The Great NYC Ferry Subsidy Robbery and city bus austerity

NY Post

Ferries help the poor? That’s rich.
 
Mayor Bill de Blasio has insisted that his administration’s heavily-subsidized ferry service would help poor New Yorkers get around, but newly revealed data shows it’s been a plaything of the rich almost from the jump — figures the city sat on for months.
 
An internal survey taken in July 2017 — two months after the service’s inception — found that the median rider’s income ranges between $100,000 and $150,000, a trend that held as of another poll conducted in the winter of 2018.
 
The results of the surveys were obtained by The Post through an eight-month Freedom of Information 

Law battle with the Economic Development Corporation, the city-controlled non-profit that manages the ferry service and solicited the data.
 
The EDC for months rebuffed The Post’s requests as it claimed it was still searching for the records — but City Councilman Antonio Reynoso had a different explanation for it.
 
“The city was being misleading about what information they had, and also didn’t want to give the information because it would prove a point that many of us were already making,” said Reynoso (D-Brooklyn/Queens).

Impunity City

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”
                                                                                                S’chn T’gai Spock.

The NY Post reported the other day that the prime demographic that frequently uses the NYC Ferry are upper class people making six figures.

But we all knew it.

The fucking New York City Economic Development Corporation knew it.

The goddamn New York City Mayor knew it.

And both of them fucking spent every second of city time trying to hide it for two years.

The NYC Ferry is mostly used by the wealthiest commuters by the river towers that are owned and run by all of Mayor deFaustio’s developer overlord donors. Notably at the ports on the west Brooklyn coast line where it’s a leisure walk away from them (plus Hunter’s Point in Queens).


The current cost for each taxpayer for each $2.75 ride across the rivers and under the bridges is currently at $9.75. A seven dollar loss for each ride millions of people don’t take or don’t bother to take because they don’t live near the ports. And because they probably have no need and use for the boats because they are just plain inconvenient for where they are located and where they need to go.

If they are not the overvalued rental market rate rent paying tower people, it’s tourists and hipsters going to Rockaway Beach. Which is probably the most popular destination of the city gentrification yachts. Which is where some of this profligate spending on this boondoggle is located.


Because whats constantly overlooked about this obscene and overtly useless and consistently vacant aqua transit service is that there is a free shuttle bus service when you get off the ferry. Although ever since this started, you have to pay another fare to get on a city bus. 



 Now above is the Rockaway port, the picture was taken in 2017 late in the summer when it first started. It should be noted that these stylish shuttle buses weren’t available until late August and the city was actually using big ass charter buses to transport upper class denizens to the beach.

 

Above is the city bus stop for the Q22, now why are free ferry shuttle buses necessary when you can just set up a free transfer from the city bus to go to your desired destination, because both buses go to the same places east and west of the peninsula. Why clearly spend money irresponsibly on some private company buses when you got a long time city transit service right there in front of your face?

Bunch of idle boats drop anchor on Queens Village streets.

 Not only are the streets of South Queens Village a junk yard for the disrespectful auto body shops along Hempstead ave, now are streets are being turned into a boneyard for boats! Maybe they'll start sticking "Cash 4 Junk Boats" stickers all over the neighborhood now. I've seen about a dozen boats dumped across the area, including on Springfield Blvd. Absolutely disgraceful! 

I doubt this would fly up in Bayside! (sent via Facebook)

LIC hipsters just want to be assholes

Dear Crappy,

Today I decided to savor some sunshine and take a walk. I felt enjoying my community's "public"/"park" spaces was in order, so I headed over to the Manhattan Avenue Kayak Launch. The attached photos, which I knew you would find interesting given recent events, were taken at 1:17 pm. Although they pretty much speak for themselves, I will elaborate a bit. The bearded fellow (to the right) was engaged in a conversation with the fellow in the orange shirt (to the left). About what is anyone's idea. At one point there was a fellow to the left of the orange shirted fellow. He appeared to be taking photos of the bearded guy and the orange shirted guy talking. He could have been taking photos of the bulkhead (Queens side, obviously) of the former bridge which once spanned from Manhattan Avenue to Long Island City. Or both. Too difficult to tell.

Cheers!

Your comrade on other side of the creek,

NYS

Parking one's boat on a Superfund site as well as on top of a gas line - not too bright.

Boats sinking in Hawtree Creek

From the Queens Chronicle:

No chance to look off the port bow for two Howard Beach boats, because they’re slowly sinking into Hawtree Creek.

The 50- and 30-foot boats, both belonging to a Bayview Avenue resident, have slowly been listing into the creek after they lost their sea legs about a week ago. Although still tied to the dock, both are just about halfway underwater.

Both were leaking oil and fuel into the creek, which leads into Jamaica Bay, over the weekend until authorities pumped the fluids out of them, according to members of the Howard Beach Motor Boat Club, located a few yards away from the wreckage.

“But that was after a day of leakage that went unmitigated,” said Mike Raffo, a member of the boat club and a lifelong resident of Howard Beach. “Now there’s a whole canal full of gasoline.”

Oil slicks were visible on the water Tuesday afternoon.

Dan Mundy Jr., a member of the Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers, said the fluids in the water present an environmental hazard that should be addressed immediately.

“If you have oil in the boat, you have contaminated water and you need to get the Department of Environmental Conservation out there,” he said.

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.

Watch out for whitefish!

"Hi Crappie I got a real shitty story for you.

Last night I attended a meeting at Flushing Town Hall about Flushing Bay presented by the Empire Dragon Boat Club and Riverkeeper.

We learned that 1.2 billion gallons of untreated sewage enters the bay each year mainly from three discharge pipes and that there are also four pipes that empty into Flushing Creek. We also learned that sewage tank that was built in Flushing Meadow Park that was supposed to cure the problem only reduces about 56% CSO's from just one pipe. Also one of the pipes is from the Bowery Bay Sewage Treatment plant in Astoria.

They said every time it rains more than 1/10 of an inch CSO's go right into the bay. Add this to Willet's Point where there never were any sewers and other contaminates like oil etc got right into the water. Then there's La Guardia Airport that has had a couple fuel spills and all the de-icing fluid that is used has gone into the bay.There is also industrial pollution from cement companies that wash out the trucks and it all goes into the water.

Members of the Dragon boat teams are really concerned because they practice in the bay. One guy said that the joke on the team is that if you get sick once you are good for the rest of the season. Others said they throw their clothes away rather than washing them. They joked about seeing jelly fish but it was condoms floating by.

This is another example of piss poor city planning. With all the building of high density housing the problem will only get worse. NYC is violating the Clean Water Act and Riverkeeper says they sued the city back in 1992 but these things take a long time in the courts.

There was only one Asian guy there from a Dragon boat team and he claimed that fish and crabs from the bay are being sold on Main St.Fish and crabs are not considered safe to eat according to Riverkeeper."

- Anonymous

Nautical homeless shelters on Newtown Creek

So Miss Heather took a walk on the Pulaski Bridge and spotted something interesting yet scary:

I was stunned at how many boats were moored, illegally I’ll add, on the Queens side of the creek. I have it on excellent intelligence that yes, some of these boats are being pressed into service as residences. Residences on Newtown Creek. Please take a moment to mull this one over, gentle readers.

Not only is it disgusting that people are basically sleeping on top of sewage and pollutants, but how does this go unnoticed in a post-9/11 NYC? Boats parked under bridges ... hello, Homeland Security?

Boat race a pro-development stunt

From DNA Info:

Critics are calling a boat race on the Gowanus Canal this weekend an "irresponsible" stunt designed to advance a pro-development agenda.

They point to the fact that the Lightstone Group, a developer that wants to build a 700-unit housing project on the polluted canal's banks, is a sponsor of the race.

"Lightstone is trying to send the message out that it's safe to be in the canal and it's not as bad as everyone says, but I think most likely it's worse than everyone says," said Carl Teitelbaum, a member of Save Gowanus, which advocates for "responsible development" on the canal.

He noted that recent heavy rains have churned up putrid scents from the canal. "The idea of putting people in there, of putting kids in there — it's completely crazy," Teitelbaum said.

Close to 30 teams have signed up to brave the canal's toxin-laden waters — which are a SuperFund site — during a regatta this Saturday. The field of competitors includes a Canadian team, a paddle boarder and City Councilman Brad Lander.

More hurricane ugliness

A man in Flushing was killed when a tree fell on his house.

A woman was electrocuted in Richmond Hill.

This is how stupid hipsters are

From Curbed:

Marooned in the middle of the parking lot— after being pulled out of the water due to a leak —and surrounded by other nautical rejects, our "room" for the night was a water-filled, dilapidated yacht with the ladder about to fall off and the floor panels torn out. Entirely uninhabitable, and certainly devoid of any artistic flair, the vessel was seemingly being used as storage space for other Boatel miscellanea.

What a bust. Especially for a place that had piqued the interest of the Times and NPR, and which to many, seemed like the coolest thing to hit the Rockaways since Rockaway Taco. True, the creators of the project had always been upfront about the fact that this wasn't a real hotel. But then they went ahead and used words like "reservation" and "check-in," kind of setting up the expectation that, at the very least, visitors would have somewhere safe and sound to sleep.

Meanwhile, other "guests" were gathered on the dock, dancing to hip hop tunes on an iPod and drinking beers like there was no tomorrow. A few dogs traipsed in and out of the crowd, occasionally getting stepped on by the inebriated and rowdy crew. About twenty half-eaten bags of pretzels littered a coffee table off to the side, lit haphazardly by a few strings of Christmas lights. This place wasn't edgy or inspired; it was kind of a dump.

The other side of the city

From the NY Times:

Kayaking on the tranquil waters of Jamaica Bay on a summer afternoon feels like a faraway vacation. It’s easy to forget your proximity to Wall Street, or even to Cross Bay Boulevard, which slices through the water to the island community of Broad Channel, Queens. Along the canals that run like side streets through this tiny neighborhood, people are quick with a smile and a wave. As the disco classic “Funkytown” blasted from a party on one porch, a duck, a goose and a great egret calmly observed from a nearby railing.

While Broad Channel has long had a reputation as a place wary of outsiders, you’re treated like a lifelong neighbor when you return your rented kayak to the Sunset Marina.

The marina — the only place in the five boroughs I could find to rent a kayak without having to join a club or a tour — is the kind of place where you can grab a beer and pull up a chair.

How many agencies does it take to raise a boat?

From the Queens Gazette:

State Senator Joseph Addabbo and his staff thought they were addressing a simple problem this past March when a local resident asked if a seemingly abandoned single-engine motorboat could be removed from Hawtree Basin near Coleman Square. The “simple” problem took four months and ultimately involved six different governmental agencies before a city Department of Transportation (DOT) crew removed the derelict craft from the basin on Tuesday, July 27, with Addabbo on the scene to witness the boat’s successful lift out of the water.

The saga of the derelict craft began on March 26, when a constituent called Addabbo’s office to report an abandoned boat could be seen from his house in nearby Hawtree Basin in Howard Beach. Addabbo and his staff initially contacted the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to begin the removal process and to discuss possible environmental issues with regard to the boat situation.

Addabbo’s office also contacted Frank Carnesi, Director of Security of the Dockmaster Unit of the city Department of Small Business Services, who assisted in contacting the NYPD Harbor Unit to ascertain who owned the boat. The Harbor Unit visited the site twice to trace the boat’s registration numbers and to make the decision that their harbor boat was unable to remove the abandoned boat due to the shallow water of the basin.

Throughout April and May, Addabbo and the agencies tried to locate the boat’s owner. After numerous, ultimately futile attempts, a decision was made that the boat was abandoned and must be removed.