Archive for October 2011
infinitely narrow
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above originated just last week at the Metropolitan Water Aliiance’s gala “Heroes of the Harbor” event. MWA choreographs a “parade of boats” on the Hudson River at sunset, and this year the coup de grace of the parade was the presence of the brand new “343” fireboat. Luckily for me, it maintained a static position on the river while firing its water cannons, and I was able to shoot this neat long exposure image of the FDNY’s new flagship.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Those stalwart stewards of the public trust at the United States Environmental Protection Agency contacted me the other day and asked that I might disseminate news of two upcoming “Public Information Sessions” which will be conducted in Brooklyn and Queens next week. For more information on specifics, or for more information about the event, check out the official flyer here. I will definitely be attending the Brooklyn event, oddly enough, but scheduled obligation might preclude me from visiting the famed Degnon Terminal (LaGuardia) one.
The dates, locations, and times- as forwarded are:
Tuesday, October 25
St. Nicks Alliance 2 Kingsland Avenue
Arts@Renaissance at the Garden Level, 2:00 to 4:00 pm and 7:00 to 9:00 pm
Thursday, October 27
LaGuardia Community College
31-10 Thomson Avenue, Long Island City
Conference Room E-500, 2:00 to 4:00 pm and 7:00 to 9:00 pm
winding ways
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just a note today, with the intention of thanking everybody who came along for the “Open House NY Weekend” tours I conducted of Dutch Kills Saturday and Sunday. Well attended, I nevertheless discovered messages on my phone post factum from a few who had ran afoul of transit difficulties. The tours were consciously delayed from the assigned starting time, but unfortunately we had to move. Don’t worry, this isn’t the last time I’ll be bringing company along on this particular walk.
Special guest speakers Penny Lee, Kate Zidar, and Kevin Walsh offered their own perspectives on the various sights and wonders found along the route and are offered a hearty thanks.
deeply hidden
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When your humble narrator was still a boy, certain promises and prognostications were offered by the society at large which have, frankly, just not worked out. Yes, we have the TV which you can wear on your wrist, and there are indeed robot vacuum cleaners… but where are the jet packs and moving sidewalks?
For another set of angles on the LIRR yard at Hunters Point, check out this Newtown Pentacle posting from September 12, “Little Memories“
from 1877′s “Long Island and where to go!!: A descriptive work compiled for the Long R.R. Co.“, courtesy google books:
Long Island City is the concentrating point upon the East river, of all the main avenues of travel from the back districts of Long Island to the city of New York. The great arteries of travel leading from New York are Thomson avenue, macadamized, 100 feet wide, leading directly to Newtown, Jamaica and the middle and southern roads on Long Island, and Jackson avenue, also 100 feet wide, and leading directly to Flushing, Whitestone and the northerly roads.
Long Island City is also the concentrating point upon the East river, of the railway system of Long Island.
The railways, upon reaching the city, pass under the main avenues of travel and traffic, and not upon or across their surface.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Concessions will be made that yes, people these days do indeed dress in the manner of superheroes when exercising- modern form fitting fabrics garishly colored are a common sight. However, personal jet packs have never materialized, and the “meal in pill form” is still not a reality.
from wikipedia
Long Island City station was built on June 26, 1854, and was rebuilt seven times during the 19th Century. On December 18, 1902, both the two-story station building, and an office building owned by the LIRR burned down. The station was rebuilt on April 26, 1903, and was electrified on June 16, 1910.
Before the East River Tunnels were built, the Long Island City station served as the terminus for Manhattan-bound passengers from Long Island, who took ferries to the East Side of Manhattan. The passenger ferry service was abandoned on March 3, 1925, although freight was carried by car floats (see Gantry Plaza State Park) to and from Manhattan until the middle twentieth century.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A game my adolescent friends and I used to play was guessing which future scenario offered by cinematic prophets might be the one that society would end up following. We always hoped for Star Trek, with its quasi socialist and expansionist state- but from my vantage point in October of 2011- our culture has instead lodged itself solidly into a Blade Runner/Robocop style dystopia.
from ny1.com
Residents of a building in Long Island City, Queens say they are near their wits’ end over the noise from train engines that idle all day in a nearby yard, and want the MTA to put the brakes on it. Borough reporter Ruschell Boone filed the following report.
For some Long Island City residents, the sound of idling train engines plow through their day.
“I’m not here to observe it all day. I wouldn’t want to be here five days a week,” said resident Mark Goetz.
“It’s really horrible. I mean, like I wake up to this noise every morning,” said resident Lillian Marchena.
Marchena’s apartment is directly across the street from the Long Island Rail Road rail yard. She says residents have been complaining for years about the diesel engine trains that sit idling during the day.
“It’s actually gotten a little bit better from the beginning when I first moved in, but it’s still a big problem,” she said.
Over the last two years, the LIRR has turned off some of the engines during the day and placed some trains in other parts of the rail yard as part of a compromise, but some residents said the noise is starting to increase again.
“From 7:30 in the morning ’til 5:30 at night, Monday through Friday,” said Community Board 2 Chairman Joe Conley.
It is a harsh reality for new residents moving to the once-industrial area. The rail yard has been there for more than 100 years, but residents want the diesel engines turned off during the day.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
If you were to read the predictions of a century ago, it was all about optimism, locomotive ambition, and confidence. The promise of a pneumatic, electrified, and somewhat insect free world was the dream of the educated class in the early 20th century. When we dream of the future, here at the start of the 21st century, it’s about maintaining health insurance payments and staying ahead of our bills.
Where is my jet pack?
a Newtown Pentacle posting of April 26, 2011 discussed the LIRR yard in some detail- click here for “Squat Creatures”
nighted secrets
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This has been one crazily busy few days for your humble narrator, and frankly- I’m a nervous wreck.
Tonight, the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance will be hosting the “Heroes of the Harbor” soiree at Pier 61 on the Hudson River at 6 p.m.- that’s Chelsea Piers for those unfamiliar with the demarcation of Manhattan’s surviving docks.
The MWA will be presenting the “Parade of Boats” at sunset, which will include (amongst others) the FDNY’s bon vivant “Three Forty Three” Fireboat. I’ll be there attempting to photograph the show.
Additionally, I remind you of the announcement made late Friday afternoon about the Working Harbor Committee and Newtown Creek Alliance produced boat tours of Newtown Creek on October 23rd which I will also be participating in. Tickets sales are flying, so order yours today.
“Join me on two Newtown Creek boat tours, both on October 23rd, 2011. I’ll be your tour guide, narrating humbly.
These tours are the co production of the Working Harbor Committee and the Newtown Creek Alliance made possible by funding from the NYCEF Newtown Creek Fund of the Hudson River Foundation. Accordingly, the tours will be heavily discounted, and tickets will cost only $10.
Made possible by funding from the NYCEF Newtown Creek Fund of the Hudson River Foundation”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Inadvertently, your humble narrator caused some confusion with that aforementioned post from Friday afternoon when a draft version was published which listed the wrong date and time for the two tours, and apologies are offered. Thanks are offered to the many sharp eyed readers of this, your Newtown Pentacle, who immediately let me know that an error had been published.
I long for the days of winter at this point, when solitary communion with my beloved Creeklands can be embraced again.
Oh, to fly with the night gaunts over the concrete desolations and haunt the rolling hillocks of Newtown once more …
So speaks the contemplative mood experienced by your humble narrator today…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For those of you new to my little world- here’s how this whole thing got started:
Several years ago, after a serious illness brought on by a slothful and overly indulgent lifestyle, my staff of doctors had prescribed exercise and wholesome activity as a curative. They told me to run, but having grown up in Brooklyn- I only run when someone of something is chasing me- so I began to walk. A shabby and defeated man in a filthy black raincoat, camera in hand, reduced to walking the earth in the manner of a mendicant. Vastly inferior to others, and perhaps the worst of men, I am an unpleasant fellow given to tidal fluctuations of mood and temperament which cause me to display an uncompromising face to all. Accordingly, the world had crumpled me up and thrown me away like so much refuse. I put away childish things, and disappeared into the wastelands of western Queens.
Like every other discarded piece of wind strewn trash casually thrown away in the city of New York, I eventually turned up at the Newtown Creek. The emerald devastations of Calvary, the mysteries of a forgotten world of industrial supremacy, the wonders of a deeply hidden world had been awaiting me. The hellish green flame of revelation soon presented itself here, at the Creek, and before I knew it- my various researches, photographs, and activities were noticed by both the historical community and political establishment of Queens.
Before long, I found myself standing alongside respected scholars and scientific pillars, advocating for the Creek in public, and telling its story to boat loads of eager enthusiasts. This is something which I am still getting used to.
A few aphorisms and truisms have emerged in the preceding years- “make no assumptions”, “it’s not good, it’s not bad, it just is”, “next time I go down English Kills in a rowboat, I’m wearing a respirator”, and “if it can happen, it happened here, and if it happened here it was ten times worse than anywhere else”. When the Open House NY walks on the 15th and 16th are done, and the boat tours are finished in October, my plan is to resume solitary wanderings and delve into deeper waters at the Creek which the general public need not visit. As always, I’ll be sharing my pedantic adventures with you, my lords and ladies of the Pentacle.
The Second… Welcome to Newtown Creek…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Join me on two Newtown Creek boat tours, both on October 23rd, 2011. I’ll be your tour guide, narrating humbly.
These tours are the co production of the Working Harbor Committee and the Newtown Creek Alliance made possible by funding from the NYCEF Newtown Creek Fund of the Hudson River Foundation. Accordingly, the tours will be heavily discounted, and tickets will cost only $10.
Made possible by funding from the NYCEF Newtown Creek Fund of the Hudson River Foundation
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Two tours are scheduled, both are two hours in length. The first will leave LIC at 10am sharp (returns at noon), the second is at 1pm (returns at 3). A constellation of speakers will be onboard, including your humble narrator, who will be serving as Tour Chairman and MC. We will be onboard vessels provided by NY Water Taxi, which are comfortable and climate controlled boats with great sound systems.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our anticipated itinerary will carry you from Hunters Point, and visit nearly all the communities of the Newtown Creek Watershed as we proceed east through Greenpoint, LIC, Blissville, Maspeth, Ridgewood, and finally East Williamsburg when we proceed all the way back to the Metropolitan Avenue Bridge.
Literally a once in a lifetime opportunity, you are invited to come and experience Newtown Creek (for an insubstantial fee- only ten bucks) and I’m hoping to see you onboard.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you’d imagine, tickets are going to sell out fast at this price, so please order your tickets expeditiously. An incredible amount of planning has gone into this endeavor, and your ticket price includes a free 8 page booklet describing certain facts and facets of what you will be experiencing onboard. Newtown Creek, from the water, is one of the most incredible sights in New York City and you have never seen anything like it.
The Newtown Pentacle 