Gerson to Introduce Legislation on Barge Site

City Councilman Alan Gerson announced on March 20 he will introduce legislation to bring the barge operation at Pier 25 under stricter controls.

Gerson called for regulations to mandate the use of low sulfur fuels by trucks and other machinery at the site and for limiting the 24-hour-operation to late afternoon and early evening, in consideration to students at nearby Stuyvesant High School and Independence Plaza residents whose sleep is disturbed by the sounds of crashing debris. Gerson's legislation would also prohibit the use of Pier 25 for the eventual transfer of construction materials for the rebuilding site without approval of the mayor, City Council, and Community Board 1.

But Gerson stopped short of calling for the removal of the barge, a demand shouted by some of the protesters at a rally, staged mostly by Stuyvesant parents, at the foot of the Tribeca Bridge. Some Stuyvesant parents and students worry that the barge operation is contaminating of the air in and around the school. In an interview, Gerson said he is confident that the Council would pass his legislation at a session next month. But he said he hopes it won't come to that. "I'm hopeful the mayor will get the message before it gets to the floor," Gerson said, "and that he and the Office of Emergency Management will act unilaterally and [with] urgency." Gerson chairs the Council's Select Committee on Lower Manhattan Redevelopment, which held a hearing March 8 on the Downtown environment (see story). At that hearing, government officials declined calls for new action on the debris removal operation at Pier 25.

The city has said it expects the debris removal to be completed as early as the end of May.