Don’t look now, but the idea of establishing a new ferry landing in Sheepshead Bay could be sinking fast.
The New York City Economic Development Corporation’s “Blue Highway” listening tour made a recent stop at Kingsborough Community College, and what officials heard was less than shipshape.
Representatives from the Manhattan Beach Community Group dismissed the idea as out of hand on the grounds that a new ferry landing in Sheepshead Bay would bring an influx of commuters looking to stow their cars on their quiet tree−lined blocks.
“We can’t park as it is,” Judy Baron declared.
“It’s an impossible situation,” Bunny Fleischer agreed.
Community Board 15 chair Theresa Scavo suggested that the community is already well−served by mass transportation.
“I can take a B train and be in lower Manhattan in 20 minutes,” Scavo said.
Sheepshead Bay activist Steve Barrison said that tax dollars could be better spent helping the community in other ways, and that new ferry service would do nothing to alleviate the increasing volume of traffic already choking the Belt Parkway.
Others expressed possible navigation problems and the need to dredge Sheepshead Bay.
“A lot of our boats bottom out at low tide,” New York City Council candidate and Sheepshead Bayâ„Plumb Beach Civic Association member Gene Berardelli warned.
Fred Ardolino, owner of the Atlantis cruise ship docked at Pier 9, actually operated ferry service out of Far Rockaway back in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Despite ferrying 800 people daily on a quick 19−minute commute to Wall Street, Ardolino said that he still couldn’t break even.
City Councilmember Mike Nelson − chair of the Waterfronts Committee −− is backing the ferry proposal nonetheless, citing the need for “an alternative method of travel for straphangers.”
“There aren’t any potholes in the water,” Nelson quipped.
Sheepshead Bay resident Julie Leibowitz said that she would be happy to get out of the subway.
“It should be looked into,” Leibowitz said. “Trains are hot and smelly. The only other alternative is the Command bus.”
Dr. Saul “Billy” Katz, dean of Kingsborough Community College’s Continuing Education program, said that between 75 and 100 students from Far Rockaway High School must now endure a two−and−a−half hour commute to the campus each day.
“Students should be awarded a certificate of survival,” Katz said. “There is an educational benefit to be gained.”
Lou Simon, Democratic District Leader for the Rockaways, said that existing ferry service where he lives is an asset and should be increased.
“The A train is the pits,” Simon said. “The ferry is working and we definitely need more runs.”
The city is considering seven sites around the borough − Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island, Floyd Bennett Field, Bay Ridge, Atlantic Avenue, North Williamsburg and Greenpoint −− to augment existing ferry landings at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, Red Hook, Fulton Ferry Landing and South Williamsburg.
Doug Biviano is running for the City Council representing downtown’s 33rd District. Overall, Biviano said he supports the “Blue Highway.”
“It takes time to change behavior,” Biviano said, adding that any new ferry service would need a “five− to 10−year commitment.”
City Councilmember Vincent Gentile said that the 69th Street Pier in Bay Ridge “really needs to be considered” as a stop on the “Blue Highway.”
Coney Island activist Ida Sanoff, however, warned against possible dangers ferry traffic might pose to bathers and pollution produced by diesel−burning engines.
Generally, all ferries require subsidies in order to remain afloat, according to Venetia Lannon, senior vice president of the Maritime Group for the EDC,
Lannon said that the “dream” is to one day make ferries interactive with the “MetroCard” system − but lamented “we’re not there yet.”
Steve Zeltser, legislative aide for Nelson, said that the problems facing new ferry landings can be overcome.
“We think a demand will be there given the change,” he said.
A final report on the viability of the proposed ferry landings is due in late October.
