|
History + Context
PortSide NewYork
is a fast-growing work in process, poised to take off with a new home.
March 2009, New York City’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) announced
they will provide a home for PortSide in
Atlantic Basin, Red Hook, next to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.
Once
we have a long-term home, we can fulfill our original vision to create
waterfront access, arts and recreational boating events, jobs, historical
products and policy for diverse economic groups and individuals. We plan a
year-round attraction and cultural center that includes youth programs, a
marine career center, and visiting vessels that range from historic vessels,
charter and excursion boats to tugs, police and fire boats. It will be a
lively pier.
 The
Backstory:
In 2005,
we completed a business plan with community revitalization funding from
NYC's Department of Small Business Services to create a Maritime Hub. This
was to be on private
property in Red Hook, but the developer changed course, and we did not get
space. We kept looking for space, in an overheated real estate market, while launching what programs we could
without a proper home. This meant
only some programs mix were started, and that we had to
move around to do programming. Late 2006, PortSide got a base of
operations in the oil tanker Mary A. Whalen, which is both office and
mobile cultural platform, and we have been seeking a home for her too.
The upside of the
four-year period between business plan and permanent home is that PortSide
has learned to be thrifty, good at negotiating access and good at creating
site-specific programs. Here is what we have been doing during that
time:
Our
Current Programs
our
YouTube page
H2O Arts
We inaugurated H2O Arts September 2007 with a Puccini Opera performed on the
Mary Whalen. This was the first public performance in a NY-NJ
containerport.
The Tanker Mary Whalen
The Whalen is our signature asset and ambassador. We use her two
ways, she is a
cultural platform, as when she was a stage for the opera; and
during tours,
she is a museum of herself and platform for discussing American fuel
distribution and consumption issues. Currently, the tanker is open by
appointment. We will be more readily open at our new home.
Community Sailing
A clunky but established term for affordable sailing
programs—an alternative to privately owning a boat or joining a yacht
club. We are researching the feasibility for such a program in Red Hook’s
Valentino Park.
Kayak Valet
We provide valet parking for kayaks in Valentino Park. NYC's only such
event! We have been invited to do this in Queens and Staten Island.
Flotsam Project
This youth program, the first in New York City to recycle old pier remains
has been in search of a home.
Volunteers
We could use your help. It's always fun around PortSide, you learn a lot,
and you get a great waterfront location as part of the deal.
PortSide Waterfront
reporting, testimony, and urban planning. We regularly advise the
media, the public, and the offices of elected officials about waterfront
matters.
our reporting
other H2O info
EDC plans for the waterfront
PlanYC 2030 sustainability plans for NYC
Red Hook Visitors' Guide
We co-produced the first Red Hook guide for the inauguration of the Red Hook
cruise terminal. We provided the retail database, the photos, and the text.
This is a precursor to our WaterStories trail and map. (more below)
Operation Christmas Cheer
We give out cookies and newspapers to tugs and barges working Christmas
Day.
PortSide Maritime Hub - original plan + long term goal
The 2005
PortSide NewYork plan combined:
-
 B-to-B
services to local workboats (tugboat dock n shop at Fairway being the main
feature)
-
maritime interpretive center (aka, exhibits focusing on contemporary
marine stories)
-
cultural programs with a water theme (H2O
Arts)
-
Marine Career Center (on-deck training via several partner vessels;
classroom training; job referrals)
-
water-themed youth programs (Flotsam
Project,
boat building,
Community Sailing) viewed as recreation and early training for the
marine trades, a compliment to our Marine Career Center. Community
sailing would also be open to adults.)
-
visiting historic, charter and excursion vessels would bring opportunities
for the public to see and get on boats, changing interest on the
waterfront, and revenue for us in the form of landing fees. The arriving
crew would also be customers for local businesses.
-
PortSide waterfront tours
For two years, we have
been researching WaterStories, NYC's first maritime heritage trail, to be
located in Red Hook. This is a pilot project for trails elsewhere in a city
shaped by water issues and port activities. Historical and cultural tourism
projects such as our WaterStories trail will, in addition to the tours and
our interpretive center, turn maritime activity into an attraction and
educational and cultural amenity.
 Spring 2008, the
Economic Development Corporation (EDC) caught up with us and documented the
growth and innovation in the local workboat fleet and recommended that each
borough have a Maritime Hub. These hubs contain the very elements we
proposed in our 2005 business plan.
The two renderings
from our 2007 RFP response for Atlantic Basin in Red Hook show how we think.
|
