Governors Island is a piddly 400 yards away from the western edge of Brooklyn, but unless you've got your own dingy or human-sized slingshot, you won't be getting there most days without a trip to Manhattan first. Now, some Brooklyn politicians are pushing for direct ferry service that would provide Brooklynites access to the island seven days a week in the summer and five days a week during the off season.
Councilman Brad Lander—along with Rep. Nydia Velazquez, Assembywoman Jo Anne Simon, State Senator Daniel Squadron and councilmembers Steve Levin and Margaret Chin—last week penned a letter to Mayor de Blasio [pdf] urging him to improve Brooklyn's limited access to the island and all it holds, suggesting that an easy solution would be to simply extend the East River Ferry—only an additional $2 million a year!
As it stands, ferry service to the island from Brooklyn is limited to weekends, and doesn't begin until 11 a.m. This year the park is open to the public from May 23rd to September 27th, but according to the National Park Service, the ferry from Manhattan operates year-round, "providing service to those having official business with organizations on the island, the island's staff, contractors, students of the New York Harbor High School."
Though the mayor has established plans to dramatically expand ferry service over the next two years, this particular dream remains largely chimerical. Ian Fried, a spokesman for the mayor’s Economic Development Corporation, told Capital that the city will "continue to work with the community and our elected officials as we move toward a major expansion of ferry service in 2017."
“We look forward to exploring opportunities for further additions in the future as we work to implement an equitable ferry service that benefits riders throughout the City.”
In short, we're never getting this ferry.
