Reactions to CB8 RI Transportation Mtg - Ferry Service

Last night Manhattan Community Board 8 held a special joint Roosevelt Island and Transportation Committee meeting at the New York Blood Center. It was held in the Auditorium in case a large number of individuals attended. It was not needed. The following are my thoughts and reactions as well information provided to us in the order of the agenda.

Part 1 - Ferry Service

The ferry landing planned for the site by the Octagon and the Dayspring Church / Former Boathouse will not be ready any earlier than Fall 2009 and certainly not ready for the planned Tram rehab outage in March / April 2009. The NYC EDC representative, Michael Taylor, a Senior Project Manager for Maritime Transportation Policy, who attended when asked why that site basically stated that those decisions are made a pay grades exceeding his own. He made it clear that the City is only going to build the dock and at this time there are no plans to include a Roosevelt Island ferry stop in the proposed City subsidized pilot ferry program. This was confirmed by Josh Orzeck, Community Coordinator, of the NYC DOT Manhattan Borough Commissioner's Office.

It appears that while the City is building the landing that they will be simultaneously undertaking a study to determine the impact and how an Octagon Landing will fit into any larger ferry routes. Mr. Taylor did state that part of the concept was to build the landing at the North end of the island to create a separate transportation link despite the fact, brought up by those in attenance,, that the majority of possible riders are are closer to the existing mid/South transportation hub.

A lot of good points were brought up by committee members and the public. These included (1) the fact that when the UN is in session the West Channel is closed (2) any landing should be designed to handle larger craft for evacuation purposes (3) there exists a former landing on the East Channel underneath the QBBridge that perhaps coud be rehabilitated and it closer to the existing hub. Each was listened to and acknowledged politely. The reaction to the existing landing was that it would take as much money to rehab that one as the Octagon site and the decison has been made already.

It is clear that unless a ferry operator can be profitable they will not provide service. My feeling is at the Octagon location sufficient riders will not materialize to make it profitable and we will be left with a nice dock to look at. I do give Mr. Becker plenty of credit for moving the process along and working with our elected reps to secure funding. I just hope it works and that additional landings can follow but that is highly doubtful. The public officials will never give us money for a second shot at this for years.

Fifty Two Years Ago Ferrry Service Discontinued

Fifty two years ago this weekend, June 22nd, ferry service from East 78th Street to Roosevelt Island, then Welfare Island, was discontinued due to in major part to the opening, in 1955, of the lift bridge connecting the island to Long Island City. The end of service marked the end of twenty-one years of service connecting the island to Manhattan by water.

June 24th CB8M Mtg re Roosevelt Island Transportation Issues

Manhattan Community Board 8 has formally announced June 24th as the date for their combined Transportation / Roosevelt Island committee meeting that will focus on RI transportation issues. The agenda per the CB8 website is as follows:

1. A discussion and schedule of work through completion on the F Line.
2. A discussion of the major renovation of the Tram
3. Follow up discussion on the April 18, 2007 resolution regarding a discussion of the development of direct access from Roosevelt Island to the Queensboro Bridge
4. An update on the proposed East River Ferry Service.
5. Old Business
6. New Business

The meeting will take place at the NY Blood Center located 310 East 67th Street, (between First-Second)in the Auditorium.

As reported earlier representatives from both the MTA and the DOT have nbeen invited to attend. I would expect that RIOC President Stephen Shane would be in attendance as well as a number of our local elected officials and our elected RIOC Board Nominees.

I have been trading e-mails today with CB8 regarding the response I had understood, from Transportation Co-Chair Horn, that DOT had issued to CB8 regarding the April 2007 resolution but it appears that perhaps no formal written response was ever issued by the DOT to CB8. I was sent a copy of the actual April 2007 letter sent to DOT by CB8 regarding the resolution and will post it here later today.

NYDN: Ferry Advocates Say Service Possible Within Year But Unlikely

Today's New York Daily News, May 20, 2008, online local Queens section is running an article reporting that local ferry advocates believe ferry service could start on Roosevelt Island within a year if dock construction would be started earlier than 2010 as projected by NYC.

The article does not elicit any new information that island residents did not know already but it helps keep the issues in the press that we have serious transportation concerns especially with the Tram going off line in 2009 in front of us. If anything the article shows that our elected representatives are still pushing for us.

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.