On Monday, Greg O'Connell and I co-chaired a very well-attended meeting of the CB6 Economic and Waterfront Development Committee. The occasion for the meeting was to hear from the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) about its plans for the Atlantic Basin, a key portion of the Red Hook waterfront, and to hear presentations by Tom Fox of New York Water Taxi and Carolina Salguero of PortSide New York. Phoenix Beverages (no website?) was also there to answer questions.
Currently, EDC expects to complete negotiating a lease by March 2009 for Phoenix to occupy Pier 11. There will also be two RFP's (requests for proposals) in February 2009: one for a vessel tie-up and one for a cultural vessel.
Those who follow waterfront news may recall that EDC had earlier issued RFP's for Piers 7 through 12, which the City expected to acquire from the Port Authority. Those plans were scuttled when the Port Authority granted American Stevedoring a ten-year lease extension for Piers 7 through 10.
At the meeting, I and others asked EDC not to rush into new commitments for Pier 11 until the committee and the community had a chance to be heard by the Port Authority regarding the possibility of releasing Pier 7 for alternative use. CB6 will reach out to the Port Authority to attend the committee's next meeting.
Why are they planning for the Atlantic Basin to be the "gateway" to Governors Island - a very distant place from mass transporation? Cobble Hillers have been robbed of a park at Piers 1 to 6 so we hoped for at least a ferry from Pier 6 out to Governor's Island. Now they are robbing us of that, too. There is no mass transit to get people to this supposed ferry in the desolate area around pier 11. Why on earth are these planners not thinking of pier 6 as the gateway ? Pier 6 is the closest pier to subways and buses - and to a huge population of park-staved families! Please advocate for this!
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