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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, AUGUST 9, 2020
FERRY BAD!
BY ROSE ADAMS
Local civic leaders are calling
on offi cials to reconsider their
decision to build a new Coney Island
ferry terminal in the peninsula’s
notoriously contaminated
creek — arguing that the landing’s
construction could put residents
at risk.
“Toxins are present at high
levels in the material that will be
removed,” reads an Aug. 3 letter
that Community Board 13 sent to
the city’s Economic Development
Corporation. “Some of these toxins
can cause cancer, others,
such as lead, can cause lifelong
developmental problems in children.”
The New York City Economic
Development Corporation, a
quasi-governmental agency in
charge of the new Coney Island
ferry line, has fi led a permit to begin
building the ferry terminal at
the Kaiser Park pier by Bayview
Avenue.
The new line, which will make
stops in Bay Ridge and lower
Manhattan, is part of Mayor
Bill de Blasio’s plan to dramatically
expand the ferry service to
transit-starved neighborhoods
throughout the city. Travelers
will pay $2.75 per ride and are
allowed one transfer — but each
ticket will require a nearly $10
subsidy from the city, EDC offi -
cials said in February.
The new Coney Island ferry
line will cut the travel time between
the neighborhood’s west
end and Manhattan by about
30 minutes, and is still slated to
be up and running by the end of
2021, EDC spokesman Christopher
Singleton said on July 29.
Most residents have welcomed
the new ferry, but many argue
that the terminal’s placement in
Kaiser Park will disrupt the west
end’s residential neighborhood
and confuse tourists, who will
have to walk more than one mile
to reach the area’s amusement
district.
Locals also charge that the
construction of the terminal in
the infamously contaminated
Coney Island Creek may dust up
settled toxins, threatening local
fi shermen, swimmers, and even
residents living nearby.
“Remember that after September
11th, people were told that the
air in downtown Manhattan was
safe. The rise in cancer deaths occurred
several years after exposure,”
reads the letter by Community
Board 13 Environment and
Sanitation Committee Co-Chair
Jeff Sanoff. “That is why we need
to be especially vigilant about the
health of our community.”
The creek, which is under
consideration for federal Superfund
status, contains dangerous
levels of mercury, lead, and pesticides
— and may even have some
unexploded ordinances, according
to Brighton Beach environmentalist
Ida Sanoff, who’s married
to Jeff Sanoff.
“Here we have a situation
where we know what the toxins
are. Some are toxic to marine
life, and some are toxic to human
life,” said Ida, who has long opposed
the ferry terminal’s construction
in Coney Island Creek.
“I cant think of any area in New
York City where they’re removing
such toxic material where
people are getting baptized or
fi shing or swimming.”
The community board’s letter
also calls on the city to extend
the public comment period in response
to the Coney Island ferry
terminal by 90 days, giving locals
more time to voice their concerns
about the proposed location. The
current deadline for public responses
is Aug. 21, which does not
give locals enough time to submit
comments, the board alleges.
“This project will have impacts
on our community but if
we do not formally comment
NOW, we will have NO opportunity
to do so in the future,” reads
the letter. “We need more time to
inform the community of what
is happening and give them the
opportunity to comment if they
wish to do so.”
One local leader emphasized
that the community board does
not collectively oppose the creation
of a Coney Island ferry line;
its members simply want to ensure
the city takes the proper precautions.
“If it comes in, we just want to
make sure it’s done safely,” said
Eddie Mark, the district manager
of Community Board 13. “It
doesn’t say we’re against it, just
that we want it done correctly.”
BY BEN VERDE
Bedford-Stuyvesant residents
are urging the city to place
more trash cans in their neighborhood,
which they claim sees
more litter than Brooklyn’s ritzier
areas because of a shortage of
garbage receptacles.
“I go to Williamsburg, and I
see on their commercial block
down Bedford Avenue, on every
single corner, not only will there
be one trash can, there will actually
be up to two or three trash
cans on every single corner for
blocks and blocks,” said Bed-
Stuy local Cory Choy.
Trash cans are particularly
lacking along the busy, commercial
corridors, causing litter to
pile up, Choy added.
“There either is not a trash
can where there should be a
trash can, or there aren’t enough
trash cans,” said Cory Choy, a
15-year Bedford-Stuyvesant resident
who launched a digital organizing
campaign to bring more
bins to the neighborhood.
According to Choy, the Department
of Sanitation removed
a number of wastebaskets in the
neighborhood years ago after
residents began illegally dumping
household trash into them, a
tactic the agency confi rmed they
sometimes use when bins are
misused.
The city has removed trash
cans in multiple neighborhoods,
such as when they removed over
200 litter bins overnight due to
household trash being disposed
in them, despite complaints of
litter issues, according to the
New York Times.
But Choy said removing the
bins did nothing to deter the trash
problem, and compared it to the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s
program that removed
trash cans in subway stations in
an effort to reduce litter and track
fi res, which was scrapped after
the agency found more effi cient
ways to keep stations clean.
To gauge his neighbors’ opinions
on the issue, Choy is distributing
a Google sheet for locals
to input data on where they
think new cans are needed. Since
launching the form last week, he
says the responses he’s gotten
show a real yearning for more
services in the neighborhood.
“There’s basically two responses
that I get,” he said. “I
get ‘this is a great idea, wow.’
And then I get ‘gosh I also have
been trying to get a trash can on
X-Y corner forever, I call 311 constantly
and get no response.’”
Once a signifi cant amount of
data is collected, Choy plans on
delivering it to the Department
of Sanitation, local councilmembers,
and Community Board 3.
But they have an uphill battle
ahead of them. A dramatic loss in
revenue for the city has led to over
$100 million in cuts to sanitation
services in the most recent budget,
which has led to trash pile-ups
across the city.
Among the programs slashed
by the city, litter basket collection
was cut substantially, with service
decreasing by more than 60
percent compared to last summer,
according to the city.
Coney Island leaders warn against building
ferry terminal in contaminated creek
Local leaders are calling on the city to closely examine the location of the new Coney Island ferry terminal in Coney
Island Creek. City of New York
Cory Choy wants to see more trash cans in Bed-Stuy. Photo by Ben Verde
Trash talk!
Bedford-Stuyvesant residents
push for more trash cans