Red Hook Ferry Testimony
/Why this blogpost
This blogpost is in response to the uproar over the two Red Hook ferry locations proposed by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC). See images at bottom. The EDC proposed these locations in a draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and gave the public a deadline of October 8, 2015 for comments.
The Red Hook community via the NYS NY Rising resiliency plan it created had, over a year before, articulated its recommendation for a ferry location in Atlantic Basin. The EDC proposal did not include Atlantic Basin.
After the angry and frustrated responses to the DEIS in a public hearing shortly before the comment deadline and the comments submitted to the EDC DEIS, the EDC reversed itself. “We agreed to take a second look at Atlantic Basin as a landing,” said vice-president Peter Flynt in a Brooklyn Paper article “We’ve heard the community loud and clear.” In short, as of this writing, the topic is still open.
PortSide NewYork has long supported ferry service for Red Hook. Over the years, we have provided advice to ferry owners, property owners, elected officials, Brooklyn Community Board 6 and others. During 2010, PortSide advocated for waterborne transit during the Vision 2020 process. During 2013-2014, PortSide President Carolina Salguero was on the NY Rising Red Hook committee which proposed an Atlantic Basin ferry location, and PortSide staff and interns contributed research to her work for NY Rising.
EDC links
Media links
- 8/24/15 Brooklyn Paper Airy-ferry: Red Hookers say city’s planned ferry stop is impractical
- 9/11/15 Brooklyn Paper Shore it up! Board tells city to find new Hook ferry stop
- 10/9/15 Red Hook Star Revue Red Hook gathers at Borough Hall for a ferry hearing
- 10/16/15 EDC will take a second look Oh buoy! Daily Governors Island ferries could set sail by 2017
How this blogpost will work
To help resolve where a new Red Hook stop on the citywide ferry system will be located, PortSide NewYork has created this blogpost. Here, we will link all comments that were submitted to the EDC DEIS that we receive, or any subsequent statements people want to make about the Red Hook ferry, or you can post directly in the comment section at bottom. All statements we receive will be posted without editorial comment in alphabetical order by name of person who wrote the testimony.
We are doing this to improve transparency by showing testimony the EDC received, to foster discussion within the community by showing what the collective is thinking, and to help media reporting for all the same reasons.
Comments submitted to the DEIS process & other statements
Inna Guzenfeld Master's thesis on citywide ferry plans
Inna Guzenfeld comments to DEIS
- Gita Nandan, Chair of Red Hook NY Rising Committee, comments to DEIS
Allison Reeves, comments to DEIS
Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, comments to DEIS
PortSide NewYork comments to DEIS
Waterfront Alliance comments to DEIS