|
High Tide 1:16am
|
Low Tide 7:11am
|
High Tide 1:19pm
|
Low Tide 9pm*
|
|
|
Don't miss
Toot 'n' Blink
October 2, 2010
7pm-7:30pm
New York Harbor
Read the story below.
|
|
|
|
 Events on the Waterfront
Click links for more information.
For a full calendar of events visit
www.waterfrontalliance.org/calendar
| October 1
Open House: New York Harbor School
3p-6pm, Governors Island
Fundraiser: Groundwork Hudson Valley
6p-9p, Science Barge, Yonkers
October 2-3, 7-10
Performance: iLand
Throughout the day, various locations
October 2-3
Festival: Bring to Light (Nuit Blanche)
6p-7a, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
October 2
Performance: Toot 'n' Blink
7p, New York Harbor
October 3
Festival: Freshkills Park Sneak Peek
11a-4p, Freshkills Park, Staten Island
October 5
Meeting: Rockaway Planning
6:30p-8:30p, St. John's Episcopal Hospital
October 6
Fundraiser: A Taste of Red Hook
6p-9p, Kidd Yellin Gallery. 133 Imlay St.
Workshop: Community-wide Waterfront Design Day for Astoria/Long Island City
6:30p, Variety Boys & Girls Club, 21-02 30th Road, Astoria
October 7
Workshop: Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System (HRECOS)
1p-4p, Hudson River Foundation, 17 Battery Place
October 12
Meeting: Comprehensive Waterfront Plan
6p, NYU Kimmel Center for University Life, 60 Washington Square South
|
|
MWA Blue Bulletin Board
| SAVE THE DATE!2010 Waterfront ConferenceThe Future Waterfront &
a Fair Share for the NY-NJ HarborTuesday, Nov. 30 · 8am to 8pm National Museum of the American Indian WHAT'S YOUR STORY?WaterWire wants to know about your organization. Pitch us a story idea! Write to Alison at asimko@waterfrontalliance.orgMWA EMAIL ADDRESSESOur waterwire.net addresses are no longer in service. All MWA emails end in waterfrontalliance.org. |
|
Join Our List
|
|
|
|
| CONTENTS: Sept. 30, 2010
| Port Authority Commits $1 Billion to the Bayonne Bridge
Raise or rebuild the bridge? The Port Authority is assessing the options
Joan K. Davidson: A Hero of the Harbor
Tireless advocate, generous philanthropist
Ferry Tales in Brooklyn
Tom Fox brings ferry folks from all over the world to his watery backyard
Cross-Harbor Freight Plans Begin in Earnest
Car floats? Tunnel? The Port Authority and FHA study options
Draft Recommendations for Vision 2020 to be Presented October 12
Plan on attending this important meeting on the future of the NYC waterfront
NYC Outdoors!
Environmental education expo on October
Global Work Party Day is Promoted by 350.org
10-10-10 is the date to work and play for climate change
Live from New York Harbor: It's Toot 'n' Blink!
Maritime spectacle to be performed this Saturday night
Meet Some MWA Partners!
|
A Letter from Roland Lewis: 2010 Heroes of the Harbor
|
|
Dear Friends of the Waterfront,
On Tuesday, Oct. 19, the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance
will be hosting a very special Heroes of the Harbor Awards dinner
at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers (Pier 61, Manhattan). This annual event is the perfect
opportunity to celebrate a year of hard work by the entire Alliance while acknowledging those who've
made an extraordinary contribution to our cause.
This year we are proud to honor Ms. Joan K. Davidson--for
her distinguished career as an environmentalist, public servant, and
philanthropist--as well as the People and Government of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands, for their waterfront expertise and partnership and their
support of last year's Hudson 400 celebration. You can learn more about our honorees in this and the following editions
of WaterWire.
I hope you can join us for this special evening on the
waterfront. If you haven't already
purchased tickets or made a donation, please visit www.waterfrontalliance.org/heroes_2010 or contact Ian Douglas at (212) 935-9831.
If you are unable to attend on the Oct. 19, please consider
supporting our honorees and the MWA with a tax-deductible donation in their honor.
Let's get out and celebrate our Heroes!
Sincerely,
Roland Lewis
President & CEO
Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance
|
BAYONNE BRIDGE TO GET A $1 BILLION LIFT
|
| | Low Bridge: Everybody's Down with the PA's Commitment
photo courtesy of the Port Authority
By definition, the last thing a bridge should be is an obstacle, and yet the Bayonne Bridge -- a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark whose deck is 151 feet from the surface of the water -- blocks a fair amount of commercial ship traffic from getting to Port Elizabeth and Port Newark, the region's largest container ports. It's simply too low.
On September 14, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey approved up to $1 billion to rebuild or rehabilitate the Bayonne Bridge. "Our region's economic
fortunes have always been tied to the vitality of our seaport," said Port Authority Chairman Anthony R. Coscia in a prepared statement. "Today's
financial commitment will ensure that the seaport remains the leading
destination for shippers on the East Coast, helping to preserve
hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions in economic activity."
The stevedores, terminal operators, ocean cargo carrier workers and maritime business people represented by the New York Shipping Association (NYSA) heartily approved. "This ensures the future of this world-class port for many decades to come," said NYSA president Joseph Curto.
Connecting Staten Island with New Jersey over the Kill van Kull, the Bayonne Bridge opened in 1931. The longest steel arch bridge in the world at the time, it was designed by architect Cass Gilbert and Othmar Ammann, designer of the George Washington Bridge and others around the city. The NYSA web site offers this historical perspective: "At that time, Port Newark was relatively insignificant compared to the multiple piers up and down the Hudson and East Rivers. Port Elizabeth, as it looks today [see photo below courtesy of NYSA], didn't even exist. Seventy-seven years later the four major Newark Bay facilities are the largest and most productive port complex in the nation supporting more than 230,000 port related jobs."
Shipping executives are galvanized by the expected reopening of a deepened, widened Panama Canal in 2015, which will allow a new generation of even bigger container ships easier access to the East Coast.
Guided by the US Army Corps of Engineers' recommendation of a bridge deck height of 215 feet, the Port Authority sees several options: jacking the deck, creating a lift bridge mechanism at the center of
the span, or building a new taller bridge or a tunnel below the river. Analysis is under way, with a list of possible solutions completed by the end of the year.
A pleased New Jersey Governor Chris Christie released this statement: "By fixing this crucial nexus in the
region's transportation network, it will allow our port to remain
competitive with others on the East Coast and allow for future cargo
growth and expanded commercial opportunities for business." [Gov. Christie recently put another mega-transportation infrastructure project on hold -- the $8.7 billion commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River known as Access to the Region's Core (ARC). The Regional Plan Association, an MWA Partner, is concerned that the governor will abandon what it sees as a project with huge benefits. Click here to read what the RPA and and its associates are saying about ARC.] Below are 2009 statistics from the Port Authority, which is investing $200 million this year in seaport-related improvements. The port: - supported approximately 269,000 jobs in the New York, New Jersey region
- provided for $11.2 billion in personal income, $36.1 billion in business income and $5 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues
- handled 4.6 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) with a value of more than $146 billion (back to top)
|
|
|
|
|
|
| JOAN K. DAVIDSON: HERO OF THE HARBOR
|
|
 Tireless Advocate, Generous Philanthropist
You begin to understand what's important to Joan K. Davidson by taking a look at her work, which bridges the worlds of politics and the arts. Involved in many organizations over the years, she has guided important state policy on culture and the environment in her capacity as former chair of the NY State Council on the Arts and as former Commissioner of NY State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. She has been or continues to be a board member of American Farmland Trust, Columbia County Historical Society, Columbia Land Conservancy, Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, Hudson River Foundation, Municipal Art Society, National Trust for Historic Preservation, New York State Preservation League, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Public Theater, South Street Seaport Museum and The Nature Conservancy.
A daughter of the founder of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, she was president of the Fund until 1993, overseeing important philanthropic decisions. Kaplan money, for example, supported the Human Rights Watch, New York Greenmarket, the New York Preservation League and the founding of the South Street Seaport Museum, among other major projects. Today Ms. Davidson is a Kaplan Fund trustee and runs its Furthermore program which bestows grants for publications about the city; natural and historic resources; and art, architecture, and design.
Last year must have been one of Ms. Davidson's busiest. She chaired the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial at the bidding of Governor Spitzer and co-launched OurHudson.org, an online forum on the future of the Hudson Valley. The two projects were intertwined, of course. The tag line for OurHudson is "After 400 years, it's time the Hudson Valley lived up to its potential."
A doer as well as a dreamer, Ms. Davidson knows that the Hudson needs a practical agenda, not more platitudes. She loves the idea of eco-docks installed up and down the Hudson River. One of the legacies of the Quadricentennial Commission, eco-docks "mean business," she said. "They do wonders for the towns they're attached to; they bring everyone to the river."
Another Commission legacy is the Walkway Over the Hudson, which opened last year at Poughkeepsie, and a proposal, now being considered in Washington, DC, to designate the Hudson
Valley part of the National Park Service.
Planning ahead, Ms. Davidson has already prepared recommendations for the new governor, with docks at the top of the list. "The thousand-strong OurHudson coalition of New Yorkers who care about the Hudson River, its harbor, and the life
along its shores, has written a letter that we will present to the new governor," she said. "The letter wishes him well; poor man, it isn't going to be easy! And we
spell out a pretty tall order for him: Give some real help to farmers,
to fishermen, to folks who need busses... give us long-needed
infrastructure. Along
with all these hard things, we also give the new Governor one pretty
manageable task: commit a relatively small amount of money to
installing simple, flexible eco-docks all along the river."
"Docks
could be the instrument to unify the whole waterway system -- its down
and up parts, the harbor and the river, giving them the connection and
integrity that seems so necessary, so obvious. We could reinvigorate
commerce and recreation, all the way down from the Mohawk River to the
Verrazano Narrows--and high time, too!"
When not devoting her time to her cherished Hudson Valley, Ms. Davidson is busy with Furthermore. "In
honor of the Quad, we assisted quite a few special
books," she said. "I marvel at how many folks keep wanting to write
books about the Hudson River, Hudson Valley history, all things New
York City, and the arts." "It is exciting to see how New York
keeps on becoming a city of water," she added. "MWA has been a terrific
leader in all this; in creative thinking about this great resource of
New York. I salute you all. Keep it up!" (back to top) |
FERRY FOLKS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD TO VISIT BROOKLYN
|
| Tom Fox of Harbor Experience Hosts Interferry Conference
 "The past year has definitely been challenging for the ferry industry. Now that the world's economies are pulling out of recession it's time
to change our focus from survival to growth," said Tom Fox in a note that went out to ferry colleagues around the world. The founder of NY Water Taxi, president and CEO of Harbor Experience Companies and president of the global association called Interferry, Mr. Fox has invited all the ferry owners and operators he knows, from Istanbul to Hong Kong to Stockholm, to come to Brooklyn next week for Interferry's 35th annual conference.
 Entitled "Navigating Through a New
World Economy," the conference -- taking place October 3 through 6 -- gives the association's 220 members from
33 countries the opportunity to learn about the industry's latest
developments and hear about experiences of fellow operators around
the world.
Mr. Fox has scheduled a lot of conference time on the water, promising delegates many opportunities to explore New York City's ferry system (above, NY Water Taxi; at right, NY Waterway), a behind-the-scenes look at the Staten Island Ferry, and visits to New York City's public terminals where bus, rail, auto and pedestrian connections allow 100,000 people to use the ferry system each day. (back to top)
|
CROSS HARBOR FREIGHT MOVEMENT -- WAVE OF THE FUTURE?
|
|
The Port Authority and the FHA Schedule Public Scoping Sessions on Cross Harbor Transit
Mostly empty water highways flow past our traffic-clogged concrete roads and under our congested bridges. Here and there a freight-laden barge gets to its destination via the waterways, but most freight is trucked through the region, west to east. That's because freight facilities and distribution centers are concentrated west of the Hudson River, and the big consumer markets of New York City, Long Island and New England are east of the Hudson. As the Port Authority web site points out, "The only direct
connection from this freight hub to the heavily populated region east
of the Hudson River is by truck over a limited number of congested
crossings."
The demand for goods in the metropolitan
region is expected to grow roughly 40% by 2035, which does not bode well for our reliance on trucking goods over aging roads and bridges. Experts have long pointed out that if more freight were transported
across the metropolitan region via water and rail, traffic congestion
would ease and air quality improve.
Freight transportation across New York Harbor is the focus of a new Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) being prepared by the Port Authority of New York and
New Jersey and the Federal
Highway Administration. Cross-harbor freight transportation alternatives could include upgrades to existing infrastructure, such as rail lines, rail yards and rail float operations (readers may recall that earlier this year, the Port Authority purchased Greenville Yard Rail Float Facility in Jersey City for redevelopment); truck and passenger vehicle congestion pricing incentives; expansion of the railcar float system; rail tunnel or multi-modal tunnel construction; or a combination railcar float/tunnel system. You can read details at www.crossharborstudy.com.
As it prepares the EIS, the Port Authority has scheduled informational meetings open to the public, known as "scoping sessions." Read the plan here, and then comment by November 15, 2010 via email to feedback@crossharborstudy.com or by mail to Cross Harbor Freight Program, c/o InGroup, Inc., PO Box 206 Midland Park, NJ 07432. Or, you may submit comments in person at any of the informational sessions below.
 October 5, 2010 · 6pm-8pm, Bronx Boro Hall (851 Grand Concourse)
-
October 7, 2010 · 1pm-3pm, North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (One Newark
Center , 17th Fl.)
- October 7, 2010 · 6pm-8pm, Jersey City Council Chambers (280 Grove St. ,
2nd Fl.)
- October 12, 2010 · 6pm-8pm, Brooklyn Boro Hall (209
Joralemon St.)
-
October 13, 2010 · 6pm-8pm, Queens Boro Hall (120-55 Queens Blvd., Room 213, Kew Gardens (back to top)
Photo by Robert Simko
|
|
VISION 2020: NYC COMPREHENSIVE WATERFRONT PLAN TO BE PRESENTED OCTOBER 12
|
|
Among Many Suggestions, Continuous Waterfront Greenways in All Boroughs Get a Special Push
Did you attend any of the waterfront planning workshops sponsored throughout the five boroughs by the City Planning Department earlier this year? There's a good chance you'll see your idea addressed in the draft recommendations of Vision 2020: The New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan being presented on October 12 at NYU.
After six months of outreach, eight public meetings and a year's worth of block-by-block analysis of the waterfront that took into account land use, public access, habitats and more, the Dept. of City Planning has put together a detailed document divided into programmatic recommendations, which refer to citywide policy and programmatic changes, and reach recommendations, which refer to goals and proposals for specific sites and areas along the 22 "reaches" or segments of the City's waterfront.
Click on the image to download, in separate files, specific reach recommendations for each of the five boroughs, as well as general programmatic recommendations. The final document, due at the end of this year, will lay out a 10-year plan to address issues on the waterfront and provide a pragmatic framework for development and revitalization.
Read a recap of the workshops here.
One proposal getting a special push is the Regional Plan Association's call for continuous waterfront greenways in all boroughs. Endorsed by the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, Sustainable South Bronx, Rockaway Waterfront Alliance, Bronx River Alliance, UPROSE, Transportation Alternatives and the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, this recommendation acknowledges Mayor Bloomberg's establishment of a Manhattan Waterfront Greenway and asks that the same thinking be applied all along the city's waterfront. RPA points out that much of the groundwork to accomplish this is already laid. Click here for more information about this proposal.
The October 12 meeting, which the public is encouraged to attend, will take place at 6pm, at Rosenthal Pavilion, NYU Kimmel Center for University Life, 60 Washington Square South, 10th floor. Comments will be noted at the meeting, or may be submitted online here or via email to waterfrontplan@planning.nyc.gov. The deadline for public comments is 5pm, November 12th, 2010. (back to top)
|
|
NYC OUTDOORS!
|
|
 Environmental Education Expo on October 6
Attention educators: looking for ideas? You'll find plenty at NYC Outdoors!, a free environmental education expo sponsored
by the River Project, NYC Soil & Water Conservation District and Wallerstein Collaborative for Urban Environmental Education at NYU Steinhardt. Government agencies such as the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and the NYC Department of Sanitation will explain their educational programs and discuss how to use parks as classrooms, and dozens more organizations will exhibit information about their in-class or field trip programs. Attendees will learn about programs in composting, growing oysters, fishing and seining, gardening, harvesting solar power and citizen science programs.
NYC Outdoors! will take place on Wednesday, October 6, 6pm to 9pm, at the NYU Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South. Please RSVP to kathleen.oliver@nyu.edu or call 212-992-9362.
And while you're online, just for the halibut, check out this beautiful underwater video made recently by a River Project diver at South Cove in Battery Park City. (back to top)
Photo courtesy of the River Project
|
|
10.10.10: GLOBAL WORK PARTY DAY
|
| 350.org Sponsors Another Day of Practical Action to Call Attention to the Climate Crisis
 In Seattle, volunteers will pick up trash along the industrial waterfront. In Shelburne, Canada, students will mark the high tide line with different projections for sea level rise. New Zealanders will rediscover the waterfront as they consider reducing their carbon footprints. That's a sampling of just the water-related activities planned around the world on October 10, 2010 to call attention to the climate crisis. There are thousands of activities planned that day -- from students in
Zimbabwe installing solar panels on a rural hospital to women in
Pakistan leading a solar-oven workshop for local villagers -- in conjunction with an event organized by 350.org called "Global Work Party Day."
Last year, people around the metropolitan region participated in a similar call to action by 350.org. Above, New Yorkers rallied and marched across the Brooklyn Bridge. This year there are plenty of Work Parties scheduled in the metro area. See for yourself.
Founded by activist and author Bill McKibben, 350.org is named for the number that most scientists agree is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The problem is, we're at 392 parts per million, and, according to 350.org, "unless we are able to rapidly return to below 350 ppm this century, we
risk reaching tipping points and irreversible impacts such as the
melting of the Greenland ice sheet and major methane releases from
increased permafrost melt."Click here to find an event near you to attend, or to schedule your own event. (back to top) |
|
LIVE FROM NEW YORK HARBOR, IT'S TOOT 'N' BLINK!
|
|
Fleets of Boats to Perform with Lights and Horns
An unusual New York spectacle will take place this Saturday night, October 2, 7pm to 7:30pm, when two fleets of boats in the harbor toot their horns in concert and blink their lights in a half hour of performance art.
Celebrating the boat and the harbor as musical instruments, this live-action maritime performance plus radio/internet broadcast is the finale of a festival focused on the work of Charlie Morrow, a Newark, NJ-based composer and sound artist.
Sound systems will be set up in Battery Park and Robert Wagner Park (Battery Park City) so that onlookers from the shore may enjoy the show in New York Harbor. The performance will be carried by WFMU 91.1 FM
First performed in 1982 on Lake Michigan as part of Chicago's New Music American Festival, Toot 'n' Blink is a performance of two fleets of boats -- private vessels, ferries, historic craft -- which have been auditioned and rehearsed according to the sound of their horns.
The Quay Side Fleet and the Night Boat Squadron  are conducted by radio announcers who describe the action. Click here for more details about Toot 'n' Blink, which is described as "a celebration of the expanding use of the waterfront and of machines as music-of-the-people." Here's more of an excerpt: "The boat captains move, toot and blink on command. The audience brings
FM radios or mobile internet devices to follow. The event will be conducted with
the permission and assistance of the US Coast Guard. The concert will
feature the historic steam whistle for the famous, ill-fated French
liner Normandie. In addition, the historic retired fireboat John J.
Harvey, accompanied by working NYPD fireboats Three Forty Three and
Firefighter II will provide a dramatic water display."
The production was originally performed to honor composer John Cage, who declared after the debut of Toot 'n' Blink, "I prefer the blinks." (back to top)
Photo by NYC fireboats, which will participate in the event, by Robert Simko
|
| MWA PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
|
| Expanding every week, the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance is more than a coalition; it's a force. We are
ferry captains, shipping executives, park directors, scientists,
sailors, paddlers, swimmers, teachers, urban planners, architects and
more. Together, we advocate for the best possible waterfront in the
best possible city, a waterfront that is clean and accessible to all,
with a robust maritime workforce and efficient, affordable waterborne
transportation. Join us! Contact Louis Kleinman at lkleinman@waterfrontalliance.org. Meet some Partners of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance: - Bimmy's Food made with Love
http://bimmys.com
Making food with love, and teaching people to care about others and take pride in what they do. - Launch 5
http://launch5.com
The
Launch 5 project is a volunteer effort and is now official as a not-for-profit
organization dedicated to environmental projects, search & rescue, education and historic preservation on the
Hudson River.
- Singles Under Sail
www.singlesundersail.com
The purpose of Singles Under Sail, Inc. is to bring together single people with an interest in
sailing, boating and related activities, and to provide them with
opportunities to share these activities.
- United Neighborhood Houses of New York
www.unhny.org
UNH promotes and strengthens the neighborhood-based, multi-service
approach to improving the lives of New Yorkers in need and the
communities in which they live. A membership organization rooted in the
history and values of the settlement house movement, UNH supports its
members through policy development, advocacy and capacity-building
activities. (back to top)
|
| WATERFRONT NEWS LINKS
|
| | |
|
|
