TESTIMONY
A Member of the Public on Banning Non-Essential Helicopters and Repurposing Pier 6 for Maritime Freight
2:39:16
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161 sec
The testimony advocates for a full ban on non-essential helicopter operations and repurposing Pier 6 in downtown Manhattan from a heliport to a maritime freight terminal.
- The speaker urges the council to ban non-essential helicopters, arguing the electric vehicle toll idea will take years to replace petrol helicopters.
- They oppose giving a new long-term license to a heliport at Pier 6, instead proposing to return it to maritime freight use.
- Maritime freight at Pier 6 would bring better economics, more jobs, public benefit, and reduce noise and pollution compared to helicopters.
- Transitioning Pier 6 to maritime freight aligns with congestion pricing by removing over 1,000 trucks daily from NYC streets.
- The speaker criticizes privatizing the publicly-owned Pier 6 asset for private profit with huge public impacts.
UNKNOWN
2:39:16
Ready?
2:39:17
Okay.
2:39:17
Thank you.
2:39:19
Thank you.
2:39:19
Good afternoon.
2:39:20
Majority Leader Farius and other honorable council members Gail Middle from Gale.
2:39:25
First, I want to thank you for the work you're doing here.
2:39:27
I would urge you though to go for a full ban of non essential helicopters the whole EV toll idea is kind of a pipe dream at this point anyway.
2:39:35
It's gonna be years until those are really in in great enough number.
2:39:39
Reliability to replace petrol helicopters.
2:39:43
I'm here for one specific reason which is to encourage the city to drop its plan to basically give a new 5 and let's be realistic 20 year license to a hell port at the downtown Manhattan pier Hillport instead of returning Pier 6 to its original use as a maritime freight terminal.
2:40:04
There's at least one application before the EDC now.
2:40:08
That is putting forward a marine, a maritime freight focused proposal.
2:40:13
All the other ones are helping more helicopters.
2:40:16
The the city is placed live service with a 10% portion that goes to maritime freight, but it's not real.
2:40:21
If we're serious about transitioning to a more climate friendly city, which we should be the leader on, we need to start flying those few peers that are left and devoting them to blue highways to green freight.
2:40:37
I've included in my testimony a report prepared by the Center for Post Carbon Logistics but it makes it very clear.
2:40:43
There's an overwhelming case for maritime freight over helicopters at Pier 6, better economics, more jobs created, more public benefit gained, and virtual disappearance of noise and pollution.
2:40:54
I just wanna say also that the this this initiative of Blue highways is the next logical step to follow congestion pricing with a fully functioning maritime freight peer.
2:41:04
You can get more than a 1000 trucks a day.
2:41:06
Off of New York City streets, bridges, tunnels, highways.
2:41:09
It'd be a phenomenal change and improvement to our air quality, safety, street safety, etcetera.
2:41:14
I wanna say two more quick things.
2:41:16
And that is for decades now, the city has promoted blue highways.
2:41:21
Very little is done.
2:41:22
This is an opportunity for the city council, for the Adams Administration to finally make good on those many declarations and actually put some boats in the water, electric boats to move our cargo and free up our roads and bridges.
2:41:34
And the second thing just to remind you, it doesn't get mentioned a lot, is that this is a public asset, publicly owned asset.
2:41:40
It's a maritime asset.
2:41:41
Why are we devoting to private profit with so little money to the city, with so huge an impact on tens of 1000 100 of 1000 New Yorkers for private profit.
2:41:51
This is a public asset.
2:41:53
It should be devoted to public benefit.
2:41:54
It is not today.
2:41:55
We have a chance to do it right.
