Speedboat Race?! 9am?! For September 11th Victims?! Really?

Speedboats racing in Hudson River
Speedboats racing in Hudson River

Our neighborhood is on virtual lockdown and our defenses are up due to the heightened terror alert. That didn’t stop a disconcerting dissonance from erupting on New York Harbor.
At 9am this morning, loud roaring noises could be heard at virtually every point of Battery Park City — with most residents not having any forewarning to the commotion.

Apparently Super Boat International want to disrupt any sense of calm and safety before the anniversary of 9/11 by holding the 21st Annual New York Super Boat Grand Prix right outside our windows. For those of you who are not right on the water’s edge, it sounds like you’re on the sidelines of an Indy 500 racetrack.

Ostensibly, the event is being held to commemorate 9/11. The race gives off-duty Coasties a chance to race around New York Harbor with gross indifference to the thousands of those who live in our area.

According to the press release, “Boats will start arriving Thursday September 8th to Liberty Landing Marina in Liberty State Park in New Jersey. Fans can see their favorite boats up close Thursday September 8th and Friday September 9th. There will be one race on Saturday morning starting at 9:00 am. Race teams are scheduled to race 17 and 3/4 laps totaling 84 miles on a rectangular course just under 5 miles around. Fans can watch from both the New York and New Jersey shorelines.”

Gee, thanks Super Boat International.

8 thoughts on “Speedboat Race?! 9am?! For September 11th Victims?! Really?

    1. A formal complaint was made with 311 – who told us it was an event. The event started in New Jersey/Exchange Place, so they probably weren’t thinking about the effects on the other side of the harbor. To ensure that this won’t happen in the future, more complaints need to be logged with 311.

      1. 311 said there was nothing they could do other than to provide us with names and addresses of our local representatives. Idea being that we could perhaps convince them to do the work and figure out which bureaucrats in NJ agreed to this without pursuing appropriate channels on the NY end (which would have led to adequate notification and potentially a different outcome). Was batteryparkcity.com able to get anything more intelligent out of 311?

    2. The 311 operator we spoke to informed us that they would send the complaint to the EPA and gave a confirmation code. So obviously no standardization of answers for these types of complaints. If the volume of complaints are logged on 311 – they then review spikes and investigate. Otherwise, the only other route is to bring it up at the next public Community Board 1 meeting. They don’t make this easy for sure.

  1. If in following up this article you can find reasonably easy directions to the relevant authorities, I will certainly add my voice to complaints.

    I don’t say necessarily that I object to the race. The timing seems more than a little insensitive and inappropriate, but even on that point, I’d want to allow that different people have very different notions of commemoration.

    But liberal notions of each to their own have to be balanced against effects on others. For an hour of planned noise sustained at such magnitude, there need to be permits and notifications. Whatever system does exist for that, it evidently doesn’t work!

    1. At BatteryParkCity.com we’ve received and subsequently posted notices for events happening this weekend in the area. This event was not publicized well. Usually protocol states that if there is going to be loud noises, or low flying aircrafts — the community receives at least a few days notice. This was not the case and highlights a larger issue of monitoring the waters for noise pollution and general safety in our area. During the speedboat race, the regular seacrafts were forced to navigate dangerously close to the esplanade.

  2. The commemorative event HAND BY HAND REMEMBERING had just ended when those racing hell hounds broke the peace. I was and am outraged. Others have written reasonably about this mornings’s assault to the senses. I am too stunned and angry to do so. Those of us who lingered in honor of our friends and neighbors, were unable to hear one another or our own thoughts. The officials and people responsible for the timing of the race are either calloused or oblivious. Either way it is unpardonable.

  3. The 9/10 speedboat race will be discussed at the Battery Park City Committee meeting tonight, Tuesday, October 4, at 6 pm at the Battery Park City Authority office at 1 World Financial Center, Libertyy St. and South End Ave, 24th Floor. There will be Coast Guard represetnaitives in attendance and the public is welcome.

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