Dear Friends of the Dock Petition,
We are so grateful for your support and wanted to give you a few updates on where we are in the quest for our dock.
Where Are We?
We attended and presented our case on the public record to:
1. The May 25 Meeting of the Manhattan Community Board #12-Full Board, an Independent New York City Agency mandated by the NYC Charter, who advise the City on land use and zoning issues among many other community related issues.
2. The NYC Waterfront Development Planning Committee on May 27
We were also contacted by the Columbia Community Liaison, Sandra Harris, in response to our letter to Columbia that also included the petition. We had a zoom meeting with her this morning and learned that Columbia has already secured almost all of the necessary permitting and contractors, which include:
· Department of Environmental Conservation
· Department of State
· Office of General Services
· New York City Planning Department
· Coast Guard
· Contractor agreements
All of these permits have been sent to the NYC Parks Department, NYC Small Business Services (SBS) (which is responsible for Maritime permits for docks-go figure), and the Army Corps of Engineers. The LAST two permits to start work on the dock need to come from SBS and Army Corp of Engineers so the final approval can be made by SBS. Even more pressing, the clock is ticking on the permits already secured by Columbia. The permits that have been secured already are contingent on a dock completion no later than October 1, 2021. If the city delays for much longer, these permits will expire and the entire process of permitting will have to begin again by Columbia and the city.
What’s Next?
1. There is a Community Board 12 – NYC Parks Committee meeting at 6:30pm on Tuesday, June 8th, 2021. We understand that the head of this committee, Liz Ritter, has spoken with Sandra Harris last week-again, in response to this petition. We plan to be at the meeting to listen and provide public comment as well. We invite any of you to participate, especially our NYC residents and fellow paddlers! The link for the 6:30 meeting is bit.ly/ParksCom the passcode is 175168. To participate in public comment, please sign up at the beginning of the meeting in the Q&A section of the zoom.—The more voices we have in the room, the better our chances of moving this up the NYC Parks Department priority list. Columbia will be present and advocating for the city to help complete the permitting process.
2. We will be requesting a meeting with our Congressman Espaillat in Upper Manhattan in the next few weeks. He is our best hope to get the SBS and the ACE to expedite their approval. We will deliver the petition with your signatures. Columbia will attend the meeting with us.
3. We will be sending letters to the NYC Small Business Services Department and the Army Corp of Engineers along with the petition and signatures.
A Note on the Temporary Dock:
Ms Harris from Columbia did in response to our petition and letter, inquire with her buildings team about a temporary dock. All of the permitting required for the actual dock are also required for a temporary dock. At this point, pushing for work to begin as soon as possible on the full dock is what we will be seeking.
We could not have done this without your support and are so appreciative for it. Please consider sharing the petition again so we can head into our next set of meetings with even more support to get New Yorkers safe water access and portage in Upper Manhattan! Together with this community of change-makers and Columbia University, we are better poised to get New York City officials to do their part so Columbia can start dock work and be done before October!
Thank you!
Upper Manhattan Paddlers