Finally.
NYC Ferry – though you might know it from its previous iterations: Citywide Ferry Service or Five-Borough Ferry – officially launched this week from Beach 108th Street in the Rockaways, and we couldn’t be happier for south Queens commuters, who we hope take full advantage of what has become the new Rockaway Ferry.
As State Sen. Joe Addabbo, Jr. (D-Howard Beach) noted, this has been “a long time coming” to transportation option-starved borough communities.
So, in the interest of editorial fairness (yes, it exists), kudos to Mayor Bill de Blasio for setting a goal and making a pledge to commuters in his 2015 State of the City address—and actually following through on it.
“For the first time in generations, our amazing New York Harbor is part of our city’s critical public transportation system – and for the price of a subway ride you can get to work and also explore New York City’s beautiful coastal communities much more directly. All Aboard! Let’s take a ride!” the mayor said.
De Blasio also deserves a pat on the back for incorporating longtime tireless Rockaway Ferry advocate Laura Deckelman into the new NYC Ferry system. Last year, Deckelman friends and Rockaway activists Linda and Danny Ruscillo set up the “Name Our Rockaway Ferry Dock ‘Deckelman’s Landing,’” petition page on ipetitions.com in honor of Deckelman, a Rockaway native, Bayswater denizen, and professional photographer who the Ruscillos said “has done so much for our community when it comes to the Rockaway Ferry that the dock (landing) should be named after her. It’s fair and very appropriate at the same time. Whoever agrees with me, please forward out to your friends, neighbors and Ferry riders.”
Now, while the City has not named the Beach 108th Street dock “Deckelman’s Landing,” de Blasio has named Deckelman the vessel’s official godmother.
“We’re so excited that Rockaway will have a ferry service on a permanent basis,” Linda and Danny told The Forum this week. “We were also very pleased of the mayor’s decision to have Laura Deckelman, a great ferry advocate, named godmother and christen the Hornblower ferry boat ‘Urban Journey’ at our Rockaway ferry landing, an honor she well deserves.”
Thank you and thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Attacking the Problem
The de Blasio administration had a pretty good week.
On Monday, the same day that the City officially launched the first two NYC Ferry routes, de Blasio released the Domestic Violence Task Force Report, warts and all.
Domestic violence crime is rising in New York City: the number of intimate partner homicides rose from 49 in 2015 to 59 in 2016, and the number of domestic violence incident reports rose from 75,241 in 2015 to 76,237 in 2016.
The report made recommendations to reduce DV in NYC. De Blasio also announced that the City will invest nearly $7 million to better apprehend abusers as well as ensure support for survivors.
“In a city in which violent crime has fallen by 75 percent in 20 years, domestic violence remains a challenge, accounting for 40 percent of citywide assaults and 20 percent of homicides,” said Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice Elizabeth Glazer. “The significant investments announced today importantly knit together both sharp crime fighting and evidence-based interventions, an ambidextrous approach that offers the greatest promise of interrupting cycles of violence, implementing smart prevention and ensuring that abusers are held accountable.”
The first step is admitting that there is a problem. The administration has done that. Thankfully, they’re taking steps toward doing something about it.
