An Unspeakable Loss
by Regina P. The morning of Tuesday, September 11, began like any other - I left my apartment in Queens, N.Y. at 8 a.m. to fight traffic on the way to the Long Island Rail Road station where I catch my train that transports me into the City each day. I actually am embarrassed to admit that I yelled at several motorists on my way to the station for driving too slow. How selfish I feel now, considering the events that transpired later that day. As I walked from New York's Penn Station on the West Side of Manhattan to the Maritime Reporter editorial offices on East 25th Street at about 9:15 a.m. (running late as usual), I noticed a crowd of people gathered in front of an electronics store, which displayed a variety of television sets in its window.
NY Senator Calls for Enhanced Security
Senator Schumer is calling for the installation of screening for persons disembarking from passenger ships in New York City. He wants the US-VISIT program to be instituted for such ships, including use of “fingerscanners”. US Senator Charles E. Schumer revealed that while Federal officials are pushing to close Madison Square Garden and the James A. Farley Post Office during the summer's Republican National Convention, they refuse to install their highly-touted new "fingerscanners" at Manhattan's Passenger Ship Terminal to check foreign visitors against terrorist watch lists, even though the Terminal is jut blocks away from the Convention.
Linking Fast Ferries into the Public Transport Network
Located along the mid coast of the Northeast U.S., New London, Conn. has long been a center for ferry transportation dating back to the early days of passenger travel via sailing schooner, steamship and rail ferries. New London's naturally sheltered, deep water harbor allowed it to develop into a major marine travel hub and established it as a major stopping point between the metropolitan areas of New York City and Boston. Confronted by an ever-growing population, an increase in highway congestion and related pollution from emissions, and continued reliance on automobile travel, New London, with its unique geographic location and accessibility to multiple modes of transport, finds itself in the transportation forefront once again.
