The India Street pier entrance has been flooding for months during rain episodes and multiple people have reached out to Greenpointers with photos from last night’s flooded commute.
“I love the ferry, I feel like most people in Greenpoint who take it, love it,” said Sean Hart, a Greenpoint resident who takes the ferry at India Street approximately three to five times per week.
But Hart’s love for the ferry has come with multiple instances of dodging the flood waters on India Street next to “The Greenpoint” development, where pedestrians are prohibited from accessing the new walkway that is policed by construction workers.
“A few months ago, I went to take the ferry, it was on a rainy day as well, and I noticed a similar level of flood and I wasn’t sure what to do,” Hart said.
“I remember even stepping over to the area where the condo is and I remember there was a pretty rude angry foreman,” he said.
“That area has become a mess where the construction is. The way it looked yesterday, it looks like there’s no efforts being made to do anything about it,” Hart said, adding that he submitted a complaint to 311 and the NYC Ferry on Instagram.
He went on to explain that construction workers at “The Greenpoint” typically yell at pedestrians seeking dryer land on “The Greenpoint’s” walkway that isn’t as flooded as the street.
More commuters posted their images from last night’s harrowing walk to the ferry on India Street :
It rained. My wife took these wonderful photos of commuters doing parkour to escape the flooded @NYCferry pier at Java Street because NYC does not care about public safety. Cc @NYCSpeakerCoJo @assemblymanjoe @StephenLevin33 @ny1 @NYC_DOT @nyc311 @FDNY pic.twitter.com/bejdvBLEsN
— jonathan vanasco (@jonathanvanasco) May 30, 2019
this is insane ! Java street has been a mess for the entirety of the three years I’ve lived in Greenpoint as they extremely slowly build a dumb high-rise that is just going to clog up the neighborhood https://t.co/S72fDdMyM0
— Mike Murphy (@mcwm) May 30, 2019
State Assemblyman Joe Lentol released a statement regarding the flooding:
Read my statement regarding flooding on India Street. pic.twitter.com/7YvtpomUhF
— Joe Lentol (@assemblymanjoe) May 30, 2019
The problem, Hart suspects, is that 311 complaints only go so far as the flood waters quickly recede following the rain: “The lady on 311 this morning said ‘Is there flooding there right now,’ and I said ‘I don’t know,’ adding that the flood waters come and go.
“The pier is fine, once you’re there it’s not an issue. Personally, I feel that the building should take more responsibility for what’s going on there,” Hart said.
The building should definitely take responsibility, this is a recurring problem in all sorts of weather scenarios. The path they cleared for pedestrians in the winter was covered in ice and snow while the dry areas were reserved for contractor parking. They made sure that attendants were present so that you could not walk through the areas with no ice too. I can’t believe NYC approved this build and did not regulate it at all. Really unsafe conditions for daily commuters.
Sounds like it’s time for some slip-and-fall suits.