Passengers on board a NYC Ferry watch as the boat departs Sunset Park for Rockaway, Queens, Monday, May 1, 2017. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
The contentious issue of adding a Coney Island stop to NYC Ferry’s Rockaway route may not be over yet — even though the city dismantled a newly built pier near Coney Island Creek around a year ago.
Councilmember Justin Brannan — a Democrat who represents Bay Ridge, Coney Island, Sea Gate and parts of Dyker Heights, Bath Beach and Gravesend — has submitted a bill that would require the Economic Development Corporation to study building a new ferry landing, according to Crain’s and other sources.
His bill urges the EDC to particularly consider using the Steeplechase Pier near West 16th Street — a longtime wish of many neighborhood residents who felt the previously-planned site, at Kaiser Park adjacent to the creek, was too far from the heavily-trafficked amusement area.
The city halted plans to bring ferry service to the already-built landing in 2022, citing unforeseen and “significant sand shifts.” This was pooh-poohed by some local activists and officials, who asked, in effect, “Why didn’t they notice this before?”
After ferry service had been neglected for decades, the city, under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, announced plans for what later became NYC Ferry in 2016. The first route, which included Lower Manhattan, Bay Ridge and Rockaway, debuted in 2017.
Almost immediately, Coney Island-area residents asked for a stop there as well. “I want a ferry. If it’s good enough for Bay Ridge, it’s good enough for us,” Coney Island resident Bertha Thompson told the Brooklyn Eagle at the time.
Initially, then-Borough President Eric Adams, supported by a group called New Yorkers 4Ferry wanted the stop to be at Neptune Avenue and 21st Street. But many locals opposed that location, saying the site was too shallow and too full of abandoned boats, debris and toxic waste.
“Initially, they’d have a lot of work to…
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