Posts Tagged ‘Brooklyn’
Project Firebox 77
An ongoing catalog of New York’s endangered Fireboxes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a busy corner in Greenpoint, Brooklyn that this alarm box offers coverage to. During the era in which the modern City was formed, and these alarm boxes installed, telephones were a luxury item enjoyed only by the rich. Common folk would hand out the phone number of a church, bar, or shop to friends and associates. The phone would ring and one of the throngs of kids playing in the gutter would be dispatched to find the intended party and draw them to the phone. Fire service was deemed too important to rely on such a complicated and third party laden scheme, and the alarm boxes were installed by the FDNY. The modern government of the City would like to see this system uprooted, claiming that since “everyone” has a cell phone with access to 911, why shoulder the expense?
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
The Insalubrious Valley– TODAY, Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
Modern Corridor- Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
boisterous sort
Who wouldn’t want to live in a yellow submarine?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent occasion brought your humble narrator to Pier 11 in Manhattan for an experimental excursion whose execution was meant to demonstrate the efficacy of a proposed ferry route between the Shining City and far off Coney Island. The organizers of the trip hired the fellow above to entertain whilst boarding. Personally, I prefer bagpipes to accordions- but that’s me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“Friends of Coney Island Creek Ferry Landing + Park” was the group which sponsored and promoted this run, and onboard were NY Harbor luminaries such as Dr. Roberta Weisbrod from Working Harbor Committee, and Metropolitan Water Alliance’s Roland Lewis (and MWA’s irascible and tireless Louis Kleinman) as well a host of others. The trip left from Pier 11 in Manhattan and proceeded to the infinity of Brooklyn.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
City Hall would like to turn this Creek into a swampy wetland, but others wish to establish a route to Coney Island for tourists and Manhattanites to provide a notoriously moribund local economy with a financial shot in the arm. “Big Picture” stuff and above my pay grade, I came along mainly because I was curious if the Yellow Submarine had survived Sandy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Built by a fellow named Jerry Bianco as the Quester 1 and launched in 1970, the sub is discussed in some detail in this nytimes.com article, and our friends at Forgotten-NY have explored the subject in some depth as well. Mr. Bianco was interested in salvage operations on the sunken Andrea Doria wreck, but things didn’t work out.
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
Modern Corridor- Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
anomalous heaviness
Today’s post details an oft overlooked bit of DEP street furniture.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It is a curse to be curious about and notice everything, especially in a feature rich environment like New York City.
Ubiquitous street furniture such as Fireboxes and manhole covers endlessly fascinate, and something I’ve always been curious about is what might be going on inside the “N.Y.C. Drinking Water Sampling Stations” which adorn certain streets in nearly every neighborhood.
from nyc.gov
Water for the system is impounded in three upstate reservoir systems which include 19 reservoirs and three controlled lakes with a total storage capacity of approximately 580 billion gallons. The three water collection systems were designed and built with various interconnections to increase flexibility by permitting exchange of water from one to another. This feature mitigates localized droughts and takes advantage of excess water in any of the three watersheds.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Every one who lives in Brooklyn or Queens has wondered about this, and I suspect those from the Bronx and Staten Island do too. Manhattan folks have other things to think about, and no time for such trivial matters.
Seriously, though, what’s with these things?
from wikipedia
To enhance water quality monitoring in a drinking water network sampling stations are installed along the route of a water network. Water sampling stations are connected to next water main and have a little sink. Water samples are analyzed for bacteria, chlorine levels, pH, inorganic and organic pollutants, turbidity, odor, and many other water quality indicators.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, while visiting everybody’s favorite sewer plant in Greenpoint, your humble narrator happened upon a display of one of these “Drinking Water Sampling Stations.”
Even luckier, it bore a card within it that carries a dry and fact based recitation on the objects, their purpose, and the practices and purpose of those who employ them. The information on the card was basically the same thing found at the link below, so rather than retype it… just click through if at all curious about how many of these units are installed and how they’re used.
from nyc.gov
The stations rise about 4 1/2 feet above the ground and are made of heavy cast iron. Inside, a 3/4 inch copper tube feeds water from a nearby water main into the station. Each station is equipped with a spigot from which water samples are taken. The total cost of the construction and installation of the stations was approximately 11 million dollars.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For you gear heads out there- check out page 137 of this product catalog from General Foundries, the company that manufactures these things as item NYCWSS1 for the City, for a schematic drawing.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron– Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
short work
Today’s post is part of the Maritime Sunday series.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent business carried me to the tony DUMBO section of Brooklyn, and having accomplished my meeting, your humble narrator made for the East River Ferry stop at Fulton Landing to get home to Queens. It was a foggy day, with the mist seemingly on the edge of unleashing precipitants, and the always picturesque Brooklyn Bridge was vamping for the camera while I waited for the ferry, so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s when the NYC DEP Skimmer boat “Jamaica Bay” appeared. SV Jamaica Bay was new in 2005, Its service area is reported tersely as “Tributaries,” it is 50 feet long, and can carry a capacity of 3,000 -12,000 lbs of wet material.
from epa.gov
Floatable debris consists of a wide assortment of plastic, wood, paper, glass, rubber, metal and organic waste materials that float or are suspended in the water column and may eventually be deposited on shorelines and beaches. Floatable debris originating from street litter, combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharges, storm water discharges, decaying shoreline structures, pleasure boaters, and littering beach goers, can harm the marine environment and cause area beaches to close.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For the benefit of those of you who don’t spend all of your time puzzling out the make and model of things which randomly navigate past you, a “skimmer” is a kind of work boat which travels along and scoops up “floatables.” This can mean anything from tree limbs to trash, and the NYC DEP operates just one several of skimmer fleets on the harbor. NJDEP and US Army Corps of Engineers also perform this task. The gizmo at the front of the thing opens up and forms a boom, and onboard conveyor systems draw flotsam and jetsam out of the water column and into a bin.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Skimmer boat “Jamaica Bay” is one of several “small” skimmers operated by DEP, and the big one is called “Cormorant.” One thing about which jumps at me whenever I look at the NYC DEP… as a department… is just how GIGANTIC it is.
A hearty maritime Sunday shout goes out to the Captain and crew of SV Jamaica Bay.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron– Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
decreasing confidence
Today’s post is about enormous things hidden in the mist.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wandering around during a recent spate of gray skies, your humble narrator found himself staring at the familiar geometries of Whale Creek at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. Still, rainy days lend a surreal quality to the Newtown Creek and its tributaries. Alongside the futurist architecture and ongoing construction of the great sewer mill, it is impossible for one such as myself not to record such otherworldly scenery.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It is a strange compulsion, recording everything one might see. Some tell me that I hide behind the camera, comfortably isolated from interaction with others- which is always a painful and embarrassing experience fraught with unknown possibility and consequence. Thing is, look at the things which I see.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Deep regret exists in me that so many experiences over the years were not recorded in the manner that I employ these days. Places, people, experiences relegated to hazy memory and the dimness of time. Without a photo of some thing or event as evidence, how can you honestly say it happened?
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron– Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
The Newtown Pentacle 