Author Archive
Puddle people
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Long Island City. All this has been built out without a single new firehouse, or police station, or sewer plant, or even a single new hospital bed. Great planning, NYC. The amount of new construction that has occurred here just in the last three years is frankly staggering. It’s not like there were just shacks here prior to my departure, but holy smokes.
The building on the left side of the shot above sits on top of a benzene plume, as it was built in the footprint of a former Standard Oil canning factory, as well as a ‘white lead’ factory, and a paint manufacturing outfit.
The source of the benzene surprised the heck out of City Planning and the developer when the State environmental people made an issue of it during the ‘Brownfield Opportunity Areas Remediation’ era. After the third try at remediating the benzene, it was decided to just dig a deep hole and then fill it with stone excavated from the second avenue subway project. Once the stone was in the pit, the tests for benzene came back ‘clean enough,’ so they built the residential tower after excavating all the loose but clean stones. Benzene? Still down there, probably.
History is important, especially so with personally observed narratives.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hunters Point on the left, Greenpoint on the right. Look at that, will ya?
It’s like an invasion of blue glass and steel monoliths has occurred, an incursion that seems to be entirely focused on embedding a dense urban population on and around current (Newtown Creek) and future (East River) superfund sites. Tens of thousands are housed in those giant shiny rhombuses, on land that was once called ‘the workshop of America.’
What could go wrong?
Seriously Mitch, ya bleeding heart NIMBY lib: show me one recent example where the ambitions of the Real Estate industry and their thralls in City Government – regarding the post industrial landscape of the outer Boroughs and specifically the ill advised idea of spurring residential real estate development around Federal Superfund sites – has ever steered the municipal ship wrongly or gone badly. Just one example?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bah.
A NYC DEP Sludge Boat was exiting Newtown Creek just as the ferry I was riding on passed it by. Largest sewer plant in NYC is about a mile back from the Gold Coast of the east river. It drains Manhattan below 79th street, but don’t pay attention to that, the asphalt plants, or the waste transfer yards.
Amenities. What amenities do the luxury towers offer? Foot buttering?
The sky has been stolen. For comparison, here’s a similar ‘POV’ from 2009.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My usual bad luck held up for this trip. I arrived in NYC just as ‘summertime swamp ass’ season did. It was hot, hazy, and humid the entire time I was in town. When walking around with my full pack on my back during the next few days, your humble narrator was literally dripping with sweat.
Also, ‘bah!’
I had crafted a fairly ambitious schedule for myself. I wanted to see certain people and places, and there was a pretty decent amount of intra urban travel involved in doing that. As described yesterday, this journey started at one in the morning, so I also needed to plan fatigue and diminishing returns in as well. To complicate matters, I was carrying four days worth of clothing in addition to all my camera gear.
That’s the ConEd facility which exploded during Hurricane Sandy, btw.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Ferry turned into the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and that DEP Sludge Boat seen exiting Newtown Creek was now maneuvering under the Williamsburg Bridge, with Manhattan as a backdrop as an FDNY Fire Boat motored by. This is the sort of thing I’ve missed, living in Pittsburgh. There, you have to go looking for ‘it’ and usually wait around a bit. In NYC, it’s a rapid fire and visually rich environment composed of concretized ambition. ‘It’ comes to you. Gotta be quick, head on a swivel.
I’ve also missed bitching about NYC as well, so thanks for indulging me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My Pal Val and I began readying ourselves for the next leg of things, which involved a debate about which ferry to take and where. We were initially going to try for a free transfer to the Rockaway boat, but it’s was seriously crowded and we decided instead to shlep over to the Staten Island Ferry for the best free attraction in NYC.
More on that 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.
Homeboy
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It all started at one in the morning on a Tuesday.
I had a 6 a.m. flight, leaving Pittsburgh International AirPort and bound for LaGuardia. Had to bathe, eat breakfast, and double check my packed bags. An Uber picked me up at 3:30 a.m. and I was at the airport by 4:05.
Got through security, which is a bit of a ‘thing’ when you’ve got a camera bag with you, and was soon cooling my heels at the gate drinking an expensive cup of coffee, purchased at the terminal. The plane landed on time, and my Pal Val picked me up in her car. The plan was to park her auto nearby the ferry stop in Astoria, and then board a boat for a NY Harbor Photo Safari.
I needed to smell salt water again, Y’see.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I will admit to getting a bit emotional at times during the four days I was back home. It had more to do with the broken ankle situation, and reclaiming the walking physicality I’ve been working so assiduously to regain, than any sort of homesickness. Really felt like the end of the ankle story had finally arrived. Seeing my friends and colleagues again was just icing on the cake.
Physically speaking, I was running on adrenaline and caffeine. Back in Pittsburgh, I’m sleeping a solid eight hours a night. Get up early, go to bed early. It’s not like NYC back in Pittsburgh, as they roll up the sidewalks by nine or ten even on a weekend in the Paris of Appalachia.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An interesting wrinkle discovered during this visit was that my environmental adaptations have faded away. As the folk wisdom states ‘if you live by the sea, you don’t smell the salt or hear the waves,’ meaning that your brain ‘tunes out’ environmental background stimuli which it deems unimportant.
What that means is that I could smell it, all of it. I could hear it, I could feel it. Everything stunk, the entire city with its standing wave of 15-20 decibels noise, and the mixed aroma of garbage, deep fat fryers, and human shit.
The East River smelled like an unflushed toilet to me, although it wasn’t ‘in a state’ or anything. Nothing’s changed on the waterway, my perceptions of it have.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The cops appeared, as they always do in NYC, while the ferry navigated first to Roosevelt Island and then to Long Island City.
That’s another thing which is quite different in Pennsylvania – far fewer cops. One of my neighbors suggested we start up a bonfire in his back yard. I said no, claiming that NYPD would show up and hand out tickets and the. conduct warrant checks. My neighbor reminded me that we were in Pittsburgh. I laughed and said ‘you’ve never met the NYPD, have you?’
The ferry continued down the East River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the last things I’d do before heading back to Pittsburgh would involve the Queensboro Bridge’s newly opened pedestrian walkway, as a note, but you’re not going to see those photos for a while. During the four days I was in NYC, I walked close to thirty miles and shot close to 2,200 exposures – with much of that distance was expressed around a certain waterway which provides the currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens, as you’d imagine.
One of the goals for this trip was to test out my newly reconstructed ankle, and determine exactly how screwed I am moving forward. I brought the joint back to my testing environment, for a shake down cruise, basically.
I’m all ‘effed up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was a not insignificant amount of swelling going on after returning back to Pittsburgh 96 hours later, but it’s also the first time that I’ve asked the assembly and meat and metal which my ankle has become to ‘push’ for multiple consecutive days in a row without any sort of rest period.
The past couple of months have seen ‘exercise days’ and ‘photo walks’ separated from each other by at least 72 hours of recovery time, post facto. All in all, the joint held up to my abuse and I didn’t find myself walking like the Batman villain Penguin again.
Back tomorrow with more from NYC.
“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.
Memorial Day Parade
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The various municipalities and Boroughs of the South Hills region of Pittsburgh participate in a Memorial Day parade, including Dormont where Newtown Pentacle HQ is found. Our Lady has been hanging out with a local arts outfit, and was marching in the parade with the group.
I volunteered to get shots of her when she appeared, but what? I’m not going to shoot everything and everyone? Pfah. Selects are in today’s post, if you want to see the whole magilla, click here for the Flickr album.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That lady is apparently Miss Pennsylvania. I had no idea.
It was, at least, a perfect late spring morning with bright sun and temperatures in the mid 60’s. We’ve had a series of weather systems dumping rain on Pittsburgh for the last few weeks, so the fact that the skies were perfectly clear was astounding.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
All of the volunteer fire departments sent representation. There were marching bands and classic cars, old men wearing military uniforms, lots of happy kids and dogs. The parade marchers were throwing wrapped candies at the cheering crowds. The whole town shows up for this.
I kept on shooting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Air Force national guard did a flyover, in what I think is a ‘C-17 Globemaster III’ cargo plane. From a branding point of view, Boeing really went over the top with ‘globemaster,’ if you ask me. Saying that, were I to be sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, my totally unhinged executive orders would include reverting the Air Force’s logo back to the bicycle wheel with bird wings that they started out with.
I’m all ‘effed up.
On with the show…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Does this happen to anyone else? As soon as someone in a mascot suit spots me with the camera, they focus in and do a little dance for me. I find anthromorphised stuff like this off putting, but I also don’t like interacting with anybody in a full mask. Can’t look ‘em in the eye…
Our Lady appeared and I joined her in the marching, essentially as far as where I had parked the car in a municipal lot.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just before we split, all the old soldiers rolled through. Military is a common experience for Pennsylvanians, the state has one of the highest enrollment rates in regular military and national guard, and a tremendous population of Veterans.
Also, the first American Civil War was largely fought in Pennsylvania, and that ‘leaves a mark.‘ First, you ask? I think 2026 is going to be a very interesting year in this country, and probably not in a cool form of ‘interesting.’ Hope I’m wrong.
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.
Carothers Avenue Bridge
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
You see variants of that design of bridge above all over the place in Pennsylvania. It’s called a Warren Pony Truss style bridge. The span is some 146 feet long, and it was erected in 1927. The Carothers Avenue Bridge is its name, and it spans Chartiers Creek pretty close to what could be called ‘Downtown Carnegie’ or at least ‘Main Street Carnegie.’ Actually, the commercial street in Carnegie is called ‘Main Street,’ so…
This link will take you to historicbridges.org, where all of the details and the story of this span are revealed. Personally, I think it’s neat.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I visited the Carothers Avenue bridge on Memorial Day weekend, and Carnegie itself was buzzing with back yard BBQ’s. Felt like it would be ostentatious to set up the whole tripod and filters dealie, so I just circumnavigated the thing and did handheld shots. Definitely coming back at some point to get all artsy fartsy here. I dig it.
As mentioned, Carnegie is one several communities neighboring Dormont, where Newtown Pentacle HQ exists currently. All of life’s little missions see me driving around a bunch, and I pass through this area at least once a week in pursuance of whatever minutiae controls the day.
Have always been intrigued by it while passing by, and thereby I desired a closer look at the bridge. Luckily, Our Lady’s schedule allowed me the opportunity to do so. Yay.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A last look, as I circled around the thing like a predator. After this, I headed back to the car and negotiated my way towards picking up Our Lady for the drive home. About 15 minutes, but you have to watch out for deer. It seems that during this time of the year, young deer go exploring in search of new greenery to devour. This often leads them onto roads.
It’s not the carnage you’ll notice in late autumn and early winter during ‘rut,’ when love crazy stags chase after does to ‘get busy.’ Those horny stags often find their way onto the highways, and… suffice to say that the crows and vultures are well fed in fall and early winter here in Pittsburgh.
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.
Kicking dirt in Carnegie
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The region of the Pittsburgh Metro which HQ is located in is called ‘The South Hills.’ In the past, I’ve already established that Dormont where HQ is specifically located, is part of an area once known as Lower St. Clair.
Practically next door to Dormont is the municipality of Carnegie, which is about a 15 minute drive on local streets away from HQ. Water runs through Carnegie, specifically Chartiers Creek. I’ve brought the camera here before but there’s a lot to see in Carnegie.
Luckily, Our Lady of the Pentacle had scheduled a class she wanted to take in Carnegie, on a recent weekend day. I drove her to her deal, and then I went to work on visiting several waypoints I had dropped onto a Google map the night before. I do a lot of remote scouting this way, using street view to figure out if there’s opportunity in unknown spots.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Since I was in the car, I was traveling heavy. Tripod, all the lenses, etc. one of the waypoints I had coded into my ‘Carnegie Map’ was the Wheeling & Lake Erie RR’s Rook yard. A nice history of how this rail yard got sited here, and why it’s called ‘Rook’ can be experienced at hmbd.org.
Turns out I didn’t need to have all that gear with me, but since I didn’t have to carry it – who cares? Also, I got lucky. The W&LE RR people were getting busy and moving trains around when I randomly drove up, and on a Saturday no less.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
#6996 up there was functioning as a DPU, Diesel Power Unit. Everything you might want to know about the W&LE outfit – its rolling stock, rights of way, corporate structure – can be gleaned here.
It was a beautiful day in Carnegie, PA. Mid 60’s in temperature, with a strong breeze. The Rook Yard was one of several places which got a quick drive by and lookie loo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
#3049 was in the lead, and after coupling to a train of tanker cars, began moving away from my position. Not entirely sure where they go after this. I have vague ideas, but finding out is one of my summer projects.
I had my little railfan radio scanner with me, and was listening to the conversations between tower and engineer, but it might as well have been Greek they were talking. I’ve got to learn to speak railroad.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had a couple of hours to myself while in Carnegie, and spent about a half hour or so of it right at this spot watching other people at work. Definitely coming back here in the future. No fences!
There were a few other spots which I wanted to take a good look at, but it was also Memorial Day weekend. When I got to a some of those other points of interest (tomorrow’s post), in the residential sections, back yard parties and BBQ’s were going on and I was sticking out like a sore thumb.
Next time, it’ll be a weekday morning visit, when the streets are a little less populated.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Chartiers Creek runs through Carnegie on its way to the Monongahela River which it is a tributary of. This post shows where that admixture occurs nearby the West End Bridge.
There’s all sorts of ‘desire paths’ along the water which fishermen use to get down to the shore. I plan on following a few of those this summer as the ankle situation continues to improve.
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 