June 17, 2004
Merrily Ferrily, Gently Down the Stream
There’s been a lot of small mentions of ferries in the news over the last few weeks.
A few weeks back the Metropolitan Water Alliance published "Blue Links on the Waterfront" a study of ways to revitalize the NY/NJ waterfront. Samples of the report can be found here.
Included in this report are some troubling statistics that were picked up by the AP, but not widely published, last week.
Most significant is mention of the Federal Ferry Enhancement Program a fund that allocates money from the nation’s gas tax to ferry and waterfront improvements. However Washington State and Alaska have done a much better job at tapping this money, and, although New York and New Jersey transport over 60% of ferry commuters in the entire country, we receive only 7% - and New Jersey receives only 9% - of the funds available through this program.
And a turn of bad ferry news in today’s New York Times boat traffic in the Harbor amounts to a sizeable, and unregulated source of air pollution according to Environmental Defense, a non-profit advocacy group. Tugboats and commuter ferries rank #2 as the worst polluters, after only container ships, and, all told, this nautical pollution is the equivalent of nearly 300,000 cars.
There are certainly solutions to both of these problems, and we’re going to work hard to make sure they are resolved. Please be sure to add thoughts you have in the comments section.
John Arceci
Posted by John at June 17, 2004 3:12 PM
June 11, 2004
Wireless Wonder
I’m John Arceci, the Director of Policy here at E4M. Throughout the next year and a half we’ll be rolling out policy positions on issues important to New Yorkers, from jobs and healthcare to education and equal rights. At the same time, I’ll be blogging a few times a week, drawing attention to issues in anticipation of our policy rollouts. Just to be clear - these blog postings aren’t policy proposals. Rather, think of them as things we’re interested in, want you to know about, and on which we’d like to hear your opinion.
Please remember that as we develop policy proposals, we’re always interested in your ideas and input, so please don’t hesitate to drop me an email at john@brianellner.com.
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Buried in the Circuits section of yesterday’s New York Times was an article by Kristen Fountain about the efforts of a great community development organization – the Mount Hope Housing Company - to install wireless local area networks in buildings they manage in the Bronx.
While Mount Hope’s program still relies on backup hardwiring in each apartment, programs underway in Boston and Detroit are relying on 100% wireless service to lower-income neighborhoods that currently have little to no access to the Internet - and at rates that are quite low.
Given the immense costs of hard-wiring every apartment in the City, we need to be thinking of creative ways of providing access to everyone. But just establishing networks isn’t enough of course. We also need to ensure that the appropriate hardware and training are accessible to users at affordable prices.
Connectivity is more than a buzzword, it’s increasingly a basic fact of functioning in today’s world, and it’s important that everyone has access, both in their jobs, schools and homes. As Randall Pinkett of Access One says in Ms. Fountain’s article:
"We're used to paying bills in our pajamas or doing searches after dinner."
Ellner for Manhattan will be unveiling policy and project proposals that, when enacted, will enable nearly every Manhattan resident to use technology to improve their own lives and communities.
John Arceci
Posted by John at June 11, 2004 3:13 PM
June 10, 2004
Welcome to the Ellner for Manhattan Blog
Throughout the campaign this will be a forum to share ideas on the future of Manhattan, to debate policy and discuss current events. I will be regularly blogging as will others from the campaign. We will also have special guest bloggers. Here is the first installment:
New Yorkers complain more about noise than any other quality of life issue. The City's 311 hotline logs some 1,000 noise complaints a day. Just this weekend I read two angry posts on gawker.com that complained about taxi noise in front of a new hotel in West Chelsea.
On Monday Mayor Bloomberg proposed a reform to the City's noise control laws to allow police to use their own judgment instead of a sound meter to crack down on the worst noise offenders. Is this a fair proposal to reduce noise or is it a way to harass bars and clubs? All New Yorkers have views on the best ways to reduce noise: making car alarms illegal, increasing ticket fines for non-emergency honking (and actively enforcing the law) as well as ticketing drivers who blast loud car stereos. As part of our campaign's focus on bettering the quality of life for all New Yorkers, we want to hear your views.
Brian Ellner
Posted by John at June 10, 2004 3:14 PM
