Archive for the ‘Project Firebox’ Category
Project Firebox 8
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This maladjusted servant of the City of Greater New York enjoys a tumultuous existence on 48th Avenue in Long Island City, not far from that tendril of cuprous cupidity known as Dutch Kills- a tributary waterway to the Newtown Creek. Your humble narrator has witnessed this firebox’s abuse filled duties for quite some time. It seems to be a regular target for trucks, and I’ve seen it reinserted into its assigned place several times. How do you not notice a big red box?
Project Firebox 7
Firebox (actual number) 182 – photo by Mitch Waxman
Just down the block from the Grand Avenue Bridge, on the Brooklyn side, one may marvel at this survivor of an earlier time. Oddly, it’s also just up the block from a firehouse which should negate its necessity. The sticker affixed is meant to boost the fortunes of a candidate for high office in the Teamsters union, James P. Hoffa.
Of course, this is Hoffa the younger, as the storied elder Hoffa has been missing from our national dialogue for some time.
from wikipedia
He is the only son of Jimmy Hoffa, who was also a president of the Teamsters, and his wife Josephine (née Poszywak). He is the brother of Judge Barbara Ann Crancer. Hoffa has a wife, Virginia, and two sons, David and Geoffrey.
Born in Detroit, Michigan on May 19, 1941, Hoffa established himself as a leader as early as his high school years while attending Cooley High School. There, he became a member of the National Honor Society, and an all-city and all-state football player.
Hoffa often accompanied his father to Teamster meetings and events, and became a Teamster on his 18th birthday. Hoffa holds a degree in economics from Michigan State University (1963) and a law degree (LL.B) from the University of Michigan Law School (1966). Hoffa was awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship to work in the Michigan State Senate as an aide to senate and house members doing constituent relations and research. Hoffa is a member of Alpha Tau Omega.
A member of the Teamsters since his 18th birthday (1959), Hoffa was an attorney for the Teamsters from 1968 to 1993.
Project Firebox 6
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The monstrous pride of this hold out from an earlier day serves sentinel duty on Vernon Blvd., near that point where the ancient path intersects with 44th avenue and curves south. A seller of ornate garden stones and ceramic artifices sits securely behind its steely gaze, and it was undoubtedly the good natured industry of that facility’s owners that created the decorative sidewalk which lends this Firebox its panache. Surely, it cannot just be the backdrop of the Shining City beyond?
Project Firebox 5
Project Firebox, 1314 – photo by Mitch Waxman
Storied and replete with historical allegories and cautionary tales, Greenpoint in Brooklyn hosts some of New York’s most ancient street furniture. This survivor of the 20th century, I am told by certain reputable experts, would have had a lit globe at its summit when new. Said globe would light to indicate to arriving firefighters where the fire alarm was raised. This is on Provost street, near the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.
As it turns out, Provost street is named for one of the original European settlers of Greenpoint:
from nyc-architecture.com
The Praa’s and Volchertsen’s, together, with the Mesorole’s, Calyer’s, Provoost’s, and Bennet’s formed the core of settler farmer families that lived and flourished on the land consisting of Green Point. They and their ancestors would do so for almost 200 years. The fertile land provided enough to supply the needs of the families that toiled on the land, and an abundant excess to trade at nearby markets. Each family kept a large row boat on the river to transport their harvest to the markets downstream in the emerging cities of Williamsburg and Brooklyn, and across the river in New York. Thus, Green Point became a major agricultural center and breadbasket for the area. It’s grains, cereals, fruits, vegetables and livestock made it possible for others to take up other trades in the New World, and contributed to the overall success of the pioneer efforts of that era.
Project Firebox 4
Project Firebox, 4430 – photo by Mitch Waxman
This curiously intact specimen, untrammeled despite its industrial location, was observed on the corner of 49th street and Astoria Blvd. near the witch crossed St. Michael’s cemetery.
from nydailynews.com
Mayor Bloomberg wants to extinguish fire alarm boxes from city streets.
Bloomberg pitched the fiery move this week as part of his budget for fiscal year 2011, saying it would save FDNY $2.5 million.
Since 85% of calls made through the street boxes are false alarms, Bloomberg said, “In the days where everybody has cell phones … the city would be just as safe without them.”
Only 140 structural fires last year out of 26,666 were first called in through an alarm box – and phone calls on those fires came in after the boxes were pulled, according to the FDNY.
But a change in the law is needed to scrap the 15,000 boxes because in 1997 a federal judge said such a move violates the civil rights of the deaf.
The Newtown Pentacle 