Did you hear what the Mayor said on Wednesday?

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Greetings!

PortSide works to grow all things maritime in New York City and to connect New Yorkers to the benefits of our harbor. We do that via programs that serve the public and via advocacy. We have a significant impact on public policy in a city where it is hard to move the needle! Here are some examples:

On Wednesday, Mayor de Blasio announced plans for moving ecommerce freight with ferries with language similar to our advocacy webpage. The Mayor asked if the water was full of boats, pointed out that it wasn’t, and said it should be. "Let's get everything on the water as quickly as we can," he said. We have recommended that for years! An early example is pages 3-4 of our 2006 testimony saying, "we are on the brink of a back-to-the-future scenario where cargo will be increasingly moved by water within cities or on short hops from major urban ports to smaller ports" and recommending that UPS and Fed Ex freight move by water. Over the past year, working with community members and elected officials in our district, PortSide raised the visibility of maritime ways to move ecommerce freight. The Mayor is now on it.
 
This Spring, the DOE announced that Red Hook's PS 676 will become NYC’s first maritime middle school! We inspired 676 to become Brooklyn’s first maritime elementary school the summer of 2019. Check out a recent field trip with them where we related science class to the work of Reicon dockbuilders and see the photo below.
 
As hurricanes Henri and Ida hit this year, we provided flood advice to our neighbors in Red Hook, building on our Sandy recovery work that won a White House award. More on our flood prep resources here. After Sandy, PortSide resiliency proposals were adopted by NYC government, FEMA, and the state NY Rising program. 
PortSide delivers, even in tough times like these. As you think about year-end donations, please donate to PortSide. We merit it and need it; the pandemic has been tough on our budget. Despite that, we offered a lot of programs. See some in the photo series below. 

Please help PortSide continue such programs and get our ship to a shipyard for maintenance and engine restoration by donating here.

Back a group with impact. Help shape NYC’s maritime future. Please make a year-end donation to PortSide NewYork!

Check out some images from 2021 below. More in the next newsletter! We've been busy!

Best,
Carolina Salguero 
Founder & Executive Director
Some 2021PortSide activities
We've been test driving the memoir of our ship cat Chiclet before submitting it for publication. It stopped traffic this day in PortSide Park.
For two years now, PortSide supplied wifi for the Governors Island ferry ticketing in Red Hook. Many of their 45,000 passengers who came through here enjoyed PortSide Park and our free library. Many others come here just for the park.
We won a "Covid Everyday Heroes" award from Brooklyn Borough President (the Mayor Elect) for creating PortSide Park in response to the community's need for more open space during the pandemic.
That's a photo of our 9/11 reading with the Tribute In Light. PortSide's years of telling the maritime 9/11 story have had impact! As media prepared their 20th anniversary of 9/11 stories, our webpage led many to contact us for info. Our ED Carolina Salguero was interviewed in Spike Lee's documentary in the maritime 9/11 section. We installed an exhibit on the deck of our ship and adjacent fence about this content. Many people said they had never heard about this before.
South Brooklyn Community High School came to study our BOP oyster basket. They are also using our virtual museum Red Hook WaterStories for classes.
Reicon dockbuilders stayed after their shift to help us teach 2 field trips from PS 676. We connected their classroom study of water pollution to real world conditions, showing how cleaner water means more marine borers and the need to encapsulate pier pilings.
We arranged a Red Hook program for the Navesink Maritime Heritage Association. Some of them toured our MARY WHALEN. Some toured the Museum Barge. Some visited the neighborhood. Their boat tied up alongside.
We did major restoration work on the wheelhouse of the MARY WHALEN
Formula E let us use space in the warehouse for a few weeks. Having workspace out of the weather for even such a short time boosted restoration of the wheelhouse windows and doors in a big way. Thank, you Formula E! We need building space!
We called the Army Corps to pick up big flotsam that is a hazard to navigation.
We remove the small flotsam ourselves and give it as "free driftwood." It decorates a lot of gardens and treewells!
Our ship cat Chiclet keeps an eye on PortSide Park and is its Official Greeter. Visitors young and old come to see her.
Staying in Touch

Missed our last newsletter? Visit the archive.


Our liveliest social media portal is Facebook page Mary A. Whalen due to how long we developed a community there. We are also on Twitter and Instagram.
PortSide NewYork is a living lab for better urban waterways. 

We connect New Yorkers to the benefits of their waterfront, and advocate for better uses of the waterfront and waterways. 

We bring the community ashore and community afloat closer together for the benefit of all. We bring WaterStories to life!
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