public squares
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Scuttling, I’m always scuttling about on the darkened streets of Western Queens. Filthy black raincoat flapping about in the poison wind, shoes scraping through the piles of blood, scabs, and hair on the pavement. Camera in hand, friendless, like a leaf goeth I. Sometimes the weather is quite tolerable.
Yet again, my footsteps carried me to the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek, where a quick check in revealed that my beloved Tree of Paradise continues to defy the odds.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was no particular destination on this mid February walk, which was sort of a long one. I had just sat through another intolerably long and frustrating Governmental Zoom meeting, and needed to blow off some creative steam.
Where you gonna go, huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After visiting Dutch Kills, my path continued up Review Avenue from Borden towards Greenpoint Avenue.
I spotted this concrete pumper truck along the way, and since it caught my eye, I waved the camera at it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I say it all the time – the Fire Department has the best gear. Seriously, there isn’t a kind of vehicle out there that they don’t have at least one iteration of. A nearby maintenance facility has recently been kitted out with electric vehicles and charging stations, all of which bear the familiar heraldry and branding elements of FDNY.
The FDNY has a huge maintenance facility on Review Avenue which seems to be dedicated to servicing the needs of its EMS Ambulance fleet. In fact, there’s several FDNY service facilities tucked away into discrete corners of the Newtown Creek uplands, all of which are dedicated to handling the various vehicular types they operate.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I wasn’t really planning on heading down to Railroad Avenue on this walk, but luckily for me, this wrecker Tow Truck caught my eye. There’s a gas station and mechanic business found at the corner of Greenpoint and Review Avenues whom this truck belongs to. Based on the iconography adorning it, and its particular paint job, my guess is that this particular business is owned by people from the Sikh culture.
That’s a surmise, though, can’t confirm as I haven’t interacted with anyone from the mechanic garage. Saying that, I’ve noticed medallions hanging off the mirror, and other little cues, that I’ve learned to associate with the Sikh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a pretty impressive truck, though.
As to why I’m so glad that this truck attracted me down to Railroad Avenue… you’re just going to wait till next week for that one, Lords and Ladies.
The Newtown Creekathon returns!
On April 10th, the all day death march around Newtown Creek awakens from its pandemic slumber.
DOOM! DOOM! Fully narrated by Mitch Waxman and Will Elkins of Newtown Creek Alliance, this one starts in LIC at the East River, heads through Blissville, the happy place of Industrial Maspeth, dips a toe in Ridgewood and then plunges desperately into Brooklyn. East Williamsburgh and then Greenpoint are visited and a desperate trek to the East River in Brooklyn commences. DOOM! Click here for more information and to reserve a spot – but seriously – what’s wrong with you that you’re actually considering doing this? DOOM!
“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.
all observant
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s all so depressing… shortly after cataloguing the dissection of the Dutch Kills shoreline, and other features in the immediate vicinity thereof, one hopped on the 7 train at the elevated Court Square station.
It was time to head home, and after spending a full early February day out and about, my energy was ebbing low.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The plan I had hatched involved taking the 7 to Queens Plaza, and then hopping aboard an N or W train to Astoria, whereupon a short walk to a local pizzeria would result in me walking into HQ and greeting Our Lady of the Pentacle – with a triumphant couple of slices in hand.
The MTA, though… their game is strong.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The frequency of the 7 line is pretty fantastic these days, since they’ve completed the decades long CBTC signals replacement project. It really does come every 5-10 minutes, the 7.
Unfortunately, the gold badged Broadway line trains – R, N, W – never received an upgrade to their signals, and especially so in midtown Manhattan, where it is desperately needed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The signals upgrade allows for precise control of train set positioning and line wide coordination. This allows the trains to be run much closer together than using the old 1920’s style system, and allows for better “transit saturation.”
Over in the Shining City, there are several choke points for Queens bound trains – notably at the tracks leading into 34th/Herald Square and 42nd Times Square, and at the approaches to the Steinway and 63rd st. tunnels under Columbus Circle. If ANYTHING goes wrong at any single one of those points, EVERYTHING goes wrong with all three lines – as well as affecting the M, and the E, and the F lines. This triggers a meltdown in the system that can ripple from Manhattan all the way back to Brooklyn and Queens within minutes.
The Q, which formerly was part of the Astoria line, is now Manhattan only and running on the Second Avenue Subway tracks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After about twenty minutes of standing on the platform at Queens Plaza, I got bored and started waving the camera around.
What is it with the new people in the luxury condos and their lack of drapery, window coverings, or Venetian Blinds?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After about a half hour, during which I was dreaming of pizza, the N finally arrived.
It was long day, and there were lots of photos that needed developing when I got back to HQ.
More tomorrow.
The Newtown Creekathon returns!
On April 10th, the all day death march around Newtown Creek awakens from its pandemic slumber.
DOOM! DOOM! Fully narrated by Mitch Waxman and Will Elkins of Newtown Creek Alliance, this one starts in LIC at the East River, heads through Blissville, the happy place of Industrial Maspeth, dips a toe in Ridgewood and then plunges desperately into Brooklyn. East Williamsburgh and then Greenpoint are visited and a desperate trek to the East River in Brooklyn commences. DOOM! Click here for more information and to reserve a spot – but seriously – what’s wrong with you that you’re actually considering doing this? DOOM!
“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.
<!– /wp:paragraphyellow rays
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just after sunset, and back at the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek in Long Island City.
I’ve been keeping an eye on a collapsing bulkhead along 29th street for a while now. It’s a difficult subject, due to there being no easy point of view for the area. This, thereby is one of the few times that I willfully trespass. It’s worth the risk, right here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s two abandoned oil barges in the water here. Nobody knows who’s responsible for that, but they’ve been here for more than 20 years.
Nothing matters, and nobody cares.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The barges have so thoroughly decayed by this point that it’s not even possible to lift them out using a crane.
Want a picture of what’s wrong with NYC? Look at the one above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the collapsing bulkhead, lit up in yellows and oranges by a nearby sodium lamp, one mounted on a self storage warehouse that neighbors the waterway. There are no street lights on 29th street.
This is Long Island City, mind you. A block from La Guardia Community College, and two blocks from the Court Square subway station. Hottest real estate zone on the planet, as well. This property itself isn’t owned by some defunct corporate entity either, rather it’s the MTA’s – as in the “gub’mint.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This slow moving disaster has been going on for three years, with a significant uptick of shoreline dissection beginning around Thanksgiving of 2021. Since then, everytime I check in on this area, things have gotten a little bit worse.
It’s MTA’s, but they have exceptions written into the laws that govern situations like this which indemnify them from the attentions of the regulatory agencies who would normally write an order to fix things up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
What that means is that any solution to this problem, prior to 29th street collapsing, will be a political one. The cart has to be driven by an elected official, essentially. Currently, there are lawyers who are lawyering other lawyers.
Nothing matters, and nobody cares.
The Newtown Creekathon returns!
On April 10th, the all day death march around Newtown Creek awakens from its pandemic slumber.
DOOM! DOOM! Fully narrated by Mitch Waxman and Will Elkins of Newtown Creek Alliance, this one starts in LIC at the East River, heads through Blissville, the happy place of Industrial Maspeth, dips a toe in Ridgewood and then plunges desperately into Brooklyn. East Williamsburgh and then Greenpoint are visited and a desperate trek to the East River in Brooklyn commences. DOOM! Click here for more information and to reserve a spot – but seriously – what’s wrong with you that you’re actually considering doing this? DOOM!
“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.
<!– /wp:paragraphmoon men
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One found his boots scraping along the concrete of Railroad Avenue, back in February. A long walk was underway, and the camera’s shutter was a-whirring.
Railroad Avenue was where my pathway led.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
More evidence of the Queens Cobbler was observed. A probable serial killer who leaves behind single shoes to mark their efforts, I’ve been writing about the Cobbler for years. The Cobbler has even left personal messages for me in front of my own domicile.
Chilling, no?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just up the block from the Cobbler’s latest memento mori, yet another abandoned car was encountered. This one was electric, and tiny. Rumor has it that there’s a community of Homo Floresiensis who have recently moved into and taken up residence in Middle Village. Perhaps this was theirs? May I refer to Middle Village as the Shire now?
Really, the world I live in is so much more interesting than the real one.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I walked up a somewhat private road, past the former Van Iderstine rendering plant, and back out onto Review Avenue.
One wasn’t quite done with Dutch Kills, and since the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself was exiting the sky’s vault – that was what I was waiting for to complete my task.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shots in today’s post date back to the 12th of February, incidentally. As mentioned in prior posts, the usual three image posts will be cast aside for a bit, in favor of six shot ones until I manage to get back into sync with the actual calendar.
Also, just in case you don’t scroll all the way down to the bottom – The Newtown Creekathon is happening on April 10th.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Having looped back to Review Avenue, a humble narrator pointed his toes back in the direction that he started from – Dutch Kills.
Trucks, trucks, trucks. For some reason, I’m fascinated with trucks at the moment. Don’t know why, they just catch my eye.
The Newtown Creekathon returns!
On April 10th, the all day death march around Newtown Creek awakens from its pandemic slumber.
DOOM! DOOM! Fully narrated by Mitch Waxman and Will Elkins of Newtown Creek Alliance, this one starts in LIC at the East River, heads through Blissville, the happy place of Industrial Maspeth, dips a toe in Ridgewood and then plunges desperately into Brooklyn. East Williamsburgh and then Greenpoint are visited and a desperate trek to the East River in Brooklyn commences. DOOM! Click here for more information and to reserve a spot – but seriously – what’s wrong with you that you’re actually considering doing this? DOOM!
“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.
<!– /wp:paragraphparabolic contradiction
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Scuttling, always scuttling, from place to place with camera in hand. Filthy black raincoat flapping about in the poison wind. Sometimes, the light is absolutely glorious.
We pick up where last week left off, at the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek in Long Island City. One had set up the camera into its long exposure/landscape modality, with filter and tripod and the rest of the deal. Sunset was just getting underway.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When leaving HQ, it had already been decided that this was going to be a long walk, and that a lot of ground would be covered. That’s the LIRR’S Cabin M railroad bridge, which was described in some detail in last Friday’s post.
Before you ask, this was a Sunday, and there’s virtually zero chance of getting in the way of freight rail operations along Newtown Creek on a Sunday.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a not exactly secret pathway along the water down here, between the two rail bridges on Dutch Kills. I seldom walk it, as it’s pretty obscure and were I to find myself in trouble down here I’d have a hard time explaining to the 911 operator where I was.
Saying that, I do roll through here occasionally.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s DB Cabin, another LIRR rail bridge, but one whose tracks are normally pretty active. It connects two freight rail yards across the waters of Dutch Kills, and carries the LIRR’s Lower Montauk tracks.
Kills is “old Dutch” for Creek, I’m told.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A new player has emerged in the Blissville yard, which is a good thing. Not sure what they do, but it’s good to see freight rail being embraced by industry.
One continued scuttling along in an easterly direction, towards the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured is DUGABO – Down under the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge Onramp. The surface street is called “Railroad Avenue.”
On my Amtrak travels last fall, I discovered that there’s a street called “Railroad Avenue” in nearly every City that I went looking for one in.
More tomorrow.
The Newtown Creekathon returns!
On April 10th, the all day death march around Newtown Creek awakens from its pandemic slumber.
DOOM! DOOM! Fully narrated by Mitch Waxman and Will Elkins of Newtown Creek Alliance, this one starts in LIC at the East River, heads through Blissville, the happy place of Industrial Maspeth, dips a toe in Ridgewood and then plunges desperately into Brooklyn. East Williamsburgh and then Greenpoint are visited and a desperate trek to the East River in Brooklyn commences. DOOM! Click here for more information and to reserve a spot – but seriously – what’s wrong with you that you’re actually considering doing this? DOOM!
“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.
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The Newtown Pentacle 