FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM AUGUST 15, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 11
Astoria residents & reps continue push for NYC Ferry
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th e residents on the Hallets Point peninsula
used a neighborhood barbecue and
ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday as
a platform to cook up a call for expanded
ferry service between the Astoria stop and
the Upper East Side.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and
Councilman Costa Constantinides joined
members of the Hallets Point Alliance and
the Waterfront Alliance to push for a new
ferry connection between the existing
landings on either side of the East River.
“We seem to have everything here on
the waterfront. We’re just 1,000 feet from
Manhattan. We don’t need a bridge. What
we need is a ferry system. We have the
Hallets Point dock and we have the dock
at 90th Street. We just need the city to provide
us with the service,” said Maloney.
While the advocates’ speeches hinged on
the issue of transit access, the Hallets Point
Alliance combined the press event with a
celebration and ribbon-cutting for its new
Hallets Point Play community space.
Th e alliance threw a barbecue for the
neighborhood and set up bouncy castles
as well as a Bio Bus science center on
the expansive blacktop space, which functioned
as a storage site for construction
materials before it was recently cleared
off and fi lled with a soundstage and picnic
tables.
The Halletts Point Alliance held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday that functioned as a call for expanded ferry service.
Th e newly formed alliance brings together
members of the Durst Organization,
which is in the midst of building a seven
building, mixed-use megaproject on
the peninsula, and the tenants organization
of the 22-building Astoria Houses
New York City Housing Authority project.
Helena Durst, the principal of the Durst
Organization, said that her goal in opening
the space, which will host recreational
activities like waterfront yoga, backyard
games and silent discos, was to “activate
the community.”
Additionally, the ferry would add a valuable
transit option to the fi rst of the Durst
towers, which opened in February, with
studios starting at $2,150 per month and
one-bedrooms from $2,525 per month.
“As they say in real estate: location, location,
location. And that also means transportation
and amenities,” said Durst, adding
that the developer had also worked to
bring grocer Brooklyn Harvest Market to
the neighborhood – the fi rst-ever Queensbased
location.
Waterfront Alliance senior director
Karen Imas, on the other hand, stressed
the potential benefi t of the ferry route
to the over 3,000 residents of the Astoria
Houses, which sits across the street from
the new recreation space.
“Th is is an equity issue. Th is community
here from the Astoria Houses is far
from mass transit and it takes multiple
Max Parrott/QNS
transfers to the Upper East Side and
you’re talking about academic institutions,
health care institutions, recreational
centers,” she said.
By Imas’ estimation a trip between the
two ferry landings on mass transit currently
requires a bus, two trains and a
10-minute walk, taking at least an hour.
Th e agency in charge of the ferry, the
New York City Economic Development
Corporation, has indicated that it would
consider the extension but it would not be
able to start work on it until aft er 2021 as
a result of other projects.
“We would encourage them to move
faster — to look at 2020,” said Imas. “It
doesn’t seem like a really heavy lift .”
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