John Doyle presents petition for City Island ferry

Good afternoon, everybody.

Thank you, Chair Maloney.

Thank you, Councilmember Fedeas.

And thank you to all the supporters of Intro 1032.

Five years ago, after extensive discussions and at the suggestion of then-Senator Biagi, City on Rising started a Change.org petition to support ferry service to City Island.

To even our surprise, the petition took off and now sits at over 2,500 signatures, more than double any other proposal.

And I also have a few hundred in hand, which I will submit before the closing of the period here.

This quickly snowballed into extensive outreach, op-eds, media coverage, debates, and discussions.

We launched YesCityIslandFerry.com in 2023, pushing policymakers and advocacy groups like the Waterfront Alliance to work with us to make this happen.

In 2024, community members met with then-Councilmember Marmorado and then-Economic Development Chair Committee Chair Amanda Fedeas to discuss bringing a ferry to City Island.

In the last two years, we have lobbied and secured the support from elected officials, State Senator Natalia Fernandez, Assemblymember Benedetto, who you heard from earlier, and our current Councilmember, Councilmember Aldebar.

So to anyone listening or watching at home, saying this bill came out of nowhere ignores the many hours community members have put into this campaign, the many documented efforts to get us to where we are today.

In only two weeks, we were able to get 350 signatures to support new legislation, and as you can see, the overwhelming majority are from City Island.

So first, I just want to say as a longtime City Island resident,

35 years this August.

I'm fortunate to work nearby.

But the overwhelming amount of city islanders aren't so fortunate.

In fact, according to the census, 43% of city islanders spent over an hour traveling for work, and that's only one way.

We're talking about spending 10% of your day, or even more of your waking hours, commuting.

According to the EDC's own 2018 study, residents would see their commute times drop by 40%.

I encourage you to read the stories that have been submitted and to talk about how dramatically improving the lives of our neighbors.

I think we should center them in the discussions.

And I would just further just point out that there has been, you know, there have been 20 speaking storefronts.

We have a video.

We'll submit to the evidence.

But this has been going on for over 20 years.

It's time to try something new.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Members.

Thank you for your testimony.

I want to thank Elizabeth Valdez for your holistic description of what accessibility on our near city ferry systems means.

And thank you to the advocates for City Island.

We've got our change.org petition here.

More signatures than we can count.

Any questions from the...

And I'm excited to take the ferry to City Island someday.