Staten Island sits just a half-hour ferry ride from the crowded shores of Lower Manhattan, but the area where passengers disembark presents a challenge for city officials and residents who hope to create an urban center in the city’s most suburban borough.
In its last six months, the Bloomberg administration has made a primary focus its efforts to revitalize the area around the ferry terminal and nurture a long-imagined downtown. Officials are set Monday to unveil an incubator to foster businesses for small artists and craftsmen and a program that will pay select retailers to open shops and restaurants.
“In terms of the amount of resources and volume of projects we’re working on, it’s among the very top priorities,” said Thomas McKnight, an executive vice president of the city Economic Development Corp. READ MORE …
