Daily News from New York, New York • 585

lMl 1 I 4 1 FHCFtES News Bureau' (718) 793-3328 Fax (212) 210-2231 Home Delivery 1-800-692-NEWS HAPPC'L'GS For information on civic groups and entertain- ment see the BULLETIN BOARD PAGE 4 0 Ssh --p sxs riss? r5-- i A j- iry-- 4 w-i I rss I inill li 'w tMt titilia Umt ti. BILL TURNBULL DAILY Nt AS NEW FERRY leaves Long Island City, Queens, on maiden voyage to 34th St. The new Queens to Manhattan ferry service is the first in 60 years on the East River. After 60 years, commuters return By BLANCA M. QUINTANILLA Daily News Staff Writer Five cents can't buy a stick of gum these days, but it can get you across the East River from Queens to Manhattan in a high-speed, luxury ferry.

The offer which lasts for three weeks comes from New Jersey trucking magnate Arthur Imperatore, who yesterday resurrected ferry service between E. 34th St. arid Long Island City after a 60- year absence. The 5-cent fare is a throwback to the 1930s and the days before ferry service between the boroughs disappeared. Next month, the fare will jump to $4 one-way.

Mayor Giuliani and Borough President Claire Shul-man joined state and other city officials to inaugurate the service at a Hunters Point pier. Together, they hailed Gov. Cuomo's High Speed Ferry Task Force and touted the ferry reTiaissatice as a crucial transportation development for the $2.3 billion Queens West project Queens West is a water front community planned for Hunters Point that will have more than 6,000 residential units, office towers, parks and shopping areas. The ferry will operate weekdays from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.

and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., with departures every 15 minutes. Parking is available By LAUREN TERRAZZANO at the ferry site for $5, and the Long Island Rail Road has added five rush-hour trains at its Long Island City station, a short walk from the ferry. "Welcome back to the future," said Imperatore, a 64-year-old millionaire who owns a fleet of trucks and NY Waterway, the largest private ferry operator in the country: Imperatore served coffee, tea and Danishes as the ferry traveled from 34th at Hunters Point, the Queens Symphony Orchestra Brass Trio serenaded. Imperatore told the crowd assembled near the river that his ferry venture makes the city a better place to live.

"Quality of life, that's what we sell," he said, recounting the days when he rode a ferry from New Jersey to 42d St. in Manhattan. "A project like this is extremely important to us," said Shulman. "For our entire borough, it offers a viable commuter alternative." Calling the ferry service an 5 extraordinary marketing tool, Shulman also said, "It makes Queens West a living reality." Shulman said that Queens has been negotiating with United Nations officials about moving its headquarters to the borough, adding that good ferry service makes the offer stronger. g-Giuliani said the real bene- f-fits of the ferry service will be obvious in 10 to 15 years.

"This is not only wonderful for Queens and Queens West. 2. It is wonderful for the city," 9 he said. to rv a civilian commendation for his bravery. About 3:30 a.m.

Sunday, Levine, his wife, Paula, and some out-of-town friends were returning from, what else the Grateful Dead show at Madison Square Garden and some bar-hopping in Greenwich Village. As they walked along the platform at 34th St and Eighth they saw a man slumped against a pole and sleeping, he said. A few seconds later, the man had fallen onto the tracks. That's when Levine sprang into action. "All I remember was two big headlights coming toward us," said Levine, who pulled the man into a lVi-foot crawlspace directly under the platform and then pressed behind him.

A former electrician, he had done some track work in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and remembered the safe space under the platform's lip. Both men were taken Sunday to St. Vincent's Hospital. The man he saved, Anadal Ruiz of the Bronx, suffered minor injuries. Levine, who was treated and released, went home to his wife and three young children.

Now a deejay working local bar mitzvahs, weddings and parties, his new favorite tune from the Dead is called "I Know You Rider." And the lyrics, aptly, go something like this: wish I was a headlight on a northbound train Special to The News Sandy Levine considers himself one of the biggest Grateful Dead fans in Queens, having followed the band this year from Las Vegas to Philadelphia and to New York on its national tour. But early Sunday morning, he made like a Rolling Stone at Manhattan's 34th St. subway station, diving into a crawlspace between an oncoming train and the platform, and saving the life of a Bronx man who had fallen onto the tracks. "I just did it without thinking," said Levine, 32, who was nursing some bruises and cuts at his Flushing home yesterday. "But as the train was whizzing by, I was praying we would make it home alive and I would get up to the platform to see my wife and get home to see my kids." For his brush with death, a grateful Levine was invited backstage last night before the sold-out show at Madison Square Garden to hang out with some band members.

"He's the kind of Deadhead we're very proud of," said Steve McNally, the band's publicist McNally said Levine might even find himself moving up a few rows in the arena. Transit police also plan to nominate him for I xx CLARENCE DAVIS DAILY NLWS HERO Sandy Levine, holding his daughter Danielle, 2, stands by sons Matthew, 7, and Eli, 3.