Locals continue to slam Coney ferry
Environmentalist blasts alleged ‘falsehoods’ in EDC paperwork
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COURIER L M BR B G IFE, DEC. 18–24, 2020 3
BY ROSE ADAMS
An environmentalist accused
a city agency of underplaying
the expected impact of
a ferry line planned for Coney
Island during a Dec. 14 meeting
about the project.
In a permit application for
the ferry’s dock, the government
reps claimed that the boat dock
was “consistent” with the surrounding
landscape and won’t
“increase traffi c” to the area.
Coney Island environmentalist
and historian Charles Denson
disputed those claims.
“Will the proposed action
result in an increase in traffi c
above current levels? You answered
no!” said Denson, who
contested both claims at the
meeting. “That is false.”
The quasi-governmental
Economic Development Corporation,
which runs the city’s
ferry system, said in the state’s
requisite permit application
that the landing pier would
fi t seamlessly into Kaiser
Park, the secluded greenspace
where the city is planning to
construct the terminal.
The new ferry line, which
is slated to be up and running
by the end of 2021, will
make stops at Kaiser Park,
Bay Ridge, and lower Manhattan
— cutting the arduous trip
from Coney Island to Manhattan
to a mere 35 minutes.
Many residents say they’re
in favor of the ferry, but environmentalists
charge that the
terminal’s construction will
stir up dormant pollutants in
Coney Island Creek, which is
currently under consideration
for Superfund status.
Dredging during construction
could potentially put their
health of residents who swim,
fi sh, or hold religious ceremonies
along the waterway at
risk, environmentalists add.
To try to assuage these
fears, representatives from
EDC spoke about their plans
to mitigate contamination.
“What we’re doing is being
done safely,” said James Wong,
the executive director of EDC’s
ferry division. “Just making
sure we’re keeping to promises
and making sure theres minimal
destruction to aquatic life.”
Dredging will begin in
January to ensure the creek is
deep enough to accommodate
the ferries, Wong and other
representatives said. Workers
will dredge up to two feet
of silt at only one section of
waterway by the mouth of the
creek, where representatives
claim there are no detectable
toxins, according to EDC.
To refrain from disturbing
aquatic life, dredging will
stop during the fl ounder and
horseshoe crab spawning seasons,
and workers will use a
“turbidity curtain” and “environmental
bucket” to ensure
that the upended soil doesn’t
spread to rest of the creek.
But environmentalists
claim that these so-called safeguards
are far from foolproof.
“Curtains fl are at the bottom;
they don’t contain the
toxins. Environmental buckets
leak,” charged Ida Sanoff
at the meeting, citing a 2015
video of contractors lifting up
an environmental bucket full
of contaminated sediment,
which is seen leaking back
into Gravesend Bay.
During the meeting, Denson
blasted EDC for allegedly claiming
that the ferry terminal’s
proposed location is not near
a former “waste management”
site — arguing that Calvert
Vaux Park, which lives across
the creek, was used as an illegal
dumping ground for decades,
and that a Sanitation Department
incinerator once operated
across from the park.
EDC representative Jennifer
Cass responded that the
park was not formally considered
a waste management site,
but did not further address
Denson’s accusations.
Though EDC has long
claimed that the ferries are
too small to dock safely on
the open ocean, community
members demanded that the
agency fi nd a way to build the
terminal on Coney Island’s
beach, a more common tourist
attraction than the creek.
“It may cost some more
money,” said Jeff Sanoff, who
chairs the board’s transportation
committee. “But I can’t
believe the engineers at EDC
can’t think of a solution when
we put a man on the moon.”
Environmentalists say that the new ferry slated for Coney Island Creek
could risk the health of swimmers and fi shers. Charles Denson
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