CITY OF WATER DAY 2008
City of Water Day 2008 Photos
City of Water Day 2008 by the Numbers
7,202 Governors Island Visitors – largest number in it’s 7 year history as a public place
202 kayaks
25 community groups
22 paddling and rowing groups
18 businesses
15 different launch points in 7 different counties
14 canoes
10 public agencies and elected officials
7 historic boats
4 different settlement houses whose residents attended
1 wind surfer
Purpose:
- Bring Alliance Partners together at one public event and highlight their work
- Communicate Waterfront to media, civic leaders, and general public
Message:
We are a City of Water: from parks to jobs to education, recreation, and transportation our harbor and waterways can be healthy and shared resources.
MWA’s first annual City of Water Day was an outstanding success. Over seven thousand visitors made their way to Governors Island by sailing, rowing, paddling or ferry, making this the most visited day in the Island’s seven-year history as a public place. Those who could not make it, learned about the event through the media. A dozen articles and stories about the event and our waterfront were in the papers and on the radio, before, during and after the event, many stemming from WNYC coverage, official Media Sponsor.
From the 200 kayakers and rowers arriving in waves from all over the metropolitan area, to the donated barge arriving from Red Hook with our lunch and refreshments pushed by a tugboat fueled by ultra-low sulfur biodiesel, to the Rally for a Shared, Healthy and Vibrant Harbor, the mission of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance was broadcast in word and demonstrated in deed.
City of Water Day 2008 was fun with a purpose. MWA demonstrated responsible use of the waterways for commerce, transportation, and more, for example:
- Water Transit: Food and refreshments were brought in by barge, donated by Hughes Brothers, arriving from Red Hook during the rally.
- Ferry Transit: New York Waterway and New York Water Taxi brought more than 400 seniors, children and adults from Settlement Houses and other community groups including many locations not normally served by direct ferries to Governors Island and all of it free of charge.
- Clean Fuel: Many of the vessels involved that day used clean Bio-diesel fuel for the first time to power their engines and provide on-water educational opportunities.
- Three Floating Docks totaling 1300 square feet (which were funded by NYS DEC) were brought to the island for the day and used by literally hundreds of vessels from small kayaks to the retired NYPD Launch Big G.
- Over the course of the day there were many free recreational activities, such as Harbor Herons and Working Harbor boat tours (both were full - 350 people on each), kayaking and sailing opportunities, and the City of Water Day Information Fair.
We were honored to have City Council Speaker Christine Quinn join our Rally. We were especially delighted that she used the occasion to announce a bill to require the creation of a waterfront plan for the City of New York that would have to be updated every 10 years.
Such highly visible and meaningful public events are key to driving this generational effort to transform the waterfront. City of Water Day showed how we are bringing the entire diverse waterfront community into an organized political movement and together creating a clear, agenda of important, measurable action steps that hundreds of stakeholders will contribute to, buy into, and make happen.