Archive for the ‘newtown creek’ Category
DUPBO 2025
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Well hello there, my ribbon of municipal neglect, my undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens, my beloved creek. That’s some of the many ways I refer to Newtown Creek, by the way.
Sometimes, a wizard has to return to his place of power.
I met up with a couple of the ‘new guys’ at Newtown Creek Alliance, who were hired after I headed out of New York to Pittsburgh. Hart and Gus, they were named. Nice guys, very young. We were going to take a walk for a couple of hours along the Creek, but first up I wanted to get a look at the new Hunters Point Boat House.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was an unnecessarily contentious project, I’d mention, with a lot of Queens, and waterfront, politics involved. Newtown Creek Alliance teamed up with the Hunters Point Park Conservancy for a bid, which ended up succeeding, to run this space. Another group, whom I was quite friendly with, had been attempting to gain control of this spot for a long while and NCA’s decision to gain the space put me in a tight spot.
At the time, I was on the board of NCA, but was also quite intimate with the strategies of the other group. Conflict of interest? Yessir.
I followed the practice of the community boards regarding such conflicts, which is ‘disclose, discuss, don’t vote.’ Thereby I had a conversation with each and everyone involved in the process, explained my conflict of interest, and let them know that when this topic came up I’d leave the room. This was uncomfortable for all involved, but that’s officially the ‘right thing’ to do from a ‘Robert’s Rules of Order’ POV.
I’m sure that some members of that other group, whose goals and programming are both worthy and admirable, are likely reading this. It would be appreciated if mention of this situation didn’t result in a resumption of anonymized trolling, across the internet and wherever I might post a photo or a comment.
Again.
If ‘you’ are reading this, yeah, I know that it was you. I can tell, as anonymizer sites can’t disguise that deadly skill you have behind the keyboard when writing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As part of a fairly recent buildout, at what used to the Budweiser distributorship and Daily News Printing Plant property in Hunters Point, which was later used as a hub by the ‘God’s Love We Deliver’ outfit, is now a luxury condo building, with a waterfront area called ‘Brewer’s Park.’ It’s the standard concrete with planters design you see all across the modern waterfronts of NYC.
Used to have to crash through bushes and climb fences in this area…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Pulaski Bridge is backed up by one of the new and truly massive structures rising along Borden Avenue.
Remember – years ago – when I told you that the NYC Dept. of City Planning had begun using the term ‘Borden Avenue Corridor’? Whenever City Planning starts using the term ‘corridor,’ you should begin to worry about what’s coming next. When I moved away, they were just starting to float the term ‘Northern Blvd. Corridor,’ regarding the stretch between Woodside and Queens Plaza.
My understanding is that the large structure pictured above is some sort of theatrical production facility, with large sound stages contained within. For reference, this building sits in the former footprint of Fresh Direct.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I couldn’t help but visit the LIRR Wheelspur Yard since I was in the neighborhood, here in DUPBO (Down Under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp).
The homeless colony under the bridge has now taken the form of parked ‘RV’s’ which are permanently sitting there. A little wrinkle of NYC’s parking laws is that if your vehicle has commercial plates (RV’s are classified as trucks or buses, so commercial plates) you can park indefinitely in an ‘M1’ manufacturing zone. Zero enforcement. There are thereby colonies of RV’s all around the Creeklands, which is something that really got started during the COVID lockdowns.
Unless you’ve pissed off Bob Holden or Julie Won or Lincoln Restler, odds are you’ll never see a cop writing a parking ticket around the creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A last stop in DUPBO involved a portrait shot of an old friend, the LIRR engine that’s always running in case of an emergency at the nearby Sunnyside Yards or along the LIRR Main Line. If a train breaks down, this unit will go take over and move the affected train set to a side tracks so as not to block Sunnyside Yards Harold Interlocking – the busiest train junction in the United States.
Back tomorrow with more.
“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.
Working the harbor
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In a lot of ways, I spent my time on a recent NYC visit reminding myself of who I actually am – or at least who I was. My activities on this visit weren’t consciously planned that way, but given the far flung nature of my activities in NYC, it was hard not to reminisce.
That’s the Manhattan Bridge above, and I served the City of Greater New York as a Parade Marshall for its centennial. I’ve also done hundreds of ‘on microphone’ narrations about that bridge on boat tours while passing under it. –
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Mexican Navy ship which allided with the Brooklyn Bridge.
If both objects are moving it’s a ‘collision,’ whereas if one object is moving it’s an ‘allision.’ A few people asked me, after the incident, what all the sailors were doing up in the masts. Here’s some shots from 2012’s ‘Op Sail,’ where you can see other tall ship sailors performing similar ‘parade duties.’
As a note: annoyingly, Flickr has altered their code in the last few weeks, which has caused a number of images on older posts to lose their previews. Not sure what to do about that at the moment, and I really do not want to dive into recoding 16 years worth of daily posts to start fixing links.
Hopefully, they’ll resolve this on the server end, but that’s why a bunch of previews are ‘404ing’ at the moment on older posts. Sigh… the future kind of sucks, doesn’t it?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The NYC ferry docked at Pier 11, and my Pal Val and I began heading towards the big orange boat. It had been about 12 hours at this point, relative to waking up at 1 in the morning back in Pittsburgh. Fatigue was definitely setting in, as was the desire for luncheon.
It was nice to smell salt in the air again, although I was frankly overwhelmed by the sewerage smell several times. My environmental adaptations have faded in my absence from ‘Home Sweet Hell.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The big orange boat left its dock at Whitehall and started the thirty minutes long journey to St. George on… Staten Island…
Along the way, I was busy with the camera, spotting tugs and getting shots of the maritime show on hand. I’ve always been amazed at how seldom most New Yorkers take advantage of the ferries – if nothing else – just for a change of scenery and to get out on the water for cheap.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Nearing Staten Island, and the Kill Van Kull (aka tugboat alley) was busily spitting shipping out into the main sections of the lower harbor, from Port Elizabeth Newark at Newark Bay.
Funny thing is that I haven’t thought about this sort of thing much, or at all, in the last 2.5 years. It was when I was sitting in that damned wheelchair after breaking my ankle that I began longing to see this again.
I alluded to this the other day, but this visit ‘home’ was a surprisingly emotional experience for me. Normally, I suppress and ignore my ‘feelings,’ as being over emotional in daily life is how you make stupid mistakes and often costly errors, while offending others. I realize that this is exactly the opposite of what mental health professionals advise, but it works for me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m like a mafioso in terms of ‘never let anyone know what you’re going to do or say next,’ and one of my little mottos is ‘do what you say, say what you do.’ What that means is that people who know me in real life are often puzzled by my seemingly random decision making process and pivots, and they are often treated to long polemics about my personal rules, and subjected to apologetic confessionals about when I break one of those rules – usually due to expedience.
The tyranny of ‘the now’ rules over most days.
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.
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.
316,800 inch long scuttle, part 2
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described yesterday, your humble narrator was out for a walk and finally got up to and past the five mile limitation which has plagued similar efforts, in this ongoing recovery period after having broken my ankle last September. Also mentioned, a bit of psychological trauma got inserted into me during the injury as well, which has caused this wandering mendicant to become a bit phobic about staircases.
Given that I’m partial to the old philosophical sentiment about ‘falling off a horse and getting right back into the saddle’ I’m going to be exposing myself to a bunch of scary stairs this summer while getting my legs back into shape, thusly.
That’s the West End Bridge over the Ohio River up there, and its stairs are doozies but certainly not the worst Pittsburgh has to offer. I’m working my way up to those, and they’re terrifying.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I did get distracted along the way to the bridge, but darn it these guys were doing something interesting. There’s some sort of development project kicking into gear around this area, and there’s all sorts of work going on to get the area ready for whosover’s dreams of avarice will be playing out.
This effort involved the replacement of a Utility Pole by a crew of workers with a lot of specialized equipment. I’m also visually intrigued by this sort of thing, and tried to get a few shots of the action while zoomed all the way in and from a distance.
Funnily enough, most people don’t like strangers walking up to and interrupting them while they’re at work, and especially not those strangers who start taking random pictures of what they’re doing while at work. I’m fully aware of how uncomfortable that is, and try to remain geographically aloof. That’s what a long range zoom lens is for.
I wasn’t hiding behind a mail box or anything, though.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was an act of will to not clutch at the steel bannister on the West End Bridge with every bit of strength in my arm. This new phobia of mine, it’s going to take a while to be drowned out by something else I’m more scared of. Might as well enjoy it while I can, until it callouses over.
Some group in the local non profit industrial complex is floating a project which promises to redesign these approaches to the bridge’s pedestrian and bike lanes and bring them into compliance with ADA standards as well as polishing them up esthetically.
As mentioned, the powers that be have offered a development scheme for this section of the ‘North Side,’ click here for a lookie loo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Having surmounted the stairs, in a cavalcade of fear and terror, one leaned into things and pushed forward. This bridge is in pretty rough condition, I have to mention. You can’t see it while driving over the thing, but while walking West End Bridge, the need for maintenance and probable major repairs is pretty apparent. Rust, broken concrete, all the tell tales are there.
Your humble narrator was actually somewhat happy during this walk, as I didn’t have to actively focus quite as much on the act of walking as I’ve had to in recent excursions. One of the many problems encountered post injury involved ‘proprioception,’ which involves the somewhat unconscious knowledge of where your limbs are spatially. Losing touch with that hidden sense of kinesthetic parameters, it was difficult to confidently walk as I was unaware of my foot’s relationship and relative positioning to the ground.
The trouble I’m having with angled surfaces is related to this dealie, but in time… everything will be great, all the time. I keep telling myself that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It seems that the governmental powers are scratching out a new road for themselves on Mount Washington. I’m of the opinion that it’s going to just be for the ‘official’ vehicles to use, but you need to be able to,move emergency vehicles quickly, after all, and the roads leading to and from the summit are often choked with what passes for heavy traffic here in Pittsburgh.
This new road, observably, seems to parallel the PJ McArdle roadway across the face of Mount Washington.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned in the past, I’ve caught some critique on local Pittsburgh social media groups for referring to what you see above as ‘mineral barges’ when posting photos. A lot of this is politically motivated, IMHO, with some red hat wearer thinking he’s ‘owning the libs’ by screaming in all caps that it’s coal, why can’t you just call it coal?
As is often restated, unless I know for a fact what something actually is, a category level is jumped. It looks like there’s gravel or ballast stone in those barges, but that’s a guess based on purely visual observation. All I can say for sure is that a Towboat with four barges worth of minerals was photographed while navigating from the Monongahela River to the Ohio River in the Port of Pittsburgh’s Pool.
Back tomorrow with more.
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“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 