New Ferry Service in Astoria

     Today is the first day of Ferry Service from Astoria to NYC.  How did this long-overdue scenario happen?

     See the picture below?  It shows a long-neglected alcove of government-created low-income Housing Projects in Astoria with a new high-rise "luxury building" going up behind it.  In the foreground is a new ferry slip.

Originally, the dual-ferry dock was expected to be located at the new building, but due to logistics, it was stationed on the opposite side of the area.  (Perhaps the new ridership traffic will improve that forsaken area).  

The incoming/outgoing ferry routes now share the space with kayakers who launch from Hallets Cove Beach.  The tiny beach the only waterfront in Astoria to launch kayaks and rowboats from.  (The rest is monopolized by power plants, water sewage treatment plants, and bridges).    

     Seen above, high-rise complexes are planned for Hallets Point (yes, the idiots spelled it wrong in the image AND on their own website).  A real estate development is intended for Astoria Cove.  The Durst Organization began its 2,400-unit development on Hallets Point in 2016 but halted when New York's tax abatements stopped.  They claimed that they couldn't afford to continue without the tax breaks.  Really?  (The tax breaks happen if the developer includes a certain percentage of affordable units).  The state government quickly continued the tax-breaks to developers in 2017, which is criticized as a giveaway costing billions in lost city tax revenue.  Yet, our City Council approved the project: a lost value of $350 million.  I suppose they expect the overworked taxpayers to make up the missing amount.

     That's typical in NYC: realty developers won't build unless they're given money/tax refunds to do so.  Thus, the government colludes with longstanding realty conglomerates by not granting such tax advantages to outsider developers.  

Above is how things look now; below will be after the change.

Naturally, the Mayor "smelled" money and attended the ground-breaking before construction began.  I can't recall the last time that he ever visited Queens, but he showed up for that half-billion dollar project.

     Having been satisfied with their renewed tax breaks and city government/mayoral support, the developers then complained about how to lure buyers to their buildings.  On a remote outcropping, it's 1.4 miles from the nearest subway station.  Adding hundreds of more people doesn't help the overcrowded subway, either.  The corrupt MTA operates a 100-year-old/crumbling subway route--which is often unreliable--and has a bottleneck of constricted access to Astoria.  It hasn't added more trains or routes since 1917, which clearly falls far behind the rapid increase of population.  It also falls behind the new Metro lines built by other modern cities around the world.  Just like NYC, the MTA doesn't care and faces no consequences to care.

     Instead of fixing the overdue subway, the mayor (and his developer buddies) conjured up the idea of building a streetcar line.  It was ridiculously expensive--the hallmark of involving money that would be stolen.

     Would it help most of Astoria?  No.  From those new realty developments, it would go directly south (along the riverfront and away from the rest of the neighborhood) to Brooklyn, for subway access to the city.  Naturally, tax payers and residents rallied against a huge expense that only benefitted a few people and disrupted the waterfront property--and narrow Vernon Boulevard.  Looking at how narrow the road is, where would they put the streetcar route?  

Did they intend to abandon the bike lane?  Already the bike lane gets intersected by bus-stops, curbside parking spaces, and right-side car turning lanes at intersections (which is all careless infrastructure at the detriment of cyclists).

     So, the city authorities decided to help the developers--oops, I mean residents--with something else: a ferry service to Manhattan.  The only new ferry service in NYC within the last century began this year in Brooklyn (you can tell how little NYC invests in its commuter support)... built by an outside company--not the MTA.  [In fact, their computers and token-acceptance system is far better than the MTA's].  Yes, riders pay extra to use it, in addition to their MTA fees; it is not considered a "transfer".   

     Unfortunately, the ferry route ignored an obvious stop to the Upper East Side, parallel to Astoria (which existed 100 years ago, when the Steinway Village had one).  Instead, it takes Astoria riders all the way down to 34th Street--ignoring any other possible stop along the city's waterfront above that!  (Somehow the Bronx town of Soundview got those ferry stops, instead).  

With population influx imminent in Astoria, more and more homeowners are selling their properties to make way for bigger apartment building$. 

Our tax-paid mayor and his lobbying friends are happy.