Radhy Miranda, assistant vice president of government and community relations was dispatched to the CB6 Waterfront committee to answer questions about the NYC Ferry. It was simply a generic presentation, and he was not prepared to speak specifically about ferry service pertaining to the one stop in the community board area – namely the one in Red Hook.
EDC was invited to the meeting to speak about waterfront issues, however Miranda seemed unprepared to speak on local topics.
Co-Chair Rick Luftglass asked how many people use the Red Hook. Miranda didn’t know; he said anyone could look it up online. We did – the weekday daily average ridership at Red Hook was 237 and the weekend daily average ridership was 309. In comparison, DUMBO sported numbers of 1711 and 2375; while the Atlantic Avenue stop was 198 and 295.
Luftglass also asked Miranda what kind of outreach EDC does for employment, specifically in Red Hook. He responded that he knew, off the top of his head, that the NYC Maritime and Freight Logistics Career Awareness Fair was recently held on October 23 at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Other questions posed by committee members included if the Red Hook landing is being looked at together with the Brooklyn-Queens Connector project, and what the long-term sustainability of Red Hook Container Terminal and Brooklyn Cruise Terminal are. Miranda told the members that he could look further into those questions with individuals who could better answer them.
Author
George Fiala has worked in radio, newspapers and direct marketing his whole life, except for when he was a vendor at Shea Stadium, pizza and cheesesteak maker in Lancaster, PA, and an occasional comic book dealer. He studied English and drinking in college, international relations at the New School, and in his spare time plays drums and fixes pinball machines.
2 Comments
What was the reason for this meeting – is NYC Ferry considering eliminating the Red Hook ferry stop?
The Atlantic Ave stop ridership numbers are actually lower than Red Hook.
These numbers are off. The average ridership is double this easily. I ride the ferry all the time. This is growing. Hence the reason for bigger boats. Next 3 areas of expansion for NYC Ferry is to expand the Astoria or Soundview lines to Northeast Queens, add a line going up the Hudson River from brooklyn to the Bronx and extend the Bay Ridge line to Include Coney Island and Caranise.