Oct 21st Stringer Sponsored Community Forum re Transportation Issues

This coming Tuesday, October 21st, Roosevelt Island residents will have another opportunity to discuss transportation issues affecting the island this time not just with RIOC regarding the Tram but with our elected officials and each of the government agencies that run and maintain our bridges, subways, and buses.

The Community Forum is being lead by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and as this post appears to also include Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, State Senator Jose Serrano, Assembly Member Micah Kellner and City Councilmember Jessica Lappin.

According to a representative from Borough President Stringer’s office the agenda is not yet final but one of their goals is to make the forum as interactive as possible including discussions of issues as well as possible solutions.

As opposed to Community Board 8’s Roosevelt Island transportation forum which took place in Manhattan at the Blood Center this forum is scheduled to take place here on the Island and as such can expect a much better turnout than the less than a dozen who attended the CB8 meeting.

All residents are encouraged to attend as this is a great opportunity to ask questions and hear from all parties plans for next year when the Tram is offline for several months. The timing of this meeting is appropriate as at least one of the referendum proposed by RIRA for the November elections includes the Tram.

City News Conference Regarding Expanded Ferry Service Addresses Roosevelt Island Dock Construction

Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn announced today the start of Rockaway ferry service on May 12, restored service to Williamsburg and expanded east river routes. City and Council-funded programs to be joined with federal funding and allocations from Congress-members Nadler and Maloney.

According to the official news release the second phase of the plan will include the construction of a new dock on Roosevelt Island. Once again Congresswoman Maloney has shown her committment to bringing ferry service to Roosevelt Island.

It is expected this dock will be replace the dock currently sitting just South of the Octagon complex and across from the Dayspring Church on the Western side of the island facing Manhattan. The news release states that the ferry service route that will stop at this dock will be a private operator and apparently not the City-subsidized routes starting on May 12th. No dates were stated in the news release regarding construction start dates on Roosevelt Island.

So Roosevelt Island is one step closer to having access to the water. The questions still open are (1) how many stops per day (presumably during the morning and evening rush hours will the private operator make on the island (2) at what cost to the commuters and (3) how many residents will use (a) the service overall and (b) whether the location of the dock at North end of the island will influence their decision?

Update: 4:20 pm

According to an anonymous (uncomfirmed) comment left here and on the Roosevelt Islander, Mayor Bloomberg announced at the news conference that ferry service to / from Roosevelt Island would commence in 2010.

MTA Roberts to Roosevelt Island: No Increased Service Coming Your Way

MTA NYCTA President Howard Roberts issued a reply, dated February 11, 2008, regarding the call to examine and increase subway service to Roosevelt Island. The reply was in regards to a January 20, 2008 request to President Roberts made by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, State Senator Jose Serrano, Assembly Member Micah Kellner and City Council Member Jessica Lappin.

In short the letter reads that the ridership levels are within capacity and that the request to extend the Q Train to 21st Street / Queensbridge would only slow down the overall system as it would interfere with existing F, E and V Train service.

Please let us know your comments as they are being reviewed by our elected representatives.

Elected Officials "Urge" Gov. Spitzer to Nominate RIOC Elected Candidates

As stated in a joint letter to Governor Spitzer, four elected Federal, State and City representatives urge the Governor to nominate the elected candidates to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Board of Directors as only he can. The letter refers to the historic nature of the vote, the diversity of those "elected", and the large turnout of residents that voted in the election.

Double click the above image to read the full text of the letter in its original format.

Elected Officials Call for Extension of Q Line to Supplement F Line to Roosevelt Island

In a joint letter dated January 20th, 2008, to MTA NYCT President Howard H. Roberts, Jr., it has been requested that the MTA re-evaluate the transit needs of Roosevelt Island and requests that a short term solution be instituted that would include extending the Q Line through 21st Queensbridge until the Second Avenue Subway is operational.

The full text of the letter can be linked to HERE.

The letter is signed by United States Representative Carolyn Maloney, NYS Senator Jose M. Serrano, NYS Assembly Member Micah Kellner, and NYC Council Member Jessica Lappin. The letter is a follow-up to Council Member Lappin's July 2006 letter to the MTA.

The letter opens with the following paragraph:

"As elected officials representing the thousands of New Yorkers who live and work on Roosevelt Island, we urge you to address the developing crisis in the island’s mass transit link to Manhattan and the rest of New York City. Already, Roosevelt Islanders are faced with overcrowding on the island’s sole subway connection, the F line. With thousands more residents projected to join the island’s population in the near future, as well as a prolonged period of downtime planned for the Roosevelt Island tram, immediate action is required to prevent a transportation overload of critical proportions."

The letter closes with the following two paragraphs:

"In your response to Councilmember Lappin you stated that “our recent data continues to show that, on average, the F line operates within passenger loading guidelines.” While this may be true – though it conflicts with the daily experience of Roosevelt Island residents who ride the F line – it strikes us as a somewhat shortsighted view of the problem, in light of the island’s rapid population growth and the impending overhaul of the tram.

Given these realities, it is imperative that NYC Transit seriously consider ways to augment subway service to Roosevelt Island as soon as possible. We urge you to consider extending service on the Q line to 21st St./Queensbridge. If you believe this would not be practicable, we ask that you investigate alternate possibilities for increasing service to the rapidly growing population of Roosevelt Island."

Will NY Water Taxi’s Dropping of it’s East River Route Cancel the New Octagon Dock?

As reported today by the Roosevelt Islander (via Curbed and others) and the New York Times, the struggling New York Water Taxi company is cancelling its service on the East River route for the next four Winter months. What impact that has on the construction / refurbishment to the Octagon dock is unclear. But it can’t be a good thing if Octagon LP was expecting to receive year round service from NY Water Taxi and was going to be footing the bill for the construction. At least the Octagon residents did not lease their units with the promise of such a dock and the ferry service.

Update 5:00 pm

According to e-mails received this afternoon from Bruce Becker of Octagon LP the plan is to provide year round ferry service from the dock once constructed with the initial stop being 34th Street. Mr. Becker acknowledged that “long term feasibility of water taxi service is dependent on a larger network of routes so any reduction of service elsewhere is not helpful”.

Mr. Becker also informed me that a meeting was held today with representatives from both Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s office and the NYC Economic Development Corporation, which were “encouraging” in that the EDC is “studying how they can [aid] our efforts”.

According to Mr. Brice Peyre, of the Congresswoman’s New York City office, the staff member who attended the meeting had already left for the long holiday weekend so he could not add any comments regarding the aforementioned meeting.

Congresswoman Maloney Announces Approval Roosevelt Island Water Taxi Dock

For a link to the press release link HERE to Congresswoman Maloney’s website. This is major transportation news for the island. Check back here for updates and I am sure on related Roosevelt Island sites as more info is learned.

Apparently the dock will up at the Octagon. Presumably the new dock will replace the current dock, pictured below, which I posted about recently here on this site within a post about the "Prow". By having the dock at the Northern end of the Island it will be interesting to see how this would affect morning commutes off the Island and if such service is provided at what cost would it be offered to interested residents.