This is the letter that Paul and I wrote to Mayor de Blasio: Mayor Bill de Blasio City Hall New York, NY 10007 August 6, 2014. Dear Mayor de Blasio, My husband and I am writing to you on behalf of the Rockaway and Brooklyn communities who benefit from using the Rockaway/Brooklyn Army Terminal Ferry. We respectfully request that you reconsider putting funds for our ferry back into the city budget instead of ending ferry service at the end of October 2014. By doing so, elected officials and others will have more time to search for and acquire alternative funding to cover ferry operational expenses and find ways to boost ferry ridership in order to bring down the per-rider cost of the subsidy to a more reasonable level. On the practical side, there are many reasons to keep the ferry. The Rockaways and Brooklyn are communities surrounded by water, and consequently, it makes good sense to utilize water transportation to reach other places. For those who work in Manhattan, particularly in the downtown area, the ride on the catamaran ferries is the most direct route from Point A to Point B. Travel time is reduced significantly because ferries do not experience signal problems, power outages, or traffic jams. After nearly two years of ferry service, the regular ferry commuters in Rockaway and Brooklyn have come to rely on the ferry as the quickest and most reliable way to get to and from Manhattan. Ferry service is a clear alternative to driving and also helps to relieve some of the serious overcrowding on our subways and buses. The ferry also generates economic cash flow between Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Rockaways. People from Manhattan and Brooklyn use the ferry to ride out to Rockaway, to enjoy our beaches, restaurants, quaint shops, art galleries and other attractions that the Rockaways have to offer. At the same time, our ferry is a boon to Manhattan commerce. Many people - particularly families with children - take the ferry to Manhattan on daily excursions. Rockaway people spend money in Manhattan at such attractions as the nearby South Street Seaport, the Statue of Liberty, and various other points of interest near Pier 11/Wall Street as well as at places in Midtown, which they can reach by riding the ferry to the East 34th Street terminal. I would suggest to you that much of the Rockaway-to- Manhattan tourism trade would be severely diminished with the loss of this ferry. This is especially true during the current summer tourist season but also applies during other times of the year. The argument has been raised that the ferry would somehow be an unfair burden on communities that do not benefit form it. The fact is, ALL forms of transit service and/or infrastructure subsidized by any government agency – at any level, be it federal, state, or local – involves supporting that transit service or facility with the tax dollars of citizens who gain no direct benefit from it, because it is thought that such transportation services further the common good. The taxes paid to the city and to New York State by people in Rockaway have, over the years, helped to subsidize such transportation alternatives as the Staten Island Ferry, other city-subsidized ferry services such as those currently operating between East River points in western Queens and Brooklyn and Manhattan, and on land, the MTA’s Staten Island Rapid Transit rail line, Metro North, the Long Island Rail Road, bus systems in Nassau and Suffolk Counties and Westchester, etc., even though relatively few of our residents actually ever use any of those services, with the possible exception of the LIRR. Our state taxes also help to subsidize such services and facilities (via state support for the Port Authority) as the PATH rail system and the three regional airports as well as bridges and tunnels that most of our residents do not use. If it is okay for us to be partly subsidizing transportation services elsewhere that we do not use via our Peninsula residents’ city and state tax dollars - and we are not quarreling with that idea or saying that this should not be the case - then the argument that our ferry would be unfairly largely subsidized by people who get no benefit from it is really a moot point. In relative terms, the amount of such a subsidy is not large. The $8 million figure that has been bandied about in the media as the annual cost of the city subsidy to the ferry, amounts to slightly more than 1/100th of 1% of the total city budget of over $75 billion dollars. On a per-capita basis, that works out to approximately $1 annually for each of the roughly eight million residents of our city, which does not exactly create a crushing burden for the city or for any of its taxpayers. Now that I have outlined some of the practical reasons for keeping the ferry, I would like to discuss some personal reasons as to why we need to keep our ferry. Keeping the ferry service is extremely important to our community, which is still in the throes of recovering from the destructive effects of Hurricane Sandy, nearly two years after the storm hit our shores. As you are aware, the Rockaways took a major blow from Hurricane Sandy and the ferry service was launched in the Rockaways immediately after Sandy as a transportation alternative for commuters who took the subway to and from work in Manhattan while the subway infrastructure was being repaired from hurricane-related damage. As it turned out, the ferry ended up being one of the best things to happen to the Rockaways after the storm - maybe the only real positive to come out of that disaster. In a short time, the ferry became a popular means of transportation for commuters, and the overall demand and good ridership numbers resulted in several extensions of service by the previous administration and by your own administration earlier this year as well. Not only was the ferry service, operated by Seastreak LLC, the quickest way to travel to and from Manhattan, it was also a special treat for those still suffering from the after-effects of Sandy in their lives. The fresh air and scenic views were emotionally uplifting and removed people’s stress during the rebuilding process of their homes, if only for a short period of time every day. For many who had to cope with the daunting disruptions that the storm caused in their lives - for instance, the cumbersome paperwork for securing needed funds to rebuild their homes and lives - the calm ferry ride gave them a chance to reflect and rebuild their inner strength to cope with each trying day. In a sense, the ferry ride experience gave these people a sense of hope. Almost two years later, many people in “The Rock” are still struggling to rebuild and find closure from the nightmare called Sandy. These same people continue to ride on the ferry, even after the subway was restored in May 2013, because of the uplifting feeling they experience. The same applies to riders in Brooklyn after they became a part of the Rockaway ferry service in August 2013 due to the massive storm-related damage and disruption to their subway infrastructure and service. They also discovered how easily it is to commute to and from Manhattan on the ferry. The ferry has become an integral part of so many lives and nobody wants to lose this service. However, perhaps because of the lack of effective advertising by the boat company, and perhaps to a degree by the city, not enough people in Brooklyn and Manhattan knew about the ferry and therefore, did not use it. Maybe this could explain why ridership numbers did not seem up to par initially, which kept the subsidy figures high. However, as more people are finding out about our ferry - particularly from Brooklyn and Manhattan – the ridership numbers are increasing. To lose the ferry away now, at this late date, would be a blow to the much-put-upon communities and their riders who have come to depend upon it. We would like to invite you to take a ride on our ferry so that you can see why this mode of transportation is most vital for our communities for the reasons that I stated above. Come and ride the ferry and talk to your constituents who depend upon it, and you will see how important it is to keep this service going. We would like the opportunity to discuss ideas and possible alternatives to solving the problems of keeping our ferry service intact. Many people in your city are counting on you to keep this ferry service afloat. Please consider all of the issues outlined in this letter and allow our ferry service to continue. The ferry is our lifeline in more ways than one. Respectfully yours, Laura & Paul Deckelman
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 19:51:17 +0000
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