Coney Island creek ferry concerns...excerpt (apologies for the two ads i cant remove)
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Kathy Willens
Date: Mon, Dec 13, 2021 at 7:59 AM
Subject: Fwd: N.Y. Today:
To: Peter Dorosh
What you need to know for Monday.
It's Monday. We'll look at ferry service planned for Coney Island that critics say would disrupt the food chain for birds and wildlife. They also fear it could release toxic pollutants. We'll also look at a new statue of Frank Sinatra, dedicated on his 106th birthday. |
 | | Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times |
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New ferry service planned for Coney Island would cut the commuting time for people who work there, like employees at the J-R Market near where a pier for the ferries is to be built. Wilton Cartagena, the owner of the store, said most of his employees live in the Bronx and now spend four hours going to and from work. |
It would save them time. He said it would also bring customers to a neighborhood that has been "very neglected for a long time." |
But what is good for business may come at the expense of wildlife. And some residents are angry about the ferry project after hearing that scientists for the city's parks department said that city officials had pushed ahead with a plan to build the ferry landing despite concerns that the wildlife's food chain would be disrupted and toxic pollutants might be released. |
Coney Island Creek is popular with fishermen and even religious groups that perform baptisms there. It's also a destination for bird-watchers and birds they want to watch, like the white-winged dove and the thick-billed murre that fly all the way from Arctic. The birds look forward to delicious meals there: The creek is filled with horseshoe crabs, a major food source. |
My colleague Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura writes that the scientists have questioned whether there was pressure to meet Mayor Bill de Blasio's goal of connecting the five boroughs by water. Time is running short for de Blasio: His term in City Hall ends on Dec. 31. |
The scientists question if the rush was tied to redevelopment efforts on Coney Island — particularly luxury condominiums being built there by the billionaire John Catsimatidis. He has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying the city over the past three years to build a ferry stop on Coney Island. |
Catsimatidis, in an interview, said that sales of condo units hinged on an operational ferry service. He has already constructed two buildings and promoted them with advertisements that declared: "Ferry to Manhattan Coming Soon!" |
"As far as we're concerned, we built two beautiful buildings, and we spent $400 million," he said. "You know, that's a lot of money." He dismissed the environmental concerns with an expletive. |
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The scientists say that construction of the ferry pier would probably disrupt the crabs, who like quiet water. There are also fears that dredging during construction — and the waves in the wake of high-speed ferries — would release carcinogens like mercury, lead and dioxin that are trapped in the creek bed. Coney Island Creek Park is across the water from another park that is a former industrial dump. |
Concerns about the environmental impact arose almost as soon as the city issued a feasibility study in 2018, offering two locations for the pier: one to the east and the other to the west of the narrow waterway that connects the creek with Gravesend Bay. The Economic Development Corporation, a semi-independent city agency in charge of the ferry project, ultimately settled on the location to the west, saying it had more water depth and was less exposed to adverse weather. |
Several scientists from the parks department told The New York Times they had given their superiors extensive data showing the negative effects of ferry service from Coney Island Creek. |
The scientists said their comments were not reflected in an environmental-impact statement sent to regulators to help determine whether to issue a permit. They said the document concluded instead that there would be no significant environmental impact. |
Anessa Hodgson, a parks department spokeswoman, said that the environmental impact statement went through several rounds of review and that comments from the public were also taken into account. The department came to the "ultimate concurrence with the conclusions" outlined in the environmental-impact statement from the economic development agency, she said. |
The Economic Development Corporation said in an email that it took environmental concerns seriously and that construction would not have proceeded without full approval by the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Army Corps of Engineers. |
Still, local residents who oppose the ferry project questioned the process, saying that if the parks department had heeded its own scientists, regulators might have taken more time to assess the situation. That could have meant delaying the start of the ferry service to a later date, probably not until after de Blasio leaves office. |
Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus, whose district includes Coney Island and who has been leading the opposition to the Coney Island Creek location, said she wanted ferry service, but not at any cost. |
"We would be thrilled and do back flips if we have a ferry in Coney Island," she said. But she added, "Our health is so important that it's much more important to have it done the right way than any old way." |
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