FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com june 11, 2015 • The Queens Courier 3 Plans for future Astoria ferry dock revealed BY LIAM LA GUERE [email protected]/@LiamLaGuerre City officials revealed renderings and information about the planned Astoria ferry dock in Hallets Cove at a meeting Thursday to hear residents’ concerns about the landing, which is expected to be complete in 2017. The new dock will be located off the promenade across from the Astoria Houses complex and will consist of an approximately 3,000-square-foot floating pier with two slots for ferries. The floating pier will have an attached, sloped walkway that connects to the promenade. Astoria’s ferry dock will be included as part of a new citywide ferry service that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s first introduced during his State of the City address earlier this year, and seeks to ease public transportation issues for current and future residents of the neighborhood. More than 600 people are expected to ride the Astoria ferry each day by 2025, according to stats from the New York City Economic Development Corporation. “Ferry service is going to provide a reinvigoration of our waterfront, but more importantly a vital transportation option,” Councilman Costa Constantinides said at the meeting. “This is not to be a luxury; we are not here tonight to talk about pleasure boating.” The proposed ferry dock is about a 20-minute walk from the nearest train station, the N and Q at Astoria Blvd., and often residents in the western Astoria area need to ride a bus to the train. Economic Development Corp. representatives said the ferry will cut commute times down for those that live in the most western part of the community and want to travel to Manhattan quickly. To alleviate residents’ concerns about security, gates to the dock will be locked when ferry service is closed. Parking, which some residents believe could become a possible issue, may not be drastically affected by the addition of the ferry, according to results of an Economic Development Corp. survey. The data shows that 90 percent of people will walk, bike or take the bus to the ferry, while only about 30 people would park in the neighborhood to use the water vessel. Not everyone was convinced. Some believe it may give an option for residents who live further east to use Astoria as a parking lot and take the ferry when going to Manhattan. “If they’re interviewing ferry riders in Manhattan, yes, no one is driving to ferries in Manhattan, but it’s a little quieter around here,” said Astoria resident Jonathan Corbin. “There is parking available, although minimal. There is some concern that it’s going to be very disruptive for residents.” Another possible issue brought up was the potential clash between ferries and kayaking in Hallets Cove. Constantinides said they are looking very closely at this situation and want a lively waterfront with a variety of uses, although little information was given at the event about how kayaking would be affected by ferry routes as well as what protections might be put in place for kayakers. “That river belongs to everybody,” said local kayaker Jean Cawley. “Kayaks are often called speed bumps by ferry operators. I don’t want there to be a Vision Zero in 20 years for the river.” Rendering courtesy NYCEDC MOS QUI TOES , GRAFFITI AND UN CER TAIN TY: HISTORY OF PROBLEMS FOR WHITESTONE SITE BY LIAM LA GUERE [email protected]/@LiamLaGuerre Retired firefighter Artie McCrossen, his wife, their son, and the family’s dog are the only residents on their side of a Whitestone block. Their former neighbors moved out and sold their properties decades earlier to the Catholic Charities Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens for part of the Cresthaven Country Club near the intersection of 150th Street and 6th Avenue. The club, which closed in 1989, was situated on 22 acres and consisted of a catering hall for weddings and other events, pools, and tennis and handball courts. Catholic Charities once operated a large summer camp on the land where hundreds of children played daily. About 16 acres were sold in 2000 and more than 100 homes were developed, leaving a pesky six-acre plot that surrounds McCrossen’s home on three sides. The lot has resurfaced in the news lately as developer Fulcrum Real Estate Advisors LLC recently purchased it for about $14 million through a foreclosure auction and plans to begin construction of a 45-home project this summer. But for about a decade McCrossen and his family have been living with the property, which has attracted rodents and garbage, and while developing it could be good, it comes with a level of uncertainty that troubles him. “I don’t know what’s going to happen next door, so should I put more money into this house?” McCrossen said. “I don’t know where I stand here.” McCrossen, 61, was born and grew up in the home. As a teenager, he worked part time cleaning tennis courts on the land. He was devastated when all the trees were removed from the land for a 50-home plan proposed by Whitestone Jewels LLC, which bought the land from the Catholic Charities in 2006 for $23.3 million. Whitestone Jewels started construction on a few homes on the property, before running out of money and slipping into foreclosure. For years, the six acres stayed untouched and the family lived with an imposing baby-bluecolored fence that surrounds the site. By 2012, the unkempt land fostered swarms of mosquitoes in weeds as high as 5 feet. It also attracted garbage, raccoons, opossums and hardnosed graffiti artists that made certain to leave their marks across the blue fence. After battles with raccoons and enough mosquito bites for a lifetime, McCrossen enlisted help from state Senator Tony Avella to eventually get the site cleaned up. McCrossen as well as the rest of the Whitestone community, has been fighting for only singlefamily homes on the site, and at an even larger vacant site nearby. While he feels optimistic that this time Fulcrum will be able to develop the site as the community envisions, McCrossen is a little exhausted with the issues of the site over the past decade and hopes to see action soon. “My main concern is how bad is it going to get before it gets better,” he said. “I’m to the point of just get it over with.” THE COURIER/by Liam La Guerre Artie McCrossen has had to deal with various problems living near the historic Cresthaven site, which is set for development starting this summer.
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