All Aboard for Ferry Good Times

By Tracey McCormick

Rockaway for me, like most of you, is filled with my big family, lifelong friends, tight knit community, and always feels like home. However, since moving to Manhattan for college over a decade ago, the city, along with its 1.63 million strangers, dynamic cultures, crowded subways, and skyscrapers, has come to feel like home, too. Sometimes, (particularly on Sundays in the summer when you’re peeling yourself off the beach) Rockaway can feel like a world away from The Upper East Side, where I live. The journey can feel daunting, but once you’ve made it onto the NYC Ferry and the skyline gets closer, the hour flies by and I am reminded just how close the two are.

A few weeks ago, my friends took the ferry into the city from Rockaway to meet for brunch at Malibu Farm, a SoCal-style restaurant located on Pier 17. It was their first time there, and with its convenience to Pier 11, we wondered how many other people had taken the ferry into Manhattan but had not really ventured around the area. Thus, “A Ferry Good Time” was born. From Pier 11, you can easily get to historic New York City sites like

Ellis Island, The Statue of Liberty, and 9/11 Memorial - things you already know about and have likely already seen. “A Ferry Good Time” hopes to provide you with a monthly roundup of unique things to do, places to go, and new sights to see.

So, we’ll start where the idea began, Pier 17. Pier 17 plays a pivotal role in the history of Downtown Manhattan. Known as the “Street of Ships,” it was NYC’s biggest hub for international shipping, maritime activities, and the wholesale fish trade. After many transformations, the newest iteration of the pier provides a perfect reason to make the trip into the city.

Now through February 12, you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy prix-fixe lunch or dinner menus from restaurants across the five boroughs ranging from $30- $60 per dinner. On Pier 17, Malibu Farm, The Fulton, and Carne Mare are all participating. Not interested in a three course meal? The Tin Building, formerly the Fulton Street Fish Market, has been reimagined by restaurateur Jean-Georges, and transformed into a European inspired marketplace, filled with a variety of counters, kiosks, stalls, retail, and traditional sit-down restaurants. After you’ve eaten, walk over to Seaport Square and Skate the Skyline. Ice-skate under an overhead light installation, "Aurora," inspired by the Northern Lights. Rink admission is free if you bring your own skates, skate rentals start at $23.

If you’ve got your sea legs, Governors Island has recently made itself a year-round destination and is a 10-minute ferry ride from Lower Manhattan. From December through February, the island hosts a Winter Village with winter themed lawn games, sled and bike rentals, twinkling lights, fire pits, and a 7,500-square-foot skating rink. Governors Island also boasts an outdoor panoramic spa, QC NY. It is a full wellness experience. Guests can spend the day enjoying infrared beds, themed saunas and steam rooms, in addition to massage treatments and their famous sunset aperitivo. You can get a Governors Island bound ferry from the Battery Maritime Building, located at 10 South Street. Tickets are $4 for Adults and free for Seniors over 65 and Children under 12.

Don’t let the winter temperatures deter you, adventure awaits- just a ferry ride away!

Thank You

Dear Editor:

Thank you, Sean, for bringing the lifeguard requirements to our attention. My father has been expressing the very same concerns to very deaf ears for the past 20 years. We did attend the meetings when the Y first came to the Peninsula. It was met with deaf ears stating that they needed basketball courts more than they needed a pool, to quote a "community official." Bottom line, it is far more cost effective to build basketball courts than swimming pools.

We appreciate your concern, but were you at the community meetings and voiced your concerns? We hope that you were because more people need to get involved. We appreciate your article but again this is coming 20 years too late. Also, I don't know if you were familiar with the debacle at Beach Channel HS about 40 or 50 years ago, unfortunately, the architect drew a straight line on the plans rather than a sloped line and the pool that was meant to teach swimming, scuba diving, etc. for the "Oceanography program” was a modified bathtub. All swim teams needed to go to Far Rock HS to practice and compete.

Thanks again for all your help though maybe someone will listen to you. Thanks again!

Adriana Sullivan

Opposition to Alma Development

Dear Editor: Dayton Towers Board of Directors is writing to express strong opposition to the development currently proposed by Alma Realty on its Surfside property found between Beach 105th to 108th Streets and from Shore Front Parkway to Rockaway Beach Blvd.

The proposed development intends to construct 20-story buildings and more than 2,000 additional housing units added to their existing buildings. For perspective, Dayton Towers—already listed as one of NYC’s largest Mitchell/Lama Co-ops—has 1,752 units over two properties with almost twice the physical footprint of Alma’s proposed development. Shoehorning that much housing into such a small footprint portends Social and Urban planning problems that would harm the community. Though Alma proposes parking, it will not cover the marked increase in vehicular traffic in the area, which will lead to traffic congestion, and parking problems for every Rockawayan. Further, a building this size will draw tremendously on the community infrastructure and undermine safe evacuation from the peninsula due to population density increases. Everything from street drainage to the electrical grid will be stressed. Further, Alma’s record as a good corporate citizen and landlord is wanting. As recently as Jan. 6, 2023, New York Law School reports Mayor Adams along with the Corporation Counsel filed two lawsuits against them for hundreds of violations including, “…defective wiring, missing fire doors, lead paint, rodents, and deteriorating facades. Alma has previously been sued by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development twice.” — Veronica Rose, City Law Fellow, NYLS Grad, Cityland

With this record of neglect, matched with an undeniable exercise in corporate profit grabbing over responsible urban planning. It is far more likely that Surfside will mirror Florida’s collapsed Champlain Towers than resemble the utopian presentation Alma promotes this project with. It is no small irony, that profit inspired disaster in Florida occurred in a town named Surfside.

To understand Rockaway, be in possession of a modicum of wherewithal and knowing the long established, shameful record of Alma, should lead any clear-thinking person to oppose Alma’s plans. Dayton Towers Board of Directors' opposition to Alma’s proposal is resolute. This hyper-development is dehumanizing in social terms, bad for Rockaway’s infrastructure, safety and it follows: bad for our future. Upon learning of the full scale and scope of Alma’s proposal, the Dayton Towers Board of Directors voted unanimously to reach out to elected officials, news media organizations and our community board to affirm our position, which is: Alma Realty should withdraw its proposal and divert whatever capitol it has accumulated to sate the needs of the residents in the buildings it currently runs. Failing that, civic leaders, elected officials and the community join us to say, “No.” to Alma for all the rationales provided above.

Thomas Kerr, President Dayton Towers Board of Directors

Cheers for Alistair!

Dear Editor: Thank you for putting in the photo of the best UPS man around, Alistair! He goes out of his way each day for his customers. UPS should be proud of his work ethic and dedication. Thank you, Alistair, for being the best and thank you Rockaway Times!

Beth Hanning

Jamaica Bay Sea Gate

Dear Editor:

I would like to thank Katie McFadden for an informative article about this massive project. I have many questions about the use of sea gates to control flooding during a severe storm and the ecological impact on Jamaica Bay. I am not an engineer but it’s obvious that a tremendous amount of water would be funneled through two relatively small openings on each tide cycle which occurs twice a day. The current at the open gates would be tremendous as the tide change occurs. It would most certainly create a navigation hazard for commercial barge shipping and pleasure craft. The fisheries would also be impacted in ways we cannot know. How could all of the marine life that inhabit Jamaica Bay navigate this barrier?

Finally, the water flow restriction would prevent a full flush of the back bay areas, causing the water to stagnate. Last but not least, who is going to maintain the sea gate and pay the cost of upkeep?

Dennis O’Kane