By Matthew Fischetti
mfischetti@queensledger.com
After 16 months of repairs and delays, Greenpoint residents will have to hold out even longer to see their ferry service returned.
On Thursday Aug. 25, Lendlease, the private developer that owns the pier, announced that service will not return until late-October or early-November, after the company previously stated that it would open at the end of this month, due to issues with the pile work. Work on the ferry landing started in May of last year.
“Lendlease has not demonstrated the necessary urgency in returning ferry service to Greenpoint, and our community cannot trust that ferry service will return in ‘late-October/early-November’ anymore than the previous timelines that Lendlease has failed to meet,” Greenpoint Councilman Lincoln Restler said in a Thursday statement. Restler also called on the Economic Development Corporation, which oversees the NYC Ferry system, to explore alternative access at a publicly owned pier.
Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher echoed similar sentiments:“For nearly a year and a half, we have been working in good faith with Lendlease and the multiple agencies who have jurisdiction over repair work on the India Pier Ferry stop, trying to identify and resolve bureaucratic obstacles to restoring much-needed service. We are now completely out of patience. It’s clear that private entities have no place owning public transit infrastructure. The City needs to get a hold of this situation right now.”
A spokesperson for the NYCEDC said that the group “looks forward to bring NYC Ferry service back to Greenpoint as soon as Lendlease safely restores the landing.”
A source with knowledge told the Greenpoint Star that the NYCEDC will be preparing a response to the pols’ letter in the upcoming weeks.
