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December 26, 2014– The company called Manhattan by Sail, operated by Tom Berton, is still hoping to dock their large Clipper City sailboat at Pier-A. This is the same boat that was piloted so poorly that it struck shallow bottom by the Statue of liberty, forcing the Coast Guard to evacuate 130 passengers.
One miscue while docking Clipper City at Pier-A would destroy the $40 Million historic pier, and possibly kill people. Read below.
April 25, 2014- By Steven E. Greer
We have learned from multiple sources within different branches of state and federal government that Pier A is structurally unfit to accept boats docking. The old wooden piles are not strong enough.
Recall, the new plans for Pier A to be a restaurant have also included some form of entertainment boats that would dock there.
Several years ago, when Pier A was being studied as a possible site from which to launch Statue of Liberty ferry boats, the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) conducted studies and concluded that the boats would not work out (The magnetron security screening process for the Statue of Liberty was proposed to take place inside the pier).
Because the pier is a state landmark building, a stipulation of its use is that it must have a “maritime function”. As a result, the new operators of the pier, the Poulakakos family that will open a restaurant soon, have been required to work in a party boat aspect to the site.
During the April 24th 500-foot hearing before the State Liquor Authority (SLA), which BP.TV attended, the Poulakakos team told the SLA judge that they would not oppose a restriction on the license that would prohibit boars docking. They seemed to not want to deal with the boats.
An SLA staff member also raised the other concern that boat captains in New York have had an unsafe track record, whereby human error has led to ferry boat crashes at least once a year. The SLA was concerned about the danger posed to outdoor diners who would be sitting at Pier A, and strongly opposed the concept of party boats.
The final decision by the SLA should be known within a month.
I would respectfully request the SLA to defer to the Coast Guard for all things maritime. As to weather or not the Pier can accommodate a boat, we know we cannot park an ocean liner there and we know we can park a dinghy there. So the question is, what size vessel can the pier accommodate.