Resident Sounds off on Toxic Ferry Landing

The following emotional plea was written by Coney Island resident Frances Starr.

Mr. Treyger, speaking like a true politician, throwing facts out there as if it tells the whole story. But the truth is many who oppose this ferry at its current location also attended those meetings, and have been in the fight for environmental justice longer than you have been a politician. What’s even more important is that the voices you are trying to silence are the voice of people who voted for you and who should matter to you. 

Let’s take a look at some of the things you listed 

Commuting:

MTA: I am a commuter who has many issues with the MTA. Why not fight, along with our other politicos, to change what you know is the unfair treatment of the MTA towards our community, instead of choosing to destroy one of the few open spaces we have left.

The Express buses from 

37th Street

takes about 30 to 40 minutes to get into the city where you can also transfer directly to the subway. However, it only runs from 

37th Street

about 4 times in the mornings on weekdays. Why not fight to change that. More importantly, there is no additional cost to the commuter. Unlike the ferry which according EDC at a recent meeting I attended, there is an additional cost because the ferry and the subway because they are not on the same “link”. So how does that reduce the commuting time

and cost to your constituent whose interest you claim to look after?

Parks: You stated that you just passed a $10 million bill. What percentage of that money is really for the parks and why didn’t you pass that before you consider destroying the only open space left in Coney Island. Ironically, according to the NYTimes article, original documents from Parks did not endorsed the current ferry location. Were you not aware of that and did you have a part in the redaction of the original document?

Business increase: Why would people travel from other areas to come shop in Coney Island when they have similar and even better shops in their neighborhood? Are you trying to build the foundation of a mall that the existing residents don’t know about? That would be an incentive. Otherwise it’s not likely that the ferry would be delivering products to the existing stores. There aren’t any major businesses except some mom and pop stores, bodegas, supermarkets, and laundromats. If it’s about attracting businesses to the amusement area, would it not have been easier on the ocean side nearer the amusement area and not a mile away? EDC thought so in the past.

You are correct to note that the open spaces which was once Coney Island continues to shrink contrary to promises from politicians like yourself and government agencies who in the past promised that no new development would be higher that the Parachute Jump. Did you even consider how that affects the residents nearby? Are you aware what happens when you bring in more and more people in an area that cannot sustain them. You can easily solve that one, stop these major developments , you should have forced a moratorium and focus on building more schools and cultural and vocational programs. What about the creek itself? It’s hard enough to keep up with the garbage, now you expect, and in the words of the EDC representative hundreds on the weekends. Did you consider the traffic and congestion, the fight for parking which is already a problem in our neighborhood when you decided to place the ferry at that location there? You cited environmental justice but where is the “justice” in that?

Petition: I understand that many of the petitions which was skewed and based on selected biases because of where they were collected and how they were collected. In fact at a recent CB13 we were told that many of the signatures were taken in some of the housing complexes (many are not directly affected by the existing location.) 
Another location was at the subway where people in transit were asked “Do you want a ferry in Coney Island” of course we all do, but they we’re not informed where the ferry would be located nor were they vetted on whether or not they themselves lived in the area. I should know since I was one of them. 
Community, Did you actually speak to the people who have homes near the proposed existing location because the majority of them signed recent petitions not to have the ferry at that location because they did not realize it would be that close to their homes.  

People supported the ferry because they assumed that the ferry will be on the bay side. The same side that had ferried years ago, the same side where promoted the subway series between Brooklyn Cyclones and the Staten Island Yankees; they were able to have a boat from Coney Island to Staten Island. Was engineering smarter then than engineering today? Oh I forgot they can make it a trip to Rockaway on the same Bay but the cannot make an stop at Coney Island.
Hypocrisy: 
Toxic materials… I recall you once spoke at a rally about how toxic the water in the creek is and that it should be cleaned up not dredged. One of the reason you cited was that many families fish there for probably the only meal they are able to afford. But now you want to add to it’s toxicity by advocating the certain probability of constant dredging, which will happens since the army corps of engineer has not been able to resolve the shifting and accumulating sand problem on the creek side. This is what we call a Tartuffe. 
Finally in a report, EDC indicated out that the air quality would be adversely affected by the ferry, yet you have chosen to selectively dismiss this. Since you are so on top of things you must have hear and read about that. 
Evacuation : If you are that concern then stop supporting putting more development into an area that cannot handled it. Tsunamis are known to travel faster than commercial planes, in case of fires well, it depends on which side of the peninsula. A ferry is able to carry what 300 plus people (trains can carry more), you have 20,000 plus residents in Coney Island area do the math. A walkable bridge might be more effective.
Finally, is it really worth it putting people health at risk? Covid is teaching us that although you might not be able to see it, it is there nevertheless, and can kill you. 
Did you truly advocated for us or that billionaire?