Costa wants more waterfront projects

From the Queens Chronicle:

Western Queens officials and community members are dreaming of an evening walk along the waterfront from Astoria Park to Socrates Sculpture Park.

City Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria) touted a plan to revitalize the shoreline Saturday during a festival held in conjunction with the Waterfront Alliance at Hallets Cove playground that would use allocated funding for projects along Astoria Hallets Peninsula.

“We’re a waterfront community, and we have very limited interaction with our waterfront,” Constantinides told reporters Saturday. “We’re really looking forward to reconnecting with our past, reconnecting with who we are as a community.”

The plan would include adding a new eco-dock, a floating dock that allows for various vessels to pull up to it, similar to the one already in Bay Ridge. The dock could include a kayak launch and would provide an educational opportunity on the local ecosystem. The proposal would also allow for an upgrade to Hallets Cove playground. He said adding Citi Bike to the area is also on the wish list.

Constantinides said he and Borough President Melinda Katz each allocated $1 million in this year’s budget, fiscal year 2016, for the projects, so that $2 million is “already secure,” he said. The Hallets Cove playground renovation has an additional $1.2 million allocated, $1 million from Katz and $210,000 from the councilman’s discretionary budget.

We know what this is really about.

Costa wants ecodock in Astoria

From DNA Info:

Astoria Councilman Costa Constantinides wants to build an "eco dock" on the East River, a site where small boats could dock and local schools could run educational programs to allow students to interact with the waterfront.

"It's time that we return to our roots and once again connect with one of our greatest local resources: the East River," the lawmaker said Thursday night during his State of the District address.

"This simple project will offer Astorians from all walks of life a chance to reacquaint themselves with a world that for so long was neglected and disdained."

Constantinides is proposing that the dock replace a rotting pier near the Hallets Cove Playground, and be similar to one that the city built in Bay Ridge in 2013, where students are learning how oysters help the marine environment.

Fort Totten ecodock on hold

From the Times Ledger:

Plans to build an eco-friendly dock at Fort Totten Park will have to wait another year due to a lack of funding in the city’s capital budget, according to the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance.

While the MWA continues working to build community eco docks in every borough, appropriate for different vessels, community events and educational opportunities, President and CEO Roland Lewis said the Bayside project will not move forward until at least next year due to budget constraints.

Eco docks are wooden barges that rise and fall with the tides and can accommodate different kinds of vessels, Lewis said. The multi-purpose docks, which cost around $700,000, will also have a human-powered boating platform so kayakers and rowers can visit, Lewis said.

What makes them eco-friendly, Lewis said, is the small footprint left behind in the water.