EDC awarded $9 million contract to BillyBey Ferry Company to provide new ferry service to Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens starting in Spring 2011. On February 2, 2011, the City’s Economic Development Corporation awarded BillyBey Ferry Company a three-year $9 million contract to provide expanded ferry service along the East River. Billybey, operating under the NY Waterways brand, will make seven regular stops connecting riders to Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. The stops will include: Pier 11 in lower Manhattan, Fulton Ferry Landing in DUMBO, South Williamsburg’s Schaefer Landing, North Williamsburg between North Fifth and North Sixth Streets, India Avenue in Greenpoint, Hunter’s Point South in Long Island City, and East 34th Street in Manhattan The service will also stop at Pier 6 in Brooklyn during summer weekends and Governors Island on summer Fridays.

The ferries will run every twenty minutes during weekday peak hours, every thirty minutes during off-peak summer hours, and every hour during off-peak winter hours. Fares will be $3 for up to three stops, and $5.50 for more than three stops. There will be a free bus line from the East 34th Street ferry landing during peak hours that will make stops along the 34th Street corridor. The MTA’s M34 bus will provide service during off-peak hours. (read more…)

Comprehensive plan for managing the City’s shoreline unveiled for public comment. On October 12, 2010, the Department of City Planning held a public meeting to present its Vision 2020 Comprehensive Waterfront Plan draft recommendations. Vision 2020 is Planning’s response to a local law mandating the creation by the end of 2010 of a comprehensive plan for the City’s 578 miles of shoreline. The proposal builds on the City’s original 1992 waterfront plan and is part of a broader Citywide initiative to establish a long-term blueprint for the City’s shoreline, known as the Waterfront Vision and Enhancement Strategy. Vision 2020 was created after a public-input process that was formally commenced in April 2010. 7 CityLand 59 (May 15, 2010).

Vision 2020 provides broad programmatic goals for the City’s waterfront and targeted recommendations for specific portions of the City’s shoreline, referred to as “reaches” by Planning. The six programmatic goals include expanding the public’s access to the waterfront and waterways, increasing waterborne transportation and on-water recreation, and supporting port and other maritime industries on the working waterfront. (read more…)

The Vision 2020 Comprehensive Waterfront Plan

Proposal is part of inter-agency effort to develop blueprint for managing the City’s shoreline. On April 8, 2010, the Department of City Planning held a public hearing on the Vision 2020 Comprehensive Waterfront Plan. Vision 2020 builds on the City’s original 1992 waterfront plan, and Planning is required by local law to submit a new waterfront report by December 31, 2010 and revise it every ten years thereafter.

2020 plan is part of a broader City-wide initiative to establish a long-term blueprint for sustainable management of the City’s 578 miles of shoreline. Known as the Waterfront Vision and Enhancement Strategy, the plan also includes the City Waterfront Action Agenda, created by the Economic Development Corporation, to identify high-priority initiatives that could be implemented within the next three years.

(read more…)

Proposal is part of interagency effort to develop blueprint for managing the City’s shoreline. On April 8, 2010, the Department of City Planning held a public hearing on the Vision 2020 Comprehensive Waterfront Plan. Vision 2020 builds on the City’s original 1992 waterfront plan, and Planning is required by local law to submit a new waterfront report by December 31, 2010 and revise it every ten years thereafter.

The Vision 2020 plan is part of a broader City-wide initiative to establish a long-term blueprint for sustainable management of the City’s 578 miles of shoreline. Known as the Waterfront Vision and Enhancement Strategy, the plan also includes the City Waterfront Action Agenda, created by the Economic Development Corporation, to identify high-priority initiatives that could be implemented within the next three years. (read more…)