Down the Drain, in Pittsburgh
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ia, Ia… look – there’s one of them now – risen from dark waters to…
Actually, that’s no Lovecraftian ‘Deep One,’ instead it’s the mascot of the ALCOSAN outfit – here in Pittsburgh – and the character’s name is ‘Frankie the Fish.’
It happened, lords and ladies… finally… it happened…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I got to go the sewer plant in Pittsburgh.
GLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
Three things:
First off – the Newtown Pentacle time warp continues to fibbulate. These shots were captured on the 19th of September of this year, with the posts being written during the second week of October.
Secondly – the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority – aka ALCOSAN – operates an enormous 59 acre sewerage and wastewater treatment plant, along the Ohio river here in Pittsburgh.
The authority holds an annual ‘Open House’ (since 2004 at least) wherein the general public is invited onto the property to see how the sewerage process works, and how tax monies are being spent. Said agency makes a big show of the Open House event, and there’s a carnival style area for families with kids to explore, with staffed booths describing the plant and its operations and there was also a giant fish tank this time around which they said was ‘new.’ I paid near zero attention to all of that.
Additionally, there were also plant tours to attend.
Third – Plant tours, did you say?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After signing up for the tour, my neighbor Sam (who accompanied and drove me to this event) and I split away from each other.
Sam is a lettered Chemist, and his interests were pulling him towards a tour of the various laboratory rooms within the buildings, wherein the water testing is accomplished. I’ve been to DEP’s labs back in NYC, and it was a remarkably unexciting experience from a photographic POV, so I opted for the plant tour instead.
Sam disappeared. Didn’t see him again for around three days, and that was back at HQ in Dormont. Sam’s like that.
The plant tour goers were shepherded onto small shuttle buses, and our first stop was at Alcosan’s Pump House.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Oh, it’s been so long…
There was a period of around ten years of my life when I was in that sewer plant in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint at least once a month. One learned a great deal during that interval, mainly about how local NYC Government actually works. I learned a lot about urban drainage too.
Pictured is a symbolic map showing the status lights for the various pumping stations found around Pittsburgh, which push wastewater towards the Alcosan system found here at the plant.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The pump house itself is contained within a gigantic cylindrical space, and once you enter the red ceramic bricked top level, you’ll realize that you’re standing on a platform/walkway, one which connects to multiple flights of stairs that are all heading downwards. Lots and lots of ‘big’ equipment is everywhere. Cranes on the ceiling, all that jazz.
I never caught our guide’s name but he had a fabulous mustache. He was obviously a Boss, or at least a Senior level employee at Alcosan. He was offering the ‘millions of gallons per hour’ versus ‘square acreage of drainage area’ talk, and not delving too deeply into the various Court orders and ‘Consent Decrees’ Alcosan has been forced to accept by judges and legislatures over several decades to ‘clean up their act.’
This plant was opened in 1959, long before the Clean Water Act set a higher bar for wastewater treatment than existed previously. Saying that, Pittsburgh historically emptied both residential and industrial sewage directly into the rivers, right on through to the 1950’s when this plant opened.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries Pittsburgh had ridiculously high infection rates for water borne diseases like Typhus and Cholera.
A 2007 agreement with the Federal EPA saw Alcosan agreeing to begin a massive and expensive new project, one designed to lower the amount of combined sewer outfall water escaping into the rivers, via the construction of a diversion tunnel in which the overflows could be stored during wet weather events.
A similar sewage retention tunnel plan is part of the the post Superfund Newtown Creek for the NYC DEP, btw. Nobody who is alive right now will see that project even begin, let alone finish though. Perhaps a newborn will see it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above looks down through the cylindrical structure of the Pump House, where the actual machinery that handles the flow is found.
Since this is where most of Allegheny County ostensibly drains to, it’s theoretically the lowest point in Pittsburgh – which our guide described was eleven stories down from the surface, where we were standing. Neat!
You’re looking at the ‘Undaburgh.’
Back tomorrow with more.
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Little trees and Two Hey Now’s
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
‘Everytime you leave the house it doesn’t have to be the Odyssey,’ that’s what I keep telling myself.
Now that the busted ankle has transitioned to ‘more or less reliable’ again – I’m additionally trying to make my ‘old’ exercise schedule of ‘two short walks, and one long one, 20-30 miles every week’ habitual, again.
…so… do what you say and say what you do?… These aphorisms of mine really do bind me into jams…
This time around, it was the South Side Slopes section of Pittsburgh, for a short walk of around five to six miles, and the first thing that caught my attention was this tiny tree growing out of a concretized sidewalk seam.
Neat.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After negotiating an interesting downwards course involving a couple of sets of Pittsburgh’s ‘City Steps,’ my target for the next section of my day involved the ‘PJ McArdle Roadway’ – a busy vehicular pathway, cantilevered out from the face of Mount Washington and providing diagonal egress between the ‘flats’ below and the prominences above.
The section of the roadway I was visiting additionally provides, for those of us who are wandering mendicants wielding cameras, an overlook opportunity for the trackage of the Norfolk Southern railroading outfit.
Hey Now!
Norfolk Southern #1099 was coming through.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is a relatively safe spot to hang out and wait for trains to come and go, I’d mention, with stout concrete and steel separation between the pedestrian path and the vehicle lanes. It’s also a kind of photogenic spot, since you can see the tower buildings of Downtown Pittsburgh from it.
My old pal Bernie always said ‘make sure you get something in the background to give it a sense of place.’ He was referring to Newtown Creek, of course, and how compositions with the Empire State Building in frame instantly ‘placed’ the waterway and told an implicit story.
Norfolk Southern #1099 was hauling a long train of cars that were carrying a black mineral. Probably coal, but unless I know what something is, I stay general.
Take a look (Flickr link). What do you think it is?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In between trains, I was entertained by the antics of the local fauna, but I’m a man/boy simpleton. Ask anyone.
One was traveling light again on this walk. The camera was wearing the 24-240mm zoom lens, and the only spare lens I had with me was an 85mm one, which I can use to shoot through chain link fences.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the advantages of this spot is that you can see the RR signal lights from up here, and thereby I knew to hang around as ‘something else was coming.’ You can look that one up, the codes for the lights, btw.
About twenty minutes behind #1099, along came Norfolk Southern #6955.
Hey Now!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Norfolk Southern #6955 was pulling a line of train cars similar to those that were behind #1099, but these particular contrivances were loaded with large quantities of – what seemed to be – metallic slabs.
Most likely these were slabs of steel, as this is – indeed – Pittsburgh.
That’s a guess, though, and as in the case of the black minerals being hauled by #1099 above – if you don’t know what something is – for sure – speak about it in ‘general terms.’
What do you think it was? Take a look (Flickr link).
Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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A Long Walk ends
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured are various overhead trestles branching off the 33rd street rail bridge, here in Pittsburgh. This bridge serves as – more or less – the division marker for when you’re exiting the Lawrenceville section and entering Pittsburgh’s Strip District.
One had followed the shoreline of the Allegheny River from nearby the Highland Park Bridge, scuttled along Butler Street, and then headed slightly northwards to capture railroad shots. As the crow flies, this would be a six to seven mile walk, but with all the curves that the river introduces to the path, by the time I returned to HQ in Dormont, I had scuttled around twelve and change miles by the time I returned to HQ.
That’s what the phone said it was, at any rate.
This walk was a major ‘post broken ankle’ threshold point for me, as a note. Longest scuttle I’ve managed to pull off since shattering the joint back in the fall of 2024.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned at the start of this opus, I was traveling light. No tripods or other heavy gear, which I absolutely regretted when observing the scene above. I’ll be back for this one at some point. That’s the ‘Washington’s Crossing’ bridge, pictured above, as a note.
I actually stopped off at a sandwich shop and ‘filled my tanks’ for the last stage of things. The sandwich was shit, but the icy cold Gatorade was key.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From here, it was all ‘known territory’ for me.
I feel obliged to mention that the Newtown Pentacle time warp is still very much in effect. These shots were gathered on the 14th of September, and the posts are being written during the first week of October. If my scheduling is correct, you’re seeing this during the second week of November. Given that there are literally thousands of undeveloped shots on my hard drive at HQ which are ‘in production,’ it’s likely that the time warp will continue and intensify as we move into the winter months.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This pedestrian survey of mine has ranged all over Pittsburgh in the last year, as the ankle has healed and the post surgical atrophy of the musculature in my legs has receded.
North Side, South Side, East, West, all over the place.
At this point, I can pretty much say that if it’s within ten miles of downtown and there are sidewalks which you can see a river or train tracks from, I’ve likely wandered through it by this point. I’m beginning to understand the place, and develop some intimacy with it.
Next up, and one of my winter projects, will be ‘Operation Busway.’ That set of moves is still being planned, but I’m hoping to achieve some level of granularity on the subject in those posts. Long time readers of Newtown Pentacle will tell you – there’s nothing more interesting to me than novel transit infrastructure.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The long walk had taken a toll.
My ankle was sore, and so was my back. As mentioned above, I had stopped off for luncheon at a shop along the way but otherwise I’d pretty much been walking nonstop for something like four to five hours by this point.
As a note, that concrete wall you see in the distance there is ‘Crosstown Boulevard,’ and that blue tower is the brand new FNB building. Both of these were described in prior posts, click the links if interested.
Leaving the Strip District, you soon find yourself ‘Downtown.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last scraping steps of this scuttle saw a horrific localized phenomenon best described as your humble narrator alter course, as it pointed that loathsome pre-corpse, within which I dwell, in the direction of the T Light Rail’s ‘Gateway’ station.
The usual wilting of plants and barking of dogs occurred as one moved along, as did the always welcome purse clutching, and defensive deployments of cell phones and pitchforks amongst the gentry. Security cameras swiveled, and followed my path. ‘Flock that,’ I said.
A quick ride on the T, and I was soon back in the tender embrace of Moe the Dog and Our Lady of the Pentacle. This spared anyone from outside the household any chance of being startled by my ignominy.
Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
A long… wait a minute, say what?
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So… as you might recall from last week, your humble narrator was involved in a long scuttle along the Allegheny River side of Pittsburgh’s central peninsula, one filled with lots of self-recrimination. Fun walk, lots to see and ponder. Everybody hates me. All caught up.
One had wandered into the Lawrenceville section, and encountered a passing freight train at street grade, and then…
I saw this street sign.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Now – for some ‘behind the curtains’ POV – I’ve started inserting shots of street signs into the flow of photos at my Flickr account, to act as visual bookmarks and to remind me of where I was when one photo or another was captured. At the end of the week, when you’re looking at a thousand raw captures, this practice aids in the organizing of things, from a cogently geographical and narrative sense.
Yes, that is a real Pittsburgh street sign, signifying the intersection of Willow Street with 43 1/2 street.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I stood there staring at this sign for a couple of minutes, in disbelief. Was it a fake? Something some real estate yahoo screwed onto a pole?
Nope.
From Google’s AI:
Origins and Naming Original Name: The lane was originally called Snowden Alley.
Landowner: It was named after H. Snowden, who owned property on both sides of the alley north of Butler Street around 1852.
Fractional Renaming: The city changed the name to 43rd ½ Street via a city ordinance in 1871. An 1881 ordinance accidentally listed it back as Snowden Alley, before it was officially updated again to “Forty-third and One-Half Street” in 1896.
Local Lore: Early Pittsburgh historian and columnist George T. Fleming joked in a 1915 Pittsburgh Gazette Times column that the quirky fractional name meant the street “surely has a name and a half”.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I have no information, regarding the artist or intention of that mural painted on the residential building pictured above, but I dig it.
As you can see in the shot’s background, this is right about where a bunch of the ‘new’ construction, found on the border between Pittsburgh’s ‘Lawrenceville’ and ‘Strip District,’ collides with older real estate schemes.
Were I as loquacious as I was back in Queens, I’d christen this as ‘an angle between’ those two neighborhoods. I’m not.
Neat.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
By this point, my walk through the ‘Butler Street Corridor’ had transmogrified into ‘the Willow Street Corridor is more interesting right about now,’ so I followed it under the 40th street Bridge where the roadway becomes a narrow pass for pedestrians and bike riders only.
The predominance of my scuttle having been accomplished, the route now became an expedient one, designed to angle my toes towards a T light rail station that was still at least a couple/three miles away in the ‘Downtown’ section.
Yep, could have always hopped on a bus, but that’s not the actual point of these endeavors. Got to keep moving or I’ll stop moving.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At 33rd street, where a gargantuan railroad bridge is found right along the waterfront of the Allegheny River, that’s where I walked past next.
There’s all sorts of signage from the railroad people warning off trespass, camping, and other morbid occupations, but I continue to operate in compliance with the rules of 1980’s Brooklyn.
‘Things are only illegal if there are Cops around,’ or if you break into or graffiti onto something, and as there weren’t any Cops hanging around and I had no intention of painting my name here, there we are. I did find a private spot in the bushes for a piss.
There’s rail tracks on the ground, I’d mention, but they are clearly not active and are quite overgrown. I’ve seen videos of camera wielders getting hassled around here by the RR Cops, but have a feeling that those particular videographers made themselves ostentatious to the gendarmerie.
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
A Long Walk, part 5
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Oh boy, Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville really does remind me of the late 20th century version of North Brooklyn, in so many ways.
Centuried buildings standing alongside brand spanking new luxury residential towers, ancient and insufficient infrastructure which was built for a low density industrial zone suddenly finding itself handling a high density residential population – composed of self important ‘master of the universe’ type tech and real estate ‘bros’ – with their artsy fartsy hipster hanger on’s and arounds… all that good stuff.
After luckily running into a passing freight train, and having kicked around five to six miles of dirt around by this point, one realized that he was somewhere around the half way point for the day’s effort.
From this spot, I’d be angling my feet in the direction of a still distant series of T light Rail stations, where I’d find a ride back to HQ in Dormont.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the meanwhile, the area I was moving through was fairly deserted and I had a camera, so ‘wheee.’ Massing shapes, structures of expedient execution, busted up crap… all my kinds of bag.
It was a good time to remind myself of all the usual tropes;
- Everybody hates me, on sight.
- Nobody has a real friend.
- It’s best to not even try, anymore.
- No hope, and no future.
- All is dire, and colored a sickly pinkish gray.
- When I die, people will say ‘Good, that’s finally over with.’
Actually, I’ve long held a desire to have my corpse frozen solid in liquid nitrogen, and then fed into a wood chipper on the back of a boat on NY Harbor, which would then spray scarlet rainbows of ‘Mitch bits’ into the Newtown Creek.
At least I’d feed the fish on my way out…
My own corruptions, mixing with those of the Creek, and… and…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Yeah… I do miss it sometimes. New York, I mean, not the human infestation it hosts.
I’m the type of person who feels completely alone in a room full of people who would profess to love me, but I’m sure they’d just be saying that anyway to set me up. As soon as I’d turn my back….
Me? I’m perfect, just like Caligula, and like that long ago Augustus I set the standard of sanity for the rest of the world to follow.
Anything that goes wrong when I’m in the room is something I should, or could have, stopped from happening. Everything bad is my ultimately my fault, somehow. You got cancer? Sorry, my bad.
It’s never been a good place, between my ears.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey, I think that those might be some of the ‘murder bots’ which Carnegie Mellon University is working on for the Marines.
Yep, whereas the conversation about AI has centered in on the resources that data centers will consume, we’ve all forgotten that the United States Military is currently working on building autonomous ‘Hunter-Killer’ battlefield technologies – here in Pittsburgh – with young geniuses whom I can tell you have never read Asimov. I know this because I’ve asked several of them, and in addition to ignorance of Asimov, they haven’t read Stanislaus Lem or Phillip K. Dick either.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sigh… I’m old and won’t last too much longer, so this is not my problem yet – but AI is likely to somehow be my fault somehow. Ask anyone.
Some street furniture was encountered. Looks like a comfy park bench, if you ask me, but it’s likely very unpleasant during rainy weather.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured is one of the more frustrating ‘things’ you regularly encounter in Pittsburgh, with some working guy parking his truck right in the middle of a narrow street.
No doubt the truck is there to facilitate something practical, but damn does it suck when you make a left turn and then see this in front of you.
Back next week with a bit more from this long walk – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
