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Sustainability:
June 2007, This is suddenly a hot topic because from December 06 to April 07, the mayor launched a planning process to greenify our city by 2030.  An admirable idea, but there were some big omissions from the plan.

We are sure that a major solution to road congestion is going back to using the waterways; something that's happening lots of places in the USA, Europe and Asia. 

However, there’s no media discussion of this. Why?  Because the mayor’s plan didn’t include the idea.

There’s a lot of talk about congestion pricing.  Why?  Because the mayor’s plan included that idea.

Why doesn’t the media know to discuss waterborne transportation in an archipelago?  The decline of the media.  more

PlanYC 2030:
December 12, 2006 Mayor Bloomberg gave a speech and call to action about sustainable development in New York City.   He outlined ten goals. A website was launched for public input. A series of public meetings is being held to collect additional input. The comment period via the web ended Thursday March 22. 

PortSide NewYork is concerned that the planning principles made no mention of waterborne transportation. 

This city once had a great waterfront transportation network that moved freight, livestock, vehicles and people between all boroughs and New Jersey.  Much of this was dismantled during the heyday of highway building because highways were seen as the new, better technology.  Some forty years later, we find that our roads are clogged, our highways and bridges are constantly under repair for carrying excessive loads, and we never meet federal clean air standards. 

However, we hear little dialogue about moving things via the water that threads through our urban archipelago.  Private operators that make proposals to the city are often cold shouldered; New York waterfront planners forever show slides of waterside entertainments in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor (pioneering planning in the 80s) while neglecting to mention that Baltimore itself recognized that the pendulum can swing too far and instituted maritime protection zoning in 2004.

PortSide believes it is high time to develop a new, innovative, varied and robust waterborne transportation plan.

We also support clean water efforts, the reduction of CSO's, greater public access to the waterfront and more recreational boating; (hey, we hosted NYC's first Kayak Valet event) but given the momentum in those areas, we profoundly believe that THE key planning issue now is figuring out how to move stuff by water and incorporating that into the "new" waterfront.  We  need to find ways to SHARE these uses and users.

Read our press release and suggestions: click