HaverstrawLife.com

I would also appreciate your consideration of existing transit services when meeting the Cuomo Administration at the negotiation table.

In Haverstraw, the Haverstraw-Ossining Ferry has enjoyed major success over the last 10 years. Each day, the ferry service moves hundreds of North Rockland, Clarkstown, and southeastern Orange County residents across the Hudson River to jobs in Westchester and in New York. A growing number of Westchester and New York City residents are using the ferry to access jobs and recreation opportunities in Haverstraw, Rockland and beyond. Visitors arrive each Friday evening, stay in local inns and eat at local restaurants. The Haverstraw Downtown Restaurant Row is beginning to boom and more visitors arriving on foot and by ferry can only boost this economic phenomenon.

The ferry is a vital service to the community and to Rockland as a whole, driving real value for tourism and development. Downtown Haverstraw’s continued growth and renaissance is contingent upon expanded reliable and convenient off-peak ferry service to Westchester and beyond. Today, the ferry does not run mid-day, at night, nor on weekends.

Off-peak and weekend service is driving record growth for MetroNorth Railroad. The Haverstraw-Ossining Ferry is a “feeder” service to the Ossining MetroNorth rail station. There is no reason Haverstraw cannot become a “station” on the MetroNorth Hudson Line, given expanded service to meet each departing and arriving train at Ossining. MetroNorth is part of the busiest commuter railroad on this continent, which handled 85 million trips in 2011 and is now adding 230 mostly off-peak trains to schedules. Please, read: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-19/metro-north-expanding-weekend-service-as-n-dot-y-dot-mta-restores-cuts Ferry schedule expansion is relatively cheap when compared to rail or even bus expansion.

I am requesting that you re-think the current dialogue between Rockland/Westchester, the State Assemby, Senate, and the Cuomo Administration. Expanding ferry service, and existing rail service, should be a bargaining chip in these discussions. If Governor Cuomo cannot consider transit for the TZB on the day the bridge opens, then he should supply alternatives and steps toward creating expanded service in the corridor. The region cannot functionally grow without transit service enhancements. We cannot forget that by enhancing our existing ferry (and rail) service, government can create real and sustainable economic growth and most importantly jobs.