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LIFESTYLE36 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015 Features A Staten Island Ferry passes the Statue of Liberty. A commuterNYC ferry travels tolooks the pier in the Dumbo to neighborhood expand of the Brooklyn borough itsof New York. ferry Lower Manhattan appears behind a pair life preservers on a Staten Island Ferry. —AP Photos service to its far-off ports he skyscrapers of Manhattan said Jeffrey Zupan, senior fellow for weekday. The plan is for the first White moved to Red Hook six Mystery cloaks Disney’s look almost close enough to transportation at the Regional Plan three routes to originate from the months ago from another part of Ttouch from parts of the Association. Cost is an issue, he Astoria, Rockaways and South Brooklyn because he was looking waterfront of Brooklyn’s industrial said. While all public transportation Brooklyn sections of the city in for something a little more Red Hook neighborhood. But a dis- gets some kind of government sub- 2017. The next year, additional removed. “I moved to Red Hook tance of mere miles can take an sidy, different modes require differ- routes would start for Soundview specifically because it was out of hour or more in travel time for resi- ent amounts, and ferries will not in the Bronx, and the Lower East the way,” the 36-year-old said. He Magic Kingdom in China dents in the remote area, who have have anywhere near the kind of rid- Side. The five new routes would readily admitted that he would limited access to bus routes and no ership numbers the city’s subway join the ferry routes already in benefit from a transit mode that he towers of Disney’s planned Magic loosely enforced and routinely violated. subway stations in the immediate system does. “How high will the existence, the Staten Island Ferry made crossing boroughs simpler. Kingdom in Shanghai are wreathed in Disney did not respond to a request for com- vicinity. A plan from New York City subsidy have to be for each rider route and the East River Ferry “Actually getting into the city, it’s a Tscaffolding and mystery after the US ment on the delay. As well as its Asian proper- Mayor Bill de Blasio would give that you’re carrying?” he asked. route. The city also is looking pain in the butt from here,” the entertainment giant pushed back the open- ties, the firm also has parks in the US states of them and New Yorkers in some oth- Zupan said the city should pro- ahead to a potential Coney sales rep said. “Getting into ing of its first mainland China theme park to California and Florida and near the French er waterfront neighborhoods, 2016. On a tightly-guarded, 3.9-square-kilo- capital Paris-where there was outrage over another option - ferry service. metre site east of China’s commercial hub, a the prospect of American cultural invasion De Blasio hopes ferries will open grey turret of the unfinished “Enchanted when it was first proposed. The Shanghai up some of those far-flung locales Storybook Castle” rises ominously into the government is promising to finish a metro and make them more attractive as sky. There is no Disney branding at the main line extension linking to the park and other a place to live, easing a housing entrance, only a sign reading: “Shanghai infrastructure this year. But city fathers also crunch in a city expected to reach a International Tourism and Resort Zone”. It was have another issue in mind after 36 people population of 9 million by 2040. originally due to be transformed in time to were killed in a stampede during New Year’s “For years, the conventional wis- open this year, but Disney chairman and chief Eve celebrations. “Management of the Disney dom has been that certain neigh- executive Bob Iger last week announced a Resort’s huge flow of people is an extremely borhoods are doomed to isolation delay, pushing the opening back to next important issue,” Shanghai mayor Yang Xiong because of their geography,” de spring. He attributed the change to an expan- told reporters last month. “We believe Disney Blasio said in his recent State of the sion in the park’s size and number of attrac- has a lot of experience, but we should also do City address. “With ferry service, tions. “The artistry, complexity, the magni- our part to make full preparations.” “We are going to change that.” tude and the detail, it’s all quite astonishing,” Under the mayor’s plan, the city Iger said, calling the facility “spectacular”. To infinity and beyond would spend an initial $55 million But Shanghai authorities have not con- With the opening of its first resort in for a ferry system that would start firmed any plans to expand the project, and mainland China, Disney is banking on with three routes in 2017 and add people familiar with it point to it following Chinese parents willing to spend lavishly on two more in 2018. Getting from a stricter environmental and labor standards their children and a rising middle class intent ferry dock in Lower Manhattan to than normal in China. The studios of on travel. It has not announced prices for up-and-coming Red Hook across Hollywood are competing not just for screen Shanghai, but an adult one-day ticket at the New York Harbor, for example, eyeballs in China-whose 1.37 billion people Hong Kong park costs $65, nearly a quarter would take just 20 minutes. Ferry generate the second-largest annual box of China’s average monthly disposable service can’t come fast enough for office in the world-but also theme park visi- income last year. When the $5.5 billion Tony Kokale, who bought Mark’s tors. The Shanghai Disney Resort will be the Shanghai facility opens, it will boast the Pizza five years ago and has been company’s third in Asia after Tokyo and Hong biggest Disney castle in the world, a produc- keeping his hopes up that the Kong. But its park in the former British colony tion of “The Lion King” in Chinese and a bright redevelopment future of Red can only partly serve the Chinese market, pirate-themed zone based on the movie Hook he’s been hearing about is A commuter ferry travels on the East river from Long Island City in the Queens borough. while Universal Studios and DreamWorks franchise “Pirates of the Caribbean”. getting closer. Animation are planning rival attractions on An artificial mountain will loom over the ceed cautiously, testing the routes Island/Staten Island route. Manhattan using the ferry would the mainland. park, becoming the highest hill in Shanghai’s High expectations to see which ones have the best Mitchell Moss, director of the also be a nicer commute.” But he’s For Shanghai, the park represents the Pudong district, and a 420-room Disneyland “For the community, I believe it’s chances to succeed. The city has Rudin Center for Transportation at worried that opening up Red city’s tourism future following the World Expo Hotel is planned in an “elegant Art Nouveau going to be excellent,” he said. “It said it would set aside $10 million New York University, thinks it’s Hook, which suffered extensive in 2010. One Chinese academic estimates it style”, with another based on the “Toy Story” would bring more people to Red to $20 million for subsidies to keep smart for the city to be looking at damage in Superstorm Sandy, will contribute $3.3 billion to Shanghai’s films. On a commercial level, an adjacent Hook and might make it a little bit a ferry ride fare at the same price ferry service. “The city is growing, would hasten the kind of gentrifi- economy every year and account for one per- “Disneytown” will have 46,000 square meters different.” Some transit advocates as a subway ride, $2.50, and has much of the growth is occurring in cation that has been widespread cent of the city’s annual gross domestic prod- (495,000 square feet) of shops, restaurants aren’t quite so convinced. Ferry estimated more than 4 million areas that are not accessible to in other parts of the borough. “My uct. Disney and its Chinese partner, state- and a 1,200-seat theatre. service in the New York region “has people a year would take advan- mass transit, and ferries offer flexi- only concern,” he said, “would be backed Shanghai Shendi Group, broke He Jianmin of the Shanghai University of been tried many, many times with tage. More rides than that are tak- ble transportation,” he said. Not making this place more accessible ground on the park in April 2011. Finance and Economics, who has consulted some success but more failures,” en on the subway every single everyone is so enthusiastic. Gerrett in a negative way.” —AP Chinese construction is normally stagger- for the city on the tourism zone, forecast the ingly fast, with towering skyscrapers and mul- park will initially attract seven million visitors ti-lane highways changing urban landscapes a year, eventually rising to 16 million. “China’s at extraordinary pace. But a Shanghai official tourism industry was neglected before for all told AFP that said one delay arose after con- sorts of reasons, like income not reaching a taminated soil on the site failed to meet envi- certain level,” he said. “Earlier the emphasis ronmental standards, prompting Disney to was on manufacturing. After the Shanghai bring in a foreign contractor to remedy the Disney park becomes completely mature, it problem.