22 — which includes his native Astoria, Rikers Island and parts of Jackson Heights, Woodside and East Elmhurst — on the City Council from 2014 through April 2021, when he left office about six months ago to take a position with the Boys & Girls club. The council district has been without a representative since his departure, including during budget season.

He has been appointed to a board of an organization that is often controversial. As part of the EDC’s mission to generate jobs and revenue for the city, it often awards public property to developers.

The NYCEDC has worked with developers on a number of controversial projects–such as at Willets Point and on the Long Island City waterfront. It also has worked on the Sunnyside Yards Master Plan and the BQX connector. It also championed the Amazon deal.

Former Goldman Sachs executive quits post at EDC

 

Commercial Observer

James Patchett, who has led the New York City Economic Development Corporation for the past four years, plans to step down early next month, the mayor’s office announced Wednesday.

Patchett took over as EDC president and chief executive after three years as chief of staff to Alicia Glen, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s former deputy mayor of housing and economic development. He followed her to public life after working under her as a vice president at Goldman Sachs’ Urban Investment Group for seven years.

The press release from the mayor’s office indicated that Patchett is leaving city government to “pursue opportunities in the private sector.” Glen, his former boss, left to launch her own real estate development firm.

Patchett worked on a broad array of real estate projects during his tenure at EDC, including the approval of the controversial redevelopment of the Bedford Union Armory in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; the fraught development of a tech hub and office building on Union Square; and construction of a 700-unit affordable housing project on the site of the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center in the South Bronx. 

Let's not also forget his roles in the backroom deal for the Amazon HQ2 hoax, the funding of countless studies for the BQX and the aquatic boondoggle NYC Ferry and other crass overdevelopment proposals. Good riddance, Pat.

de Blasio's EDC splurges 64 million dollars to keep zombie ferry service running

  

THE CITY

The city’s Economic Development Corporation agreed to increase its financial support to operate NYC Ferry by up to $64 million as the pandemic batters ridership on the heavily subsidized system.

Documents provided to the EDC board’s executive committee for a meeting Wednesday show the mayorally appointed body unanimously approved a resolution at a December session to modify its operating agreement with Hornblower Cruises, the San Francisco-based company that runs NYC Ferry.

“Since the launch of service, the city has chosen to increase the number and size of vessels operated and the frequency of service, and to add new routes serving additional parts of New York City,” reads a short memo accompanying the proposal. “These are the main drivers for increased funding needs.”

EDC’s budget will provide the additional money, the document said.

A spokesperson for EDC pointed to service expansions planned to roll out this year and beyond.

“NYC Ferry will keep providing New Yorkers with an affordable and safe transportation option as we continue our long recovery from the pandemic,” said the spokesperson, Shavone Williams. “We have made numerous route and service choices to reduce costs while maintaining our commitment to serve more New Yorkers as we expand service to Coney Island, Staten Island and the Bronx.”

Hornblower’s figures show substantial COVID-tied drops in ridership continuing into last summer, the most recent figures available, with just 11,599 fares on the system on an average weekday in July, August and September 2020. That’s less than half the ridership than during the same period a year earlier.

The funding move comes as ferry revenue is in decline, a fiscal crisis confronts the city and EDC contributions to the city budget are trending downward. Last year, EDC put $28 million in city coffers from real estate rentals and other activities — down from $125 million in 2014 and $103 million in 2016.

City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who attempted to cancel a $82 million contract to buy ferry boats in 2019 and has since raised red flags about escalating EDC spending on ferries, told THE CITY that the latest hike in spending commitments demands scrutiny.

“Time and again, I have called for EDC to be transparent and accountable around NYC Ferry, and time and again EDC fails,” Stringer, who is running for mayor, said in a statement.

“New Yorkers deserve a range of transportation options to safely travel throughout our city, but they also deserve fiscal responsibility. EDC must explain the justification for such a sizable expenditure at this time,” he added.

EDC isn’t subject to city budgeting procedures and operates outside of the comptroller’s purview. 

 What pandemic? What fiscal crisis?