Posts Tagged ‘Brooklyn’
Project Firebox 63
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In a sun drunk section of Brooklyn called Greenpoint, there is a corner called Franklin and Green. On this corner is a firebox, which stands nearby the street plumbing that would allow a fire to be fought. This network of alarm boxes and pipes, ultimately, are the reason that structures over two or three stories could be built here in the first place. The density of residential life in Greenpoint was, and is, directly tied to the response of the local Fire brigades. Generally speaking, the older the firebox, the deeper the neighborhood’s roots go. This is a very old firebox.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the street facing side of the thing is the embossed legend of “H.P. TEL”. The inscription has been discussed here, at your Newtown Pentacle, before. Check out “Project Firebox 51” and or “Project Firebox 12” for more on the phenomena.
Project Firebox 62
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This graffito clad sentinel is found on Conselyea Street.
A tough guy, this box has stood its ground like any native son of infinite Brooklyn. When trouble pops up, it’s the first one to let the bosses know what threatens the neighborhood. They keep him out here on the corner to remind everyone back home that someone is always looking out.
treasures offered
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Lots to do next week, meetings and galas, all sorts of situations to feel socially awkward in are coming up. Smart and well positioned opinion will be available for the price of attendance, at Newtown Creek Alliance’s “Spotlight on Citizen Science” on Monday the 25th in Long Island City.
NCA’s February meeting will highlight the wide array of local citizen and student scientists exploring all angles of the creek. The meeting will be structured as a showcase, with quick presentations on each topic, and materials for you to peruse in person. Come mingle with your local citizen scientists.
NCA Spotlight on Citizen Science
February 25, 2013 at 6pm
LaGuardia Community College
E Building, Room E-242
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A different sort of gathering will be happening at The India House Club, when Working Harbor Committee hosts its annual Gala, and this year’s honoree is Lucy Ambrosino. A great party, the Gala gathers the movers and shakers of NY Harbor together, and proceeds from the event help fund the WHC’s education programs and summer boat tours.
That’s Tuesday the 26th.
from workingharbor.com
Lucy Ambrosino is being honored for her ardent commitment to the Port of New York and New Jersey and the working harbor which supports it. An effective and committed consensus builder, Lucy is a strong advocate and enthusiastic participant in all efforts to educate the public about the value of the working harbor.
The award will be presented by Andrew McGovern, President, New Jersey Sandy Hook Pilots at 7:15 p.m.
Tuesday Evening – 26 February 2013
India House Club — Marine Room
One Hanover Square, New York City, NY 10004
6 o’clock — 8:30 o’clock – Business Attire
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A town hall meeting, with the NYS DOT and several local elected leaders, will discuss the upcoming Kosciuszko Bridge project. The meeting is being hosted by OUTRAGE, a community group concerned by the enormous footprint of truck based industry in North Brooklyn.
That’s Wednesday the 27th.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Lastly, the unfortunate locale and long neglected and seldom considered municipality called Manhattan will be the setting for a “Long Term Control Plan: Citywide Modeling Workshop.”
Discussions of the recently experienced meteorological phenomena and concurrent flooding is necessitated and accordingly an understanding of the “New Normal” will be offered by the authorities. Ramifications will be explored, existential quandaries expounded upon and considered by representatives of the inestimable NYS DEC and the stalwart NYC DEP.
This one is Thursday the 28th, and I’m sure it will be a civil engineering and urban planning hootenanny.
from nyc.gov
LONG TERM CONTROL PLAN: CITYWIDE MODELING WORKSHOP
Thursday, February 28, 2013 at US Customs House, Auditorium, 1 Bowling Green from 6:00pm – 8:00pm.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is co-hosting a citywide workshop to present and review the modeling processes that will be used to test potential alternatives identified as part of the Long Term Control Plan (LTCP) Program with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). At the workshop, DEP and DEC staff will review the Watershed/Landside and Hydrodynamic/Water Quality models and the proposed baseline assumptions for evaluating the benefits of CSO control alternatives.
inquisitive and malignant
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Whenever the weather has been tolerable by one so accursed as myself, efforts have been made to get out and wave the camera about. In the shot above, ongoing construction of new bulkheads at Whale Creek captured my interests. There will be quite a bit of activity along this section in the near future, as the NYC DEP requires that a new channel be dredged which will allow their sludge boats to transverse the section of Newtown Creek between the East River and the Whale Creek tributary.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As part of the construction master plan for the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, the sludge tank at the East River will be decommissioned and the docking which currently feeds the after product of the plant to the sludge boats for further processing will be moved closer to their source on the Whale Creek tributary, which is just under a mile back from the East River. A new class of sludge boats is currently under construction, and will require a deeper draft than the Newtown Creek currently offers.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One such as myself is excited by the prospect of dredging on the Newtown Creek, and the spectacular images such industry will present. Of course, I don’t live on the north side of Greenpoint, which will undoubtedly experience a less than admirable stench as the foul ichors which line the bed of the waterway are torn away from the bottom and exposed to both the air and to the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself.
Also:
Remember that event in the fall which got cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy?
The “Up the Creek” Magic Lantern Show presented by the Obscura Society NYC is back on at Observatory.
Click here or the image below for more information and tickets.
caravan route
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From the 2010 archives emerge these shots, depicting employees of the estimable Moran company displaying their knowledge of applied physics.
The two tugs, Turecamo Girls and Marie J. Turecamo, work in concert against the tidal forces of the East River and the inertia of a loaded cargo ship. The mathematics of what is going on in these photos would be staggering to work out, but the Tug crews prefer not to over think things and “just get it done”.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Maritime professionals live in a somewhat four dimensional world. It’s not necessarily about the “X, Y, and Z” axes of your current position, rather its how those three factors will contribute to your situation as you move through space over time. Where you’re headed and how fast you are moving is rather more important than where you are now. As mentioned above- applied physics.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Imagine it, coordinating the position of hundreds of tons of steel blindly, as it is simultaneously affected by tide and wind. Your goal is to move the thing into a precise position with a tolerance of less than a foot or two of the dock, and the effort needs to be seamlessly performed not just by you but by a partner vessel working in concert. This maritime sunday, your humble narrator is overwhelmed just thinking about the calculations of the forces at work.
The Newtown Pentacle 