Posts Tagged ‘Maspeth’
went silently
Sometimes you get what you pay for.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Wandering about in DUKBO recently, specifically western Maspeth (aka Berlin) nearby its border with Blissville, your humble narrator found himself confronted with one of the many conundrums which torment. My Dad was a “working guy,” one whose entire body was thrown into the meat grinder of manual labor during his working life. Routinely exposed to paint, solvents, and all sorts of other chemicals which his trade utilized, the old man eventually succumbed to cancer.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
The old man had a list of industrial accidents which he would rattle off to those who asked. The time he fell off a ladder and was blinded for a few months when a pail of lye splashed into his eyes, or a freak accident that somehow opened up his inner arm from wrist to armpit which needed 400 stitches to close, or the long lasting bursitis and arthritic after effects of having worked at an industrial butcher in the freezer room when he was a kid. There were busted toes, bad knees, a gamey hip, bulging vertebrae, broken ribs, a shoulder that made sounds when he moved it, and the scar tissue on his hands had formed into thickened gloves.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Other than insisting that I figure out some way to get a desk job instead of following in his footsteps, the old man had no real regrets other than never having won the lottery nor owned a Cadillac. He did what he had to do and always tried to get the job done right, or at least as half assed as he could get away with. This has been referenced before, and when I see working guys doing what the fellow in the shot above is doing, I cringe a bit and start to think about the old man. The guy in the shot is doing so many things wrong, safety wise, that I was half expecting him to just burst into flame as I walked by.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
I spend enough time around the union types that I’ve kind of been infected by their logic. My upstairs neighbor sets out safety cones and a fire extinguisher when he barbecues, but he does something at work which he calls “firewatch” that requires permit and certification. “Even if ya don’t need it Bro, god forbid something happens you can at least say you did everything you could.” Also mentioned, in the past, has been the physical cowardice for which I am famous.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Given to capricious fits of panic and paranoia, your humble narrator attempts full situational awareness at all times, constantly scanning the local vicinity for threats. Those who know me personally will confirm the constant stream of warnings about broken sidewalks, things which drip, or suspicious personages to watch out for that spews forth. Additionally, I advise strangers who are crossing Northern Blvd. to stand behind something while standing at corners and waiting for the light to change. I’m all ‘effed up, but this really isn’t the old mans fault, I was just born weird. One of the things which allows one such as myself nepenthe is the presence of union guys like my pal upstairs, or these poor schmucks on a picket line in front of that dry ice and compressed gas place right at the corner of Laurel Hill and Review. Union labor keeps things nice and safe for the rest of us. You won’t find them sitting on a ladder using a metal grinder to remove paint without wearing glasses or a mask, nor wearing highly flammable synthetic fabrics while doing so.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
The old man wasn’t in a union, he had some objection to them- something about the mafia and being Jewish and his older brother- a story which he changed periodically to prove a point or win an argument. I kind of wish he was, at least he would have gotten paid a lot better, and likely wouldn’t have been quite as busted up by the job. This little conundrum of mine, pondered while marching across the concrete devastations of DUKBO, is this: why do I care so much about what happens to strangers, nor mind my own business? Also, if I care so much, what can I do about it?
What would Superman do?
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley- Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
Modern Corridor- Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
argued absence
Today’s post straddles the currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens at Newtown Creek.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Standing astride Brooklyn and Queens, your humble narrator is endlessly fascinated by the machinery adorning a concrete plant. Passing through and upon the Grand Street Bridge, a pause for reflection of the East Branch of the Newtown Creek was enjoyed. I like to wander up to spots on the Creek these days and try to remember everything I know about it, as a sort of test. While there, I look for anomalous or malign indications of everything that there might be, which is buried down there.
I also try to figure out how many security cameras might be recording me.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Paranoid tendencies are just one of the many flaws which I have been accused of displaying, but as I am the terrible sort of person whom you would avoid if you could, they remain one of my better traits. Funny thing is that there are those who hope for my destruction, but they display an alarming lack of competency. “Judge a man by the company he keeps” isn’t my rubric, I judge you by your enemies.
My enemies are generally clowns, so what does that say about me?
- photo by Mitch Waxman
What is a man? What has he got? If not himself, then he has not? Thats what I think some song I once heard says.
In the case of this poor specimen, all I’ve got are a couple of spots on a superfund site in the middle of New York City where I can reliably expect to find and or produce Cormorants. Sometimes. Do you suppose that they’re the same Cormorants? Have they been following me around? I’m probably just being paranoid.
Its not like the government secretly records all my phone calls or anything.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron- Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley- Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
carnivorous organisms
Today’s post visits DUKBO, Down Under the Kosciuszko Bridge Onramp.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
An angle between neighborhoods, this spot is in Maspeth and Sunnyside and Blissville and Laurel Hill all at the same time. It’s alongside the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and the Queens leg of the 1.1 mile long Kosciuszko Bridge Complex and the Long Island Expressway. To the west lies Calvary Cemetery and its tomb legions, and it is known to all simply and aptly as Laurel Hill Blvd.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the spots where Europeans originally settled in Queens, as early as the 1680′s there were farms and houses here, it is nevertheless a forgotten and desolate place seldom traveled to but rather through. In actuality, if you were to count all the humans who travelled by on any given day, the number would suggest one of the most crowded spots on the planet.
Luckily, local artisans have inscribed the spot.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Vast graffiti has been installed, decrying the clarion call of the outer boroughs upon the titan masonry of the bridge’s approach ramp. Epic wit emblazoned with such panache surely indicates the presence of a latter day bard here in this angle between neighborhoods.
Pithy expression, and the freedom to pursue it, indeed.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Happily, everything in Queens faces Manhattan these days, and on a clear day one might be able to discern this delicate missive from the Shining City if atmospheric and lighting conditions are just right. Also, the thought paid by the artist to those visiting the interred at Calvary must be heeded.
Imagine the joy of describing to your grandchild what the word “Scumbag” means as he stands in front of a loved ones grave.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron- Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley- Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
unknown magic
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
- photo by Mitch Waxman
After the event at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant on Friday the 26th, Newtown Creek Alliance Executive Director Kate Zidar and I had to hurry over to another location on the troubled waterway for a second event.
This one was taking place at the Maspeth Creek tributary in Queens.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Newtown Creek Alliance invite you to a special event to celebrate New York’s wildlife and Earth Week!
- photo by Mitch Waxman
The NYS DEC have released a new book as part of the “watchable wildlife” initiative, which seems to be a state wide effort to promote eco tourism. The administrative head of the NYC region 2 is Venetia Lannon, who is actually a very cool person in real life, and she was there to speak to the gathered bird enthusiasts, Newtown Creek Alliance members and Creek devotees, as well as members of the local press.
from dec.ny.gov
Whether it’s the spectacle of a soaring eagle or a glimpse of a river otter, here you’ll find what you need to plan a great wildlife viewing experience in New York State. DEC’s wildlife experts help you learn where to find wildlife, what sounds to listen for, or when to look for your favorite animal. Find a full list of wildlife viewing sites in New York State with many new locations just released and see our full list of wildlife species.
Have you checked out the new New York Wildlife Viewing Guide? In it you’ll find more than 100 of New York’s best sites to see wildlife near home or while on a trip. New York State has millions of acres of state parks and forests, preserves, and wildlife management areas (WMAs) each offering tremendous opportunities for wildlife and nature viewing. Take along the New York Wildlife Viewing Guide on your next outdoor adventure! Available soon for your E-reader and electronic devices; purchase a copy on the web, in bookstores, or at watchablewildlife.org.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
In addition to the DEC’s watchable wildlife book, a lushly illustrated guide book which details opportune spots around the state to observe and experience the splendors of nature, NCA was also premiering our “Birds of Newtown Creek” poster. A bunch of my photos are on the poster, and it discusses the various fauna which have been documented by our group in the last few years.
Newtown Creek has its fair share of un-sung heroes…tug boat captains maneuvering barges piled high, sewer plant operators and garbage handlers doing the invisible work of processing mountains of waste each day… come out with us to explore the un-sung heroes of Newtown Creek’s WILDLIFE. Each day, spindly-legged egrets and herons work the exposed, fetid sediment mounds in the upper tributaries looking for a hot lunch, and ever-stylish cormorants display their wings as they air-dry on the floating booms that corral waste oil and trash.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s NCA’s Kate Zidar in the shot above, who is one of the smartest people I know. Kate discussed the various species which we’ve documented at the Creek with our ornithologically inclined partners and friends.
Kate Zidar (Executive Director) is an Environmental Planner with a professional focus on watershed management. As Executive Director of NCA, she works to strike a balance between waterfront access, environmental health and economic development for the city’s most polluted waterway. Kate serves as Chairperson of the Steering Committee for the Stormwater Infrastructure Matters (S.W.I.M.) Coalition, an organization committed to ensuring swimmable, fishable waters around New York City through Green Infrastructure. Kate teaches graduate courses in Writing, Solid Waste Management and Green Infrastructure at Pratt Institute. Kate has experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors, consulting previously for the Planning Center at Municipal Art Society, NYC Housing Authority, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership and Habana Outpost. Kate is a founding member of the North Brooklyn Compost Project, and a board member of the Lower East Side Ecology Center. She holds a BS in Biology from the University of Colorado, and an MS in City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute’s Graduate Center For Planning and the Environment.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Maspeth Creek has long been a source of fascination for me, given its significant historical importance and somewhat feral modern incarnation. The bulkheads on either bank of this tributary have been allowed to decay over the course of the 20th century, and as such, nature has reclaimed them. The “soft edges” allow cormorants and other birds to escape the mid day sun and the shallow waters are teeming with invertebrate life.
Unfortunately, an enormous CSO (combined sewer outfall) is here, which continually poisons the water with sewage and industrial runoff.
from dec.ny.gov
Combined sewer systems (CSS) are sewer systems that are designed to collect storm water runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater in the same pipe and bring it to the publicly owned treatment works (POTW) facilities.
During rain events, when storm water enters the sewers, the capacity of the sewer system may be exceeded and the excess water will be discharged directly to a waterbody (rivers, streams, estuaries, and coastal waters).
The untreated water may contain untreated sewage that may impact human health. For information about the general CSO wet weather advisory and links to the CSO outfall map visit the CSO Wet Weather Advisory web page.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Kate Zidar has a few plans for this part of the Newtown Creek watershed which I’m not sure I’m authorized to discuss, but if she manages to pull even a fraction of them off, it will change things for the better around this waterway. Maspeth Creek is one of those rare spots where neighboring property owners, environmental officials, and neighborhood activists are on the “same page” and exciting stuff is in the works.
from wikipedia
Before the nineteenth century urbanization and industrialization of the surrounding neighborhoods, Newtown Creek was a longer and shallower tidal waterway, and wide enough that it contained islands. It drained parts of what are now the neighborhoods of Bushwick, Williamsburg and Greenpoint in Brooklyn; and Maspeth, Ridgewood, Sunnyside and Long Island City in Queens. During the second half of the nineteenth century it became a major industrial waterway, bounded along most of its length by retaining walls, the shipping channel maintained by dredging. The Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, mainly a freight line, runs along the North bank.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
A display table, pictured above, offered samples of both the NCA Bird Poster and the DEC Watching Wildlife book to the curious and interested alike.
For a free pdf of the NCA “Birds of Newtown Creek” Poster, click here.
Also: Upcoming Tours!
13 Steps around Dutch Kills- Saturday, May 4, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Parks and Petroleum- Sunday, May 12, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley- Saturday, May 25, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Hidden Harbor: Newtown Creek tour with Mitch Waxman – Sunday, May 26,2013
Boat tour presented by the Working Harbor Committee,
Limited seating available, order advance tickets now. Group rates available.
passages beneath
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Confession is offered, lords and ladies, that your humble narrator has been experimenting all over the neighborhood. Trick shooting, long exposure times, specialized equipment- the whole shameful arrangement has been employed in a vainglorious attempt to alleviate tedium. It has literally been months since I’ve had anything but ground under my feet, and I can’t even remember the last time I was on a boat by gum.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
A desire to just go and ride the Staten Island Ferry, braving the cold and weather, forms in me. Too timid to actuate even such a mundane plan as this, instead retreat is made to the usual and familiar, so a scuttling across the frozen concrete and urban desolations go I. An attempt has been underway to utilize some of the older cameras which have accumulated on the shelf, as well as to grow practiced with some newer gear. I’ve also been try and “slow it down” a bit, process wise.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
During the summer, at whatever adventure I happen to be participating in, things pop up fast and furious- photo wise- and speed is essential for the successful capture of a quality image. A dolphin or giant snapping turtle isn’t going to just hold a pose while you fumble around with settings on your dslr after all. Problem is that the speed you develop becomes a habit, a shortcut to the shot. At the moment, I’ve actually got some time to experiment, and I plan on using it.
Also:
Remember that event in the fall which got cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy?
The “Up the Creek” Magic Lantern Show presented by the Obscura Society NYC is back on at Observatory.
Click here or the image below for more information and tickets.
