Boston again turns against relying on ferry service for Long Island recovery center

Acting Mayor Kim Janey’s administration has quietly deep-sixed the idea of a ferry service to a recovery campus on Long Island again — after surprising many by floating the plan earlier.  A Stuart Cahill/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald staff photo

– News about Quincy covered by Quincy Quarry News with commentary added.

A ferry listing badly to starboard …
Image via riverkeeper.org

Boston again turns against relying on ferry service for its planned Long Island substance abuse recovery center.

The City of Boston’s Acting Mayor Kim Janey has decided against relying on ferry service to reestablish use of existing facilities on Long Island for public health uses – specifically, shift from now-former overnight homeless housing to providing resident substance abuse treatment – after reviewing a recent comprehensive study comparing the rebuilding of the Long Island Bridge with opting for going with ferry service.

Needless to say, Quincy residents in Squanum are not going to look favorably upon this news.

While both the Koch Maladministraiton and certain local residents have long pressed for going with ferry service as well as spending serious money on all manner of dubious attempts to stop the reconstruction of the bridge, the study found the costs, practically, safety, and timeliness for rebuilding the bridge sunk the ferry boat option.

An unhapy also-ran in the recent Boston mayoral primary election
Image via WBUR

Granted, Acting Mayor Janey is now a lame-duck as well as that both of the candidates now running for election as Boston’s next mayor have announced their support of the ferry option, the reality is that both candidates have likely not yet duly reviewed the study, not to mention that campaign platforms are often rife with rotten timbers that are expected to be discarded later. 

Plus, it will be a while before the winner of the election will be able to make a decision on this matter, much less might the winner opt to further delays things by commissioning yet another study.

Mayor annoyed
An old Facebook image

Even so, the reality is that relying on ferry service to service Long Island is not a viable proposition, not to mention that all manner of various factors behoove the need for the City of Boston to reestablish full and ready access to the island as soon as possible and rebuilding the bridge is the only truly viable option to do so.

Granted, some are touting that ferry service as the easy peasy way to go, the logistics of relying on ferry boats and supply barges is far more complex than ferry proponents care to acknowledge, not to mention that their dubious sentiments are before any consideration of effecting ready, reliable, and timely transportation in the event of only to be expected emergency care need are added into the decision-making matrix.

Plus, at some point probably sooner rather than later, the Koch Maladministration could well find itself sanctioned by a court awarding damages be paid to the City of Boston over the City Of Quincy engaging in frivolous litigation.

Source: Boston again turns against ferry idea for Long Island recovery center

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