The Newtown Pentacle

Tuesday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

All of my favorite places have received a visit since I’ve been back in NYC, including Astoria’s own Luyster Creek. Recent conversation with high ranking officers of the City’s Department of Environmental Protection firmly established the fact of this waterway’s existence and the actual location of a particularly noisome “combined sewer outfall” pipe along its waterfront, which is maintained by their agency. They seemed surprised.

I have had – in fact – several conversations with highly placed personages in the political state recently wherein they asked me – a private citizen – to gather photos and write reports for them – pro bono – on their own infrastructure, ways of doing business, and work practices. One actually asked me to prepare a categorical inventory of the utility poles and wire snares leading to and from these utility poles in Astoria and Woodside.

There is a New York State Public Service Commission operating out of an office at 90 Church Street in Manhattan, which oversees the utility poles of Consolidated Edison, Spectrum, RCN, National Grid, and Verizon within NYC. If the answer to “who ya going to call” isn’t “Ghostbusters,” perhaps these employees of the political state are the correct answer. Not me, unless you’ve got a fist full of cash to compensate me for the trouble, not anymore.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The Raphael De Niro led “Wildflower Studios” construction project is at work right now at Luyster Creek, which will result in a television and movie studio being erected alongside the Steinway Piano Factory in Astoria. The wooded shoreline on the western shore pictured above will also soon become a Department of Sanitation Garage. You should have seen their faces when I invoked the NYC charter requirement of “1% for art or public access” on them in a community board meeting. What depressed me was how few of my fellow CB members had ever actually slogged through the NYC Charter. You mess around with Lawyers, it’s a good idea to have at least read the law book.

Y’know, I’ve had a number of people ask me recently if I’m depressed or something. I’m the opposite of that these days, I’m pissed off and have decided that another facet of my newly adopted philosophy of sociopathy is unvarnished truth telling. As an old punk song offered – “Are you offended? Well, sorry, but maybe you needed to be offended, and one more thing – fuck you.” I just don’t care anymore, which brings me back full circle to the angry young man I used to be.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Everything is broken, and nobody wants to say it. I’ve always been the one willing to tell Granny that the soup is too salty. It’s better to be honest than to lie. In the political world, they’ll dance around uncomfortable subjects. “He might be owned outright by big real estate, and worked closely with Jared Kushner on luxury apartments in Williamsburg and oversaw the creation of Hudson Yards, but he’s great on bike lanes, and inclusionary policies regarding homeless electricians.” Yes, he handled the homeless shelter giveaway spree for De Blasio’s City Hall, but he’s great on police reform. She’s great on bike lanes, but is pro development, and… Pfah.

We’ve crossed the precipice of voting monsters into office because they are the only ones who can make the trains run on time… y’all do realize that, right?

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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.