RED HOOK STOP ON CITYWIDE FERRY SERVICE ANNOUNCED

RED HOOK CITYWIDE FERRY SERVICE

Yesterday, the de Blasio Administration and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) announced that one of the 21 Citywide Ferry Service's stops will be located at Atlantic Basin. The Red Hook Ferry Landing will be on one of five routes, the South Brooklyn route, that are due to start launching next summer, with all routes expected to be fully operational by Summer 2018.

Fares will be equal to the price of one subway ride, $2.75, with free transfers to any other ferry route within the system. The Mayor's office estimates the ferry service will generate at least 155 new jobs in the New York Harbor.

Links to details and more info below. 

More info:

http://www.nycedc.com/project/citywide-ferry-service

http://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/627-16/de-blasio-administration-location-new-red-hook-ferry-landing

http://www.citywideferry.nyc/

Job opportunities:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/citywide-ferry/careers?trk=job_view_topcard_company_name

Brooklyn Greenway Initiative Grand Opening

You are invited to Brooklyn Greenway Initiative's "grand opening" open house. Event sponsors include: Brooklyn Brewery; Waterfront Wines & Spirits; Nine Cakes and Fairway.

Event: Brooklyn Greenway Initiative Open House
Host: Brian McCormick, Meg Fellerath, Milton Puryear
Time: Thursday, March 22, 2012 05:00PM
Location: New Greenway Office
Address: 153 Columbia Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231

RSVP to Brian at bmccormick@brooklyngreenway.org. 

Parents Needed for Transportation Survey

Transportation Alternatives is NYC's leading advocacy group for pedestrians, cyclists, and mass transit users and they are now beginning a street study comparing Brooklyn neighborhoods, one of which will be the Columbia Waterfront. T.A. is seeking parents for a 15-25 minute survey about themselves, their physical activity, and their neighborhood. Participating families will receive a small gift in appreciation of their time and input. Full details are available by clicking on the  adjacent flyer or contacting Stephanie Kneeshaw-Price, stephanie@transalt.org.

Improvements to the B61

Good news for the B61!

Monday, the MTA board voted to add buses to Brooklyn’s B61 route during the evening rush hour. The move, part of a package of changes to bus schedules citywide, will mean that buses on the route will come more frequently and follows a study on the bus line released by Brooklyn elected officials and community groups in December.

Read the rest of the news here: 
http://bradlander.com/news/updates/following-study-mta-adds-buses-to-brooklyn-s-b61-bus-route


Big thanks to our City Councilmember Brad Lander and all the volunteers who collected data on our overpopulated bus route. 

Let's get in on this Bike Share!

A bike share station in Barcelona

The city is introducing a bike share and wants to know where the bike share stations should be.

Go to this site to vote for sites in the Columbia Waterfront:
 
http://a841-tfpweb.nyc.gov/bikeshare/

The bike share will be privately operated. Users can rent a bike with a membership card or credit card and return it to any bike share station.

Hooray for bike racks!

You may have wondered, as I did, how all the new bike racks appeared overnight in our neighborhood last month. This interview with Brad Kerr, a member of our Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association (CoWNA), sheds some light:

http://seeclickfix.blogspot.com/2011/06/bike-friendly-fix-in-brooklyn.html

Brad and ten neighbors began a year ago by documenting our need for bike parking with an app called SeeClickFix, but he credits Dave Abraham from Transportation Alternatives for getting the bike racks installed.

His advice for anyone looking to make improvements to the neighborhood is to seek out "others who have experience with your issue." Thank you to Brad, Dave Abraham, and all our neighbors who worked on this project. Neighborlujah!

A Transportation Alternative

Did you know that there is a commuter van that serves the old B71 bus route on Union Street? Meet Osmond, whose van company was approved by the Taxi and Limousine Commission to serve our area and the old B71 route. He's been taking me to work every day since December, shaving 30 minutes or more off an unpleasant commute on two buses. I tell him he's my hero, but he truly is a champion for our neighborhood.

When the MTA eliminated the B71 bus last summer it was a big loss for our isolated community. To get across town through Park Slope by bus we now have to take the B61 either downtown and change buses, or meander through Red Hook to get to the north Slope. Commuter van companies were offered the route to give riders an alternative.

Because the ridership is still low, they don't make regular stops unless you call them first to arrange it. Call the number posted at the bus stop, 718-676-0504, or you can call Osmond directly on his cell: 347-526-9504. Rides are $2 cash. Weekdays he has been picking up riders at Union and Columbia St at 7:55 a.m. and 9:15 a.m. As demand increases they will introduce a second van. He has a few other regular riders during the day, but the van needs more business to making serving our neighborhood worthwhile. In fact, Osmond has fought to keep working here because he likes this area and believes demand will grow.

If you work in Gowanus, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, or Crown Heights, or want a direct ride to the 4th and Union train, the Food Coop, Central Library, Prospect Park, Brooklyn Museum or Botanic Garden, give Osmond a call.

Brooklyn Winery to Host April 7th Greenway Benefit!

Spring is finally just around the corner, and Brooklyn Greenway Initiative (BGI) is celebrating the season with a “Spring in Kings” party on Thursday, April 7^th at the new Brooklyn Winery. BGI is the 501 c 3 non-profit organization planning for the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway and its long-term stewardship.

“It is our honor and pleasure to host the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway spring fundraiser,” said Brooklyn Winery co-founder Brian Leventhal. “The greenway is one of the great projects that is making Brooklyn, and more specifically Williamsburg, a better place to live. I used the bike lanes along Kent Avenue last spring and summer and I am excited to see them expanded.”

Brooklyn Winery is an urban winery based in Williamsburg that allows people to make their own wine from crushing their grapes to bottling. This unique experience includes hands-on wine making instruction from wine maker Conor McCormack. Brooklyn Winery's first house wines (Riesling, Chardonnay and Rosé) will be released this May.

The April 7^th greenway party will surely be a rousing good time, where guests will enjoy wine (of course!), house hors d’oeuvres, Brooklyn Brewery beer and live music. Brooklyn Winery’s expansive interior courtyard will also be open to celebrate the arrival of spring.

An array of unique Brooklyn-themed raffle items will be featured, including a Brooklyn Historical Society family membership, gift certificates to Brooklyn Winery and Film Biz Prop Shop, your own custom designed hat from Hats by Nadege, a bicycle necklace crafted by Karen Overton and more!

Guests will also learn about the BGI & Recycle-A- Bicycle (RAB) collaborative project engaging students from International High School in the greenway planning process. RAB bicycle jewelry, including bracelets from inner tubes, earrings & necklaces from small bicycle parts will be on sale to support this joint endeavor.

Brooklyn Winery’s unique décor was created from salvaged and reclaimed materials. Brian McCormick, BGI co-founder and Director of Development said, “After visiting the Brooklyn Winery space, we knew it would be ideal for our spring benefit. It’s warm and homey with an old world feel.”

“The bonus,” continued McCormick, “is that the Brooklyn Winery is practically a stone’s throw from the Greenway, which is a great example of the entrepreneurial vitality and vision taking root as new businesses open in neighborhoods near the Greenway route”.

“Spring in Kings” takes place Thursday, April 7^th, 6:00-9:00PM at Brooklyn Winery, 213 North 8^th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Advance tickets are $50 through April 3rd (extended from previous date of 3/31) at www.brooklyngreenway.org.

Fix the Ditch - Final BQE Enhancement study results and survey!

Earlier this month, the New York City Economic Development Corp. (NYC EDC) hosted its final workshop as part of the BQE Enhancement study, a study that aims to find improvement opportunities along the BQE from Atlantic Ave. to Hamilton Avenue. This workshop included the unveiling of renderings that the study's team of architects have come up with (a selection shown above and below). These design ideas include features that will help with noise reduction, pollution mitigation, neighborhood beautification, improved safety, and improved neighborhood connections.

The final results of this project will be unveiled in 2011, but there is still a chance to make community input heard through an online survey that will close on 12/1/10. As the Columbia Waterfront is defined by the same cross streets as this study, it is critical for local residents to make their visions and opinions known.

The survey is available here. If you would like to do more than just the survey, Council Member Lander has also asked for people to send input to his office be emailing lander { at } council.nyc.gov.

Before you take the survey, you may want to view the entire presentation from the final workshop here. Other information and previous presentations are also available here. Finally, a selection of some other news coverage related to this presentation and study can be found below.


Curbed: "Here Are Three Ways to Make the BQE Less Horrible"
Brownstoner: "Big Money to Improve the BQE Ditch"
Brooklyn Paper: "Three Sum! City likes BQE fix plan, but balks at price"

BQE Enhancement Stakeholder Meeting on 11/15

DETAILS
The BQE Enhancement project is a joint effort between the City and your community to improve the pedestrian environment along the BQE, between Atlantic and Hamilton Avenues. NYCEDC is hosting a series of collaborative workshops in 2010 to develop a vision to improve the study area. At the first workshop in May, designers solicited input and local experience about this section of the BQE. At the second workshop in July, designers presented several alternatives for the community’s consideration.

The final meeting will be a presentation of refined alternatives, and cost estimates for each, as well as a discussion of next steps.

WORKSHOP 3
When: Monday, November 15th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Long Island College Hospital (LICH), Avram Conference Center, Rooms A & B
339 Hicks Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201

Join your neighbors at our third and final design workshop, so we can work together to improve the connections among the Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, and Columbia Street Waterfront neighborhoods.

Please RSVP to BQE@nycedc.com

Former B71 rider(s) needed for "People's Hearing"

The Straphangers Campaign is looking for a former B71 rider to speak at a "People's Hearing" on Tuesday, July 13th at 5 pm.
This event will take place at Cooper Union in Manhattan before the MTA's public hearing on Station Booth Closures. If you are interested in participating, please contact Cate Contino at ccontino { at } nypirg.org or by calling 212.349.6460.

BQE Enhancement - Community Design Workshop - July 20th

BQE Enhancement - Community Design Workshop
Tuesday, July 20th, 6:30-8:30
Location: Long Island College Hospital

For more information about this project click here. For a presentation from the previous workshop in May of 2010 on this subject, click here

"Save the B71" rally recap

Here are some pictures from today's rally to save the B71 bus. The event started by a group of Columbia Waterfront and Carroll Gardens residents boarding the bus at the Columbia and Henry Street stops and riding it over to the rally on Smith. The riders were greeted by a small crowd that had already started to gather just before 5.

After 5 o clock hit, the crowd grew even larger, eventually growing to include elected officials and many of their staff members who showed up to help support the cause. Brad Lander, Letitia James, staff from Joan Millman's office, staff from Daniel Squadron's office, representatives from Marty Markowitz's office, members of COWNA, members of the Cobble Hill Association, and members of the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association, were all present, among others.

Some of the most exciting moments of the rally included when B71 buses drove by with everyone cheering and when Brad Lander invited children to step in front of the crowd and talk about what they use the B71 for. School and the dentist seemed to be some popular destinations, as opposed to the more expected destinations such as Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Children's Museum, or the the Botanic Garden.

Also worth noting from what was said by many is how this bus connects neighborhoods that aren't otherwise connected and serves as the easiest way for disabled and elderly citizens to travel.

While the MTA says this bus and many others are a done deal, we gathered to say NO and will continue to look to our elected officials for more support and action.

Check out some more pictures and comments at the Urban Meadow blog

Also check out this "Save the B71" video that a local student made:

Phoenix Beverages is still at it!

The relief that was felt last week upon hearing that elected officials and Phoenix Beverages had come up with an interim solution has turned back into frustration and disappointment. Starting yesterday, June 21st, Phoenix Beverages trucks (aka Long Feng beer trucks) were supposed to stop using Columbia St. and instead use the BQE when traveling between Pier 11, where they unload empty bottles to be recycled, and Pier 7, where they load up on beer to be delivered the next day.

As of today, June 22nd, they have not lived up to their promise. Numerous trucks were reported as traveling up and down Columbia St. all day today. I saw a few myself, got emailed about some, and talked to others who also saw some. Yesterday I also saw a Twitter posting that asked why the trucks were still being spotted.

I would like to urge local residents and businesses to make more noise about this. COWNA has been in frequent contact with elected officials about this, and elected officials have been keeping the pressure on Phoenix and EDC, but apparently its not enough.

I would also like to thank Council Member Lander's office, State Senator Squadron's office, and all of our other elected officials for the close attention they have been paying to this matter. I'm confident that we can come up with a solution and get these trucks off of our local streets as originally promised.

For some recent background information on this topic, check out these articles and posts:

WOCS: Council Member Lander's Columbia Waterfront Update
Brooklyn Paper: City and beer company raise a glass on Columbia compromise
A View From the Hook: Phoenix Beverages and the NYCEDC are LIARS
Daily News: Beer distributor Phoenix Beverages infuriates Red Hook residents with noisy delivery route
Brooklyn Paper: Its a booze cruise on Columbia St. thanks to beer trucks
WOCS: Phoenix Beverages has arrived


Photo above taken today, June 22nd, at approximately 1:45pm. Submitted by anonymous source.

Video: How to Get Your NYC Bike Racks

Check out this great instructional video by Streetfilms about factors needed for an ideal bike rack location



....and now that you know that, come out and help COWNA find bike rack locations throughout the Columbia Waterfront this Saturday!

Council Member Lander's Columbia Waterfront update

Council Member Brad Lander has been keeping busy with Columbia Street related issues - greener ports, safer pedestrian routes, and finding solutions for traffic issues including Phoenix Beverage beer trucks. Below is the Columbia Waterfront email that his office sent out this week. Be sure to pay close attention to the Greener Ports City Council hearing that he is organizing for this Thursday.

----
Dear Columbia Waterfront Neighbors:

I wanted to share with you some quick updates on a few neighborhood issues that affect the area along the Columbia Street Waterfront:

Greener Ports - City Council hearing this Thursday:

I hope you can join us for a hearing of the City Council's Waterfronts Committee on efforts to promote greener ports in the NY/NJ harbor. I've been pushing for this hearing, so that we can learn what the Port Authority & the Economic Development Committee (EDC) are doing to move the Port to cleaner trucks, cleaner ships, and cleaner equipment that are better for the region as a whole, and for port neighborhoods in particular.

The hearing is on all of the New York City-side parts of the Port, not just the Columbia Waterfront/Red Hook piers, but of course it is a highly relevant locally, and, we'll also hear from advocates about what other cities around the country (and the world) are doing to move toward 21st century ports. I hope you'll join us if you can.

When: June 17th at 1 PM
Where: 250 Broadway, 14th Floor

Safer pedestrian access to Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6
I hope that by now many of you have had the chance to take advantage of the newly opened Pier 6 section of Brooklyn Bridge Park. I have been contacted by a number of you about designing safer pedestrian routes from Cobble Hill to Pier 6, to enable pedestrians (many with kids, to get to the great new playground) to navigate the trip down either Columbia or Atlantic, across the BQE entrance ramps, across their Pier 7 truck gate.

In response to your concerns, we reached out to the NYC Department of Transportation. They are aware of the problem and working to design solutions. They indicated they would have some designs to show us in the next two weeks. We will keep you posted on this.

Phoenix Beverage trucks: a temporary solution

I have heard from many of you about the nuisance caused by the Phoenix beverage delivery trucks that that have been rumbling down Columbia Street in great numbers over the past few weeks.

On Friday, local elected officials (Senator Squadron, Congressman Nadler's office, Congresswoman Velazquez' office, Assemblywoman Millman's office and I) held a meeting with EDC, the Port Authority, Phoenix Beverage, and other stakeholders to discuss the delivery trucks.

We learned, to our displeasure, that while EDC has committed that Phoenix trucks would be staying internal to the Port (and would not run on local streets), the EDC and Phoenix feel that their commitment only applied to overweight/container trucks and that they always knew that delivery trucks would run on local streets (with Van Brunt - Columbia as the truck route). The other local electeds and I were extremely unhappy with this explanation, and are pushing EDC and Phoenix to make alternative plans that get this high volume of trucks off Columbia Street, where we believe they pose a very real danger to pedestrians and local traffic.

A temporary solution: We are pleased to report that at Friday's meeting a temporary solution was announced: Starting next Monday, June 21st, and until the reconstruction of Van Brunt Street (the dedicated truck route, which is currently under construction) is complete, Phoenix and the Teamsters have agreed to drive the empty delivery trucks on the BQE (entering at Hamilton Avenue, exiting at Atlantic Avenue). This will obviously add substantial time to their trips, but it will get them off the local streets.

Longer-term solution still needed: Phoenix and EDC only committed to the BQE route until the reconstruction of Van Brunt Street is complete -- which will reportedly take about another 6 months. At the meeting, we pushed for a permanent solution, and discussed a number of potential alternatives. EDC is going to take a look at options, and we will have another meeting this summer, to work toward a long-term answer to the problem.

As always, if you have questions or concerns about any of these issues, please feel free to contact my office at 718 499 1090. And I hope to see many of you at the Green Ports hearing on Thursday.

Brad

Help get more bike racks for our neighborhood this Saturday!

Saturday, 6/19/10
Corner of Union and Columbia
11 AM

This Saturday, join members of the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association (COWNA) and Transportation Alternatives as we survey the neighborhood for new bike rack locations. More bike racks will not only make bike parking easier for Columbia Waterfront residents, but will make it easier for visitors from outside of our neighborhood to bike over, park, and walk around enjoying local businesses, events, parks, and more.

The event will begin with a training by Daniel Latorre, the creator of a website called FixCity that helps to identify bike rack locations and submit requests directly to the DOT in batches. If you have a smartphone, please bring it along as we will be able to use them to upload requests to the FixCity site instantly. If you don't have a smartphone, don't worry, because we will have instructions and forms in paper format that can be taken home to upload via computer or passed off to smart phone carriers.

Once the training portion is over, we will break up into groups and scout potential bike rack locations throughout the neighborhood!

Help save the B71 Bus!

As if our neighborhood wasn't isolated enough!!
Please participate in this petition.

COWNA General Meeting - Wednesday, 5/12 at the Urban Meadow

The Spring General Meeting of the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association will take place this Wednesday, 5/12. The agenda will include:

• A presentation by Ana Baptiste of the Ironbound Community Corp. on behalf of the Coalition for Healthy Ports.
• A review of progress in our efforts to improve safety on Columbia Street.
• Status of the Columbia Street Reconstruction Project.
• Report on the BQE Enhancement Study workshop.
• Report on the salt pile.
• Announcement of an effort to obtain bike racks for the neighborhood.
• Committee updates.

Location: The Urban Meadow (President Street at Van Brunt)

In case of rain: 29 Tiffany Place, Penthouse Community Room

Time: 6:45pm (please come on time so we can make use of daylight)

Please spread the word!

Tree killed in accident around 4/9/10

We are a little backlogged on posting, but since we have used the blog as somewhat of a record on traffic issues around Columbia St. we didn't want to let this one slip through the cracks.

Around April 9th, 2010, a vehicle seems to have gone off road and hit one of the young trees on Columbia St. near Warren. We don't have any details other than photos submitted by a reader and personally seeing the tree during the Tree Brigade event. Its very unfortunate to lose a tree in the neighborhood. We hope no one else was hurt.