Archive for the ‘Dutch Kills’ Category
verdant valleys
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On April 3rd, I went to Dutch Kills in LIC to confirm that New York City and State remained incompetent and uncaring, which was unsurprisingly confirmed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
29th street is now permanently sagging, and never drains.
You can still park on top of the collapsing section of the street, just like the moving truck I was standing alongside.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Shoreline dissection continues.
Bulkhead collapse underway.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just a block away, if you wanted to see it looks like when sewer solids pile up, you can. Go at low tide.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Nothing matters, nobody cares.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My little tree of paradise is all I have, an eidolon of hope.
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torture of
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s time for my weekly soliloquy about Newtown Creek’s Dutch Kills tributary in Long Island City, a collapsing bulkhead undermining a city street, and the municipal dysfunction which will continue until somebody gets hurt or dies.
Nothing matters, and nobody cares.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s hard not to be depressed about all of this. Especially given how much of our earnings are taxed away to support it. With sales tax, it’s something like thirty five to forty cents of every dollar earned by a New Yorker that goes into propping up an insane system of impotent agencies and authorities. They can’t do anything to fix the environs for budgetary reasons, but somehow multi decade long tax breaks to hand out to big real estate are always available.
What do you think “affordable housing” means? It means that the developer received significant multiple decades long tax suffrage in return for agreeing to cap prices on new units to “just” a few thousand dollars a month. It’s a con, a grift, a scam.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At least nobody has cut down my favorite tree. Yet.
A humble narrator is at the end of his rope, lords and ladies. Something just has to give. It’ll likely be the pavement and foundations of LIC’s 29th street, I would offer.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One continued on his scuttle, visiting all the familiar places and waving a camera at them. There’s serious talk right now about delisting Dutch Kills and several other Newtown Creek tributaries as “federally designated navigational channels.” What that means is that the United States Army Corps of Engineers would no longer be involved in the maintenance or oversight of maritime industrial access to these head waters.
What that further means is that if any dredging or bulkhead maintenance issues come up in the future, it will be either private capital or NYS or NY City which do the deed and paid for it. In other words – the tribs will predictably silt up due to the combined sewer system and fill with human excrement. This will attract biting insects. The City will spray malathion indiscriminately due to their fears of mosquito borne diseases. Malathion is watered down nerve gas.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wandering off into the night, that’s me. Friendless, alone, the filthy black raincoat fluttering about in the sooty winds. Everything, and every effort, is ultimately useless and nothing matters at all…
Bah.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s time for me to leave this place, I think.
Retreat into the west, just like one of Tolkien’s elves.
“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.
ugly trifles
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Nothing matters. Nobody cares.
One has been keeping an eye on the collapsing bulkheads of Newtown Creek’s Dutch Kill tributary along 29th street in LIC for a while now. We’ve activated the politicians and officialdom. Right now, they’re arguing over which agency is at fault, and the land continues to crumble into the water and undermine the roadway.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve been wondering, what if I was to buy a few cans of green paint and fake a bike lane here? That would get some action out of the powers that be, I imagine. Bike lane, after all…
Is there some way to spin a collapsing street as racist, or phobic about sexual orientations?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was something alive in that hole, incidentally. It was hissing and growling at me while I was shooting these. No, really.
Probably a mama raccoon or something, or at least I hope that’s what it was.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s all so god damned depressing. This City has a budget larger than the GDP of most nation states, and NY State’s annual budget is competitive with those of countries with significant military footprints. With all that cash flying around, they can’t even swing putting out a few bollards and some caution tape of the road side of this.
Nothing. Matters. Nobody. Cares.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bah. One continued one with his long walk along a short creek. I headed over to Hunters Point Avenue and its eponymous bridge.
I was operating the camera entirely handheld, incidentally, as I didn’t want to slow myself down while “futzing” about with gear.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At least my beloved little tree of paradise still stands, and continues to stretch towards the sky from under a factory wall.
More 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.
kindled flame
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the 6th of March, one was visiting the Montauk Cutoff in Long Island City. A student photographer had contacted me and asked for a bit of guiding around the place. This fellow was testing out a revolutionary new lens that Canon has recently released which allows for capture of the kind of imagery you need to create a “virtual reality bubble” with the Oculus headset in mind as the display portal.
He had some very expensive equipment on loan from the university he attends, and was interested in this particular location to work with and test the capabilities of the gear. While he was doing his thing, I was doing mine. My pal Val also came along, as she cannot resist the Montauk Cutoff’s charms. Pictured is an Amtrak train on its way to Manhattan via Sunnyside Yards.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
We headed over to the Dutch Kills section of the Montauk Cutoff, which is an “abandoned” set of rail tracks in LIC that used to connect LIRR’s Main Line trackage at Sunnyside Yards with its Lower Montauk tracks along the northern shore of Newtown Creek.
Abandoned doesn’t mean the same thing in “railroad” as it does in colloquial english, but suffice to say that there is zero chance of encountering a train on the cutoff these days. The shot above was captured on one of the two rail bridges at Dutch Kills – Cabin M.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s Cabin M, as seen from the shoreline of Dutch Kills. In the distance is the Queens Midtown Expressway section of the Long Island Expressway, soaring some 106 feet over the water.
As far as the “cabin” thing, that’s what the train people call it. As far as I know, when they call something “cabin” it’s about signals and geographic markers for the engineers, and there was likely some lonely soul who sat in a shack and governed operations here once upon a time. Everything is “automatic” these days.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Given that the fellow I was accompanying and guiding around had this weird lens that creates a “bubble” for VR experiences, I kept on pulling him deeper and deeper into the Newtown Creek world. These are the sort of spots I won’t normally bring anyone to, given the myriad ways to get dead encountered here.
Saying that, these are exactly the sort of spots which a 220 degree bubble capture must look great in. Funnily enough, he kept asking me if I wanted to try out the device but I refused, fearing I’d want one and go down yet another technology rabbit hole.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While he was operating his gizmo, and my pal Val was waving her camera around, I was using my normal tripod setup. Normally, I see the perspective down here when I’m in a boat with my pals from Newtown Creek Alliance, a circumstance which negates this sort of “look.”
It was getting late, and the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself was lowering in the sky. We headed back up to Montauk Cutoff.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Never waste a sunset, I always say. That’s the LIRR platform, and the Paragon Oil/Subway/Point LIC building which was mentioned a couple of days ago. I had to get back to HQ shortly after the sunset, as I had a big day planned for the 7th which needed a bit of preparation.
Tomorrow – something completely different 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.
nemesis mirror
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Friendless, scuttling, ever scuttling. Camera clutched tightly, filthy black raincoat flapping about, sometimes it’s hard not to feel just hopeless.
Dutch Kills in Long Island City, where you can abandon oil barges and just get away with it. Nothing matters and nobody cares.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Dutch Kills, where multiple city owned wastewater pipes belch hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the water, in the glowing shadow of those luxury condominiums which multiply and magnify the problem. The sewer plant that services this area was built in 1936 when half of Astoria and Sunnyside were still agricultural land.
Dutch Kills, which once allowed for a connection between harbor based and rail based freight.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Dutch Kills, where concrete plants and other industrial businesses have been allowed to expand onto and squat upon the public sidewalks with zero repercussions for generations.
Around Dutch Kills, in the hottest real estate zone in the entire City, you don’t have to look too long to find streets that don’t even offer sidewalks for pedestrians.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Dutch Kills, across the street from CUNY’s LaGuardia Community College and within 3 blocks of multiple charter schools serving Junior and Senior High School students.
Dutch Kills, where a collapsing bulkhead is undermining 29th street. That’s a situation which the operator of the street – NYC DOT, the owner of the land – MTA, and the regulator who governs areas which touch the water – NYS DEC, all admit that “yes this is a dangerous situation” but do nothing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Dutch Kills, where NYC DOT exclaimed that they would put up barriers to keep people from parking over the collapsing street, and have done nothing.
When I was shooting this series of images, it occurred to me that it would be a good thing to illuminate the void under that parked car.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Dutch Kills, where a quick bit of flashlight light painting was perpetrated while the shutter was open. I use an LED model light, which has a bluish cast to it.
Dutch Kills, lords and ladies, where nothing matters and nobody cares.
“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 