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EVENTS
This is just a sampling of the events taking place at and on the water in New York and New Jersey. Please check the MWA website, at www.waterfrontalliance.org, for more information.
Weds., Oct. 21
Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance Gala - Heros of the Harbor
Join us for the 2009 Heroes of the Harbor Awards at the Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, beginning at 5:30pm with cocktails, followed by a brief program, buffet dinner and a great deal of fun. This festive evening will honor three heroes who have demonstrated an
extraordinary commitment to our cause, who have worked tirelessly to
make this a truly world-class waterfront region. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund
will be saluted for its unprecedented civic and philanthropic
leadership, recognizing the unmet potential of the New York waterfront
and catalyzing its transformation into a pivotal center for public
recreation and access. Al Butzel will be honored for
his lifelong commitment to fighting for public use of the waterfront
and helping to create remarkable New York parks, including Hudson River
Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park and Governors Island. Frank McDonough,
President of the New York Shipping Association will be saluted for his
extraordinary life-long contributions to our waterways as a passionate
harbor advocate, industry leader and environmentalist.
www.waterfrontalliance.org
Sat., Oct. 24
Race to the Finish Run/Walk Hudson River Park
Support the drive to complete Hudson River Park by joining them at their annual Race to the Finish 5-mile Race, Fun Run/Walk. 8:15am
www.waterfrontalliance.org
Sat., Oct. 24
Future Sea Level Bike Ride
In conjunction with the International Day of Climate Action happening
around the country, this bike ride will predict local impacts of
climate change and highlight meaningful responses. Meet at Union Square South at 4pm.
Dress like you're under water -- goggles, fins...be creative. www.350.org
Sat., Oct. 24
Captain of the Half Moon
Captain William "Chip" Reynolds tells of experiences as the
21st century's Henry Hudson-sailing the replica of the Half Moon
along the route of the explorer's 1609 voyage. Beczak Environmental Education Center, Yonkers. 7pm
www.beczak.org
Sat., Oct. 24
Bronx River by Rowboat
Get on board a rowboat with experienced coxswains for this guided tour
to see the birds and other wildlife that call the Bronx River home.
Learn about the Bronx River's unique eco-system as well as the social
and cultural history of the area. Limited to 20. www.nycaudubon.org
Tues., Oct. 27
New York League of Conservation Voters: Annual Fall Cocktail Party/Fund Raiser
6-8pm, Racquet and Tennis Club, 370 Park Ave. www.nylcv.org
Thurs., Oct. 29
Brooklyn Greenway Initiative Benefit Party
Drinks, food, music, raffle items and more! Proceeds from this event will support the implementation of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. At FIND Home Furnishings, 59 9th Street, Brooklyn. 7pm. Check web site for details.
www.brooklyngreenway.org
Sun., Nov. 1
On the Irish Waterfront: The Crusader, the Movie, and the Soul of the Port of New York
As one of the world's busiest harbors in the first half of the 20th
century, the Port of New York, including Hoboken's waterfront,
attracted gangsters, politicians and union leaders, each fighting for a
piece of the huge economic pie, as depicted in the movie "On the
Waterfront." Hear about this era at the Hoboken Historical Museum, 301 Hudson St., Hoboken. 4pm
www.hobokenmuseum.org
Mon., Nov. 2
USS New York Arrives in New York Harbor
USS New York makes her grand entrance into New York Harbor for
the first time. The ship will be commissioned in Manhattan during a
ceremony that will take place later that week. Her hull contains 7.5 tons of steel that was salvaged from the World Trade Center. 6am
www.waterfrontalliance.org
Thurs., Nov. 5
The Hudson - A Natural and Cultural History
Talk by Fran Dunwell at the Tivoli Bays Visitor Center, Watts dePeyster Fireman's Hall, 1 Tivoli Commons,
Village of Tivoli.
http://www.dec.ny.gov/public/33037.html#hrep
Sun., Nov. 7
Fall Foliage Cruise
Join Friends of Hudson River Park aboard a historic river boat replica,
as they cruise the Hudson River while viewing the annual changing of
the seasons. With the extraordinary Manhattan skyline as a backdrop,
they will make our way up the Hudson River toward the Palisades for
scenic views of New York and New Jersey's fall foliage. Boarding begins
at 12pm.
www.fohrp.org
Mon., Nov. 16
In the Wake of the Half Moon: Environmental Transformation of the New York Metropolitan Region
One-day conference in recognition of Henry Hudson's 1609 voyage up the Hudson River that will examine NYC as a landmark case history in environmental sustainability. The conference will trace the arc of the region's profound environmental changes, from its pristine beginnings to its nadir around 1900 to today's surprising (but still incomplete) recovery and into the future and the 500th anniversary of Hudson's voyage.
Hunter College, CUNY, 695 Park Ave. For more information contact Carina Molnar at
cmolnar@hunter.cuny.edu or 212-650-3456
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This Wednesday!
MWA's Heroes of the Harbor Awards Dinner
Celebrate the Contributions of Al Butzel, Frank McDonough, and the
Rockefeller Brothers Fund to New York Harbor's Ongoing Revitalization
TICKETS ARE STILL AVAILABLE. CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW
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 Meet the Honorees
Al Butzel
Attorney, AdvocateAsk Al Butzel what his proudest accomplishments are and he has quick answers for extremely time-consuming and, in the end, momentous achievements.
"The saving of Storm King," answers this Harvard-trained lawyer, referring to a landmark 17-year legal battle against Consolidated Edison's plan to build a hydroelectric power plant at Storm King Mountain on the Hudson River that ended victoriously in 1980; "and watching Hudson River Park take shape."
Hudson River Park germinated in the 70s when Mr. Butzel was battling Westway, continued into the 90s when he founded the Hudson River Park Alliance and then chaired Friends of Hudson River Park, and is ongoing today as five miles of waterfront park and 400+ acres of estuarine sanctuary are developed. "It really was a fascinating political effort," he says, describing legislation that he, State Assembly member Richard Gottfried and State Senator Franz Leichter wrote and got passed in Albany. "It wasn't stopping something. It was creating something. We got the Hudson River Park Act passed. The money we raised [$420 million] was equally important but the legislation was the exclamation point that the City and State were committed to Hudson River Park."
Wry and soft-spoken, Mr. Butzel has played a major role in some of New York's most important environmental issues, and has helped to guide the creation of significant public spaces at the water's edge of New York City. Though he has been primarily involved with Hudson River Park, he took time off between 2000 and 2002 to lead the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, during which time the City and State committed $150 million for its construction. In those years he also helped form the Governors Island Alliance, lobbying successfully for the return of the Island to City/State control. Over four decades he has authored or co-authored important environmental legislation and has won decisions that have set national precedents in environmental law. Practical and down-to-earth, he has built powerful alliances, and persuaded governors, mayors and CEOs to join his causes.
Is practicality the secret to building consensus and getting things done? Not necessarily. "There are several secrets," he reveals. "Persistance and tenacity. Identifying a common goal and then really making sure that the people you're in touch with aren't just names on a piece of paper. And a willingness to compromise in order to satisfy needs or wishes that aren't necessarily your own."
And perhaps a willingness to never lose sight of the goal. "I still see Storm King in my dreams," confesses this formidable attorney. "Every now and then I have a bad dream that they won."__________________________________________
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 Frank McDonough
Industry Leader, EnvironmentalistOne of the first things that Frank McDonough did when he took the helm at the NY Shipping Association in 2001 was rewrite the group's vision statement, adding emphasis to the important role that a healthy environment plays in port commerce.
"We are faced with a delicate balance: to preserve this great natural resource for future generations without diminishing its economic importance to the region," he says on NYSA's web site. "We can meet this challenge... a clean environment and economic development can be compatible."
A master negotiator, collaborator, advocate and communicator, Frank McDonough has spent the past eight years directing new environmental initiatives that dovetail with NYSA's crucial commercial responsibilities: maximizing the efficiency,
cost-competitiveness, safety and quality of marine cargo operations in the Port of New York and New Jersey. He has also worked countless hours with government agencies to improve Port security post-9/11, and developed communications and education programs that convey the importance of the Port commerce to the general public -- all the while managing essential day-to-day work of labor contracts and longshore labor training and dispatching.
Reached on his last day on the job, October 17, this environmental attorney/professor/former Marine said some of his proudest achievements have involved updating the complicated, aging infrastructure of the Port of New York/New Jersey, which has resulted in the quicker movement of cargo in and out of the Port. "We created an interlocking set of transportation projects to improve road and railbeds," he said, condensing years of complex work into a few phrases. "Then we secured the support of our Congressional delegation and got federal funding."
Early in his tenure at NYSA, Mr. McDonough began to look at the impact of Port emissions on the region's air quality. He instituted no idling zones in many Port areas and developed a voluntary program that guided members in identifying areas where they could adapt operations or equipment to reduce emissions. Marine terminal operators now use automatic shut-off devices that restrict idling times, and there is wide use of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel. Mr. McDonough followed up with the state and federal environmental agencies on air quality issues, and encouraged the Port Authority to work with the industry on a regional air quality strategy. It all paid off: changes to equipment and terminal operations over a five year period resulted in a 45% reduction of air emissions per ton of cargo. This year the New York Shipping Association won the U.S. EPA Environmental Quality Award.
Mr. McDonough is a former visiting professor at Stevens Institute of Technology Center for Maritime Systems, where he stills serves as an advisory board member. He is also chairman of the Rutgers Freight and Maritime Program Advisory Board and chairman of the New Jersey Tidelands Resource Council. His roles in the classroom and on advisory boards undoubtedly influenced his NYSA job, where he established public education programs and an award-winning public awareness campaign about the maritime industry. "We support educational groups financially and we've had NYSA members do a lot of outreach to talk about the importance of the Port," he said. "We put together an ad campaign with billboards, radio and TV that focused on the environment the first year, on products and services that the Port provides the next year, and on infrastructure the third year."
That Frank McDonough managed to find the
perfect blend of professional and avocational interests is clear when
he says, "I get thrilled by the Harbor every time I'm out there. I love the work ethic, the sense of purpose, the beauty of it."_________________________________________ |
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Civic and Philanthropic LeadershipAbout ten years ago, a group of citizens concerned about waterfront access and development in the metropolitan region gathered with like-minded foundation representatives. A team was dispatched to survey 720 miles of NY/NJ shoreline over the course of several months and conduct hundreds of interviews with environmentalists, government leaders, developers, neighborhood
activists, shipping executives, journalists, recreational boaters and fishermen to assess
conditions and opportunities.
Several months later, the team presented its findings at a meeting in the Rockefeller Brothers Fund conference room. "Essentially the foundations concluded that the opportunities were enormous and that time was of the essence. They decided to have a conference to publicize this unprecedented
opportunity," recalled Kent Barwick, the first director of this effort, which was initially known as The Waterfront Project and eventually became the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance. With other foundations, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund co-sponsored the conference. "RBF provided office space,
bicycle storage and late-night kitchen privileges for what became a
round-the-clock effort to pull together a major event," Mr. Barwick said.
Ben Rodriguez-Cube�as, program director for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, remembers those early days. "We'd been looking at the waterfronts and how they were underused and
how people didn't have access," he said. "At that time people weren't paying attention to the waterfront, though some of the developers were. We funded individual revitalizaton
efforts and then looked at the MWA as an organization that could bring a lot of these disparate voices together, look at policy issues, and take a longer and more encompassing
view of both the New York and New Jersey waterfronts."
The conference was a
dramatic success. "An electronic newsletter, Waterwire, was invented
and became a lively site
filled with opinions, ideas and notices of events. It was the electronic
glue holding a new force together," said Mr. Barwick. "Within a month of the conference
the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance was functioning like the Wizard of
Oz from behind a small curtain in a tiny office at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund."
And so the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance salutes the Rockefeller Brothers Fund for its civic and philanthropic leadership in addressing the unmet
potential of the waterfront. "Like a good parent the Rockefeller Brothers Fund has been present at each step along the way,
encouraging the best, critical when appropriate, forgiving of mistakes
and, at essential moments, inspiring," Mr. Barwick said. "Without the Fund and without the
confidence of its front-line program officers Mike Northrop and Ben
Rodriguez-Cube�as, the MWA would not have been launched or survived
its infancy and adolescence to be the effective force it is today."
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A People's Plan for the East River Waterfront
O.U.R. Waterfront Coalition suggests new development ideas to the City
and promotes a less expensive, community-oriented, waterfront park
 Replace a proposed restaurant with open grass. Replace an
expensive gym with a multi-purpose community center and open plazas for
farmers' markets and vendors' carts. These are some of the development ideas to be found in the People's Plan for the East River Waterfront.
The People's Plan, which was announced at a press conference on October 17, counters development ideas put forth by the NYC Economic Development Corporation several years ago for the Lower East Side shoreline, including piers 35, 36 and 42. Proponents of the People's Plan say their proposal is more responsive to the needs of the community.
The
people behind the People's Plan are optimistic. "We've been meeting
with the EDC consistently and we're beginning to build a constructive
working relationshp," said Esther Wang, project coordinator of CAAAV
Organizing Asian Communities Chinatown Tenants Union and a member of
the O.U.R. Waterfront Coalition.
The Plan was produced after a year-long process sponsored by the newly formed O.U.R. (Organizing and Uniting Residents) Waterfront Coalition
that involved surveys, visioning sessions, a town hall meeting and a
financial analysis and business plan produced by the Pratt Center for
Community Development. Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance president Roland Lewis and members of the community praised the plan and the community-based process by which it was
developed, and pledged support as the community moves forward.
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Marine Terminals in Brooklyn and Staten Island Gain Lease Extensions, Financial Boosts
Port Authority of NY/NJ Invests in the future of
Howland Hook Marine Terminal and the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal
Saying, "Today's agreements solidify our commitment to continue a vital maritime
operation that will provide jobs and economic activity for the region," Port Authority executive director Anthony R. Coscia announced lease extensions on October 15 for the Howland Hook marine facility on Staten Island (through June 2058) and with the Economic Development Corporation for Piers 11 and 12 in Brooklyn (through 2029). The EDC controls the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal at the Red Hook piers, and subleases part of Pier 11 to Phoenix Beverages. The PA also committed $110 million for channel deepening and repair projects at the Howland Hook facility, which is operated by New York Container Terminal, Inc.
Photo (c) 2005, New York Container Terminal Inc.
In addition to ensuring the long-term operation of the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, the lease allows Phoenix Beverages to go forward with its plans to build a distribution facility on Pier 11. Until recently, Phoenix products were delivered by container ship to New Jersey and trucked to Long Island City for distribution. Now that cargo is received at Red Hook, about 200,000 truck trips across NJ/NY bridges are eliminated.
This is the second major commitment in two years by the Port Authority to ensure the viability of the marine facility at Howland Hook. In 2007, the PA opened a $26 million ship-to-rail cargo facility here, reactivated the Staten Island Railroad, rehabilitated the Arthur Kill Lift Bridge and constructed a New Jersey rail link to provide cargo trains access to the national rail freight network.
"These extended leases are testimony to the vibrancy of the industrial
maritime industry in New York City -- an industry that provides
high-wage jobs to thousands throughout the five boroughs," said NYCEDC
President Seth W. Pinsky. "Waterborne transportation is the most
environmentally efficient means of getting goods and products into and
out of the New York region and is an area that the Bloomberg
Administration is determined to expand. I would like to take this
opportunity to commend Jim Devine for the part he has played in this
expansion since he was selected to head New York Container Terminal in
2002."
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EPA Extends Public Comment Period for Adding Newtown Creek to Superfund List
Do you think Newtown Creek should be included on the federal Superfund National Priorities List? You may now comment on this matter to the Environmental Protection Agency through December 23, 2009. To submit comments go to www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/pubcom.htm or contact Ildefonso Acosta, Region 2 Acting NPL Coordinator at (212) 637-4344 or acosta.ildefonso@epa.gov. To find out more about the NPL Site Listing Process, visit: www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/npl_hrs.htm.
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Mayor's Cup Goes On Despite Nor'Easter
Elite kayakers head out of North Cove into the stormy Hudson River on October 18 at the start of their circumnavigation of Manhattan. Photo by Robert Simko/The Broadsheet
Nor'easter weather conditions were even worse than predicted for the Mayor's Cup kayak race on October 18. Nevertheless, 37 racers still bravely took to the water to circumnavigate the island of Manhattan.
"Wind predictions were 14 to 25 miles per hour," said Ray Fusco, the founder and director of this four-year-old race that attracts competitors from around the world. "But on race day the wind was 24 to 28 mph with gusts of 40. There was a small craft advisory and a wind advisory. Conditions were pretty challenging. The challenge with an event this size and with a
course of this distance -- 28 miles -- is maintaining safety and security over the entire course. We had to tell some people that they couldn't go out."
Two groups of kayakers left North Cove, one at 8:40am and one at 8:50am. The wind was driving south and the tide was racing north. The Coast Guard Auxiliary had declined to come out. Three and a half hours later the kayakers began to round the curve of Battery Park on their way back to North Cove. Thirty men and women finished the race. The winner was Sean Rice, an elite competitor from
Cape Town, South Africa, who raced around Manhattan in 3:36:42.
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Job Opening at the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance
Program, Community, and Government Affairs Associate -- is this you?
The Waterfront Action Agenda of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance heralds positive and essential change for the waterways of New York and northern New Jersey. Join the crew at the MWA to be part of the drive for excellence at the waterfront. An employee in the newly created position of Program, Community, and Government Affairs Associate would implement MWA's programs; develop outreach and advocacy plans; cultivate partnerships with community-based groups who work to improve the waterfront environment, jobs, recreation and transportation in New York and New Jersey; manage outreach to local press, and arrange events to promote implementation of the Waterfront Action Agenda.
Click here to read more of the job description. Click here to send a cover letter, resume, and writing sample to the MWA. Candidates should have a bachelor's degree and up to three years of direct experience in related policy, advocacy, public participation, community outreach, government affairs or community organizing fields, or five years of indirect experience. Truly exemplary graduate school studies may be substituted for up to three years of experience.
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Recent Waterfront News
Vision of a Riverfront Lined With Ferry Docks
The New York Times, October 16, 2009
Willets group to clean Flushing River
Yournabe.com, October 15, 2009
Saint Ann's Students Go 'Seining,' Discover Diversity of East River
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 14, 2009
Eggs Over Easy: Open House NY Visits Newtown Creek
Yournabe.com, October 14, 2009
Warship built with WTC steel is headed to New York
Associated Press, October 13, 2009
Phase 1 of PCB removal on Hudson wrapping up
Associated Press, October 12, 2009
Cleansing the Air at the Expense of Waterways
The New York Times, October 12, 2009
Brooklyn College Students Collect Specimens in Jamaica Bay to Benefit Wetlands
Brooklyn College News, September 29, 2009
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