Posts Tagged ‘Long Island City’
Queensboro trapeze
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Oh, how I love it when they forget to close the gates…
recently observed was this aerial ballet beneath the Queensboro bridge in LIC. They seemed to either be ConEd or one of its subcontractors, busily working on some byzantine facet of… what I suspect… to be the steam pipes that follow the underside of the great bridge from the Ravenswood Station (aka Big Allis) to Manhattan.
from wikipedia
The New York City steam system is a district heating system which carries steam from central power stations under the streets of Manhattan to heat, cool, or supply power to high rise buildings and businesses. Some New York businesses and facilities also use the steam for cleaning and disinfection.
The New York Steam Company began providing service in lower Manhattan in 1882. Today, Consolidated Edison operates the largest commercial steam system in the world, now known as Con Edison Steam Operations, providing steam service to nearly 2,000 customers and serving more than 100,000 commercial and residential establishments in Manhattan from the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan to 96th Street uptown. Roughly 30 billion lbs. (just under 13.64 megatons) of steam flow through the system every year.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pithy comments were overheard from the crew’s supervisor regarding your humble narrator, and I can’t necessarily blame them. Who wants to be photographed by some stranger while at work?
from wikipedia
In 1823, Con Edison’s earliest corporate entity, the New York Gas Light Company, was founded by a consortium of New York City investors. In 1824 New York Gas Light was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, it has the record for being the longest listed stock on the NYSE.
In 1884, six gas companies combined into the Consolidated Gas Company. The New York Steam Company began providing service in lower Manhattan in 1882. Today, Con Edison operates the largest commercial steam system in the world, providing steam service to nearly 1,600 commercial and residential establishments in Manhattan from the Battery to 96th Street.
Con Edison’s electric business also dates back to 1882, when Thomas Edison’s Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York began supplying electricity to 59 customers in a square-mile area in lower Manhattan. After the “War of Currents”, there were more than 30 companies generating and distributing electricity in New York City and Westchester County. But by 1920 there were far fewer, and the New York Edison Company (then part of Consolidated Gas) was clearly the leader.
In 1936, with electric sales far outstripping gas sales, the company incorporated and the name was changed to Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. The years that followed brought further amalgamations as Consolidated Edison acquired or merged with more than a dozen companies between 1936 and 1960. Con Edison today is the result of acquisitions, dissolutions and mergers of more than 170 individual electric, gas and steam companies.
cherished in fancy
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A topic that isn’t terribly popular to discuss at cocktail parties pertains to the Department of Sanitation of New York, as it reminds the “swells” that there’s always a bill to pay. Perhaps my fascinations with the DEP and the wastewater systems of the megalopolis have just adjusted my perception, but the flow of refuse in, around, and out of the City just might be one of the most important strategic issues of our day. I had intended this short post to focus in on the actual truck pictured above, and discuss statistical information about horsepower, load, and fuel consumption- however- I can find absolutely nothing on the subject publicly available.
Odd. DSNY is all about numbers.
There is a dearth of propaganda about an experiment with hybrid electric diesel models assigned to actual routes, but it will take a long time to replace all the big white trucks.
Extant esoterica begins this second annum of this, your Newtown Pentacle…
from nyc.gov
2,196 Collection Trucks
DSNY Collection and E-Z Pak trucks collect 12,000 tons (2,000 pounds = 1 ton) of refuse and recycling each day. Collection trucks service curbside refuse and recycling along with basket collection and can hold up to 12 tons of refuse each. EZ-Pak trucks collect refuse that is stored in containers.
a mediocre fellow
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Fragile and mercurial in temperament, your humble narrator has been suffering from stormy weather of late. Sleep has been an elusive and foresworn luxury, and a season of tumult has settled over Newtown Pentacle HQ, here in the silken heart of Astoria. Seismic twistings of my little world are underway, again.
Always, I must remain, an Outsider.
from wikipedia
In Western philosophy, misanthropy is connected to isolation from human society. In Plato’s Phaedo, Socrates defines the misanthrope in relation to his fellow man: “Misanthropy develops when without art one puts complete trust in somebody thinking the man absolutely true and sound and reliable and then a little later discovers him to be bad and unreliable…and when it happens to someone often…he ends up…hating everyone.” Misanthropy, then, is presented as the result of thwarted expectations or even excess optimism, since Socrates argues that “art” would have allowed the potential misanthrope to recognize that the majority of men are to be found in between good and evil. Aristotle follows a more ontological route: the misanthrope, as an essentially solitary man, is not a man at all: he must be a beast or a god, a view reflected in the Renaissance of misanthropy as a “beast-like state.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Always desperate for praise and attention from relative strangers, your humble narrator has found himself walking in august company of late. In the last months, I’ve met (and in some cases actually touched) a Mayor, a Congressman, a Senator, several members of the City Council, 3 Borough Presidents, and a sampling of those third and fourth tier authorities who actually run New York City.
Heady stuff for one such as myself, and such experiences have been forcing me to question exactly which road I’m scuttling down these days. I’m not crowing about this, rather reeling from the experience, as I am neither right nor left- merely lukewarm.
from wikipedia
The industrial revolution produced a parallel revolution in political thought. Urbanization and capitalism greatly reshaped society. During this same period, the socialist movement began to form. In the mid-19th century, Marxism was developed, and socialism in general gained increasing popular support, mostly from the urban working class. Without breaking entirely from the past, Marx established the principles which would be used by the future revolutionaries of the 20th century namely Lenin, Mao Tse Tung, Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro. Although Hegel’s philosophy of history is similar to Kant’s, and Marx’s theory of revolution towards the common good is partly based on Kant’s view of history, Marx is said to have declared that on the whole, he was just trying to straighten out Hegel who was actually upside down. Unlike Marx who believed in historical materialism, Hegel believed in the Phenomenology of Spirit.[18] Be that as it may, by the late 19th century, socialism and trade unions were established members of the political landscape. In addition, the various branches of anarchism, with thinkers such as Bakunin, Proudhon or Kropotkin, and syndicalism also gained some prominence. In the Anglo-American world, anti-imperialism and pluralism began gaining currency at the turn of the century.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Politics are a nasty business, one I have little interest in other than as a spectator sport.
I find myself pining for the empty streets of Long Island City, the canalized horrors of Newtown Creek, and the mysteries of Calvary. These places, and their stories, have become like old friends to me and I’m missing their company. The other night, engaged in conversation with a known and influential member of the national Republican party, I was told that my politics are far left. Just a week or two ago, the horror and shock exhibited by a group of so called leftists I was sharing a bottle with at a local bar, as I argued against a few meme based theories and “accepted truths”, was followed by accusations of my membership in some mythical Nazi party and fidelity to a debauched national mythology.
Sigh…
What can I say, other than that technology and progress is part of the answer, and not all of the problem.
from wikipedia
The terms “left” and “right” appeared during the French Revolution of 1789 when members of the National Assembly divided into supporters of the king to the president’s right and supporters of the revolution to his left. (The seating may have been influenced by the tradition of the English parliament, where the monarch’s ministers sit to the speaker’s right, while the opposition sit to his or her left.) One deputy, the Baron de Gauville explained, “We began to recognize each other: those who were loyal to religion and the king took up positions to the right of the chair so as to avoid the shouts, oaths, and indecencies that enjoyed free rein in the opposing camp”. However the Right opposed the seating arrangement because they believed that deputies should support private or general interests but should not form factions or political parties. The contemporary press occassionally used the terms “left” and “right” to refer to the opposing sides.
When the National Assembly was replaced in 1791 by a Legislative Assembly composed of entirely new members the divisions continued. “Innovators” sat on the left, “moderates” gathered in the center, while the “conscientous defenders of the constitution” found themselves sitting on the right, where the defenders of the ancien regime had previously gathered. When the succeeding National Convention met in 1792, the seating arrangement continued, but following the coup d’etat of June 2, 1793, and the arrest of the Girondins, the right side of the assembly was deserted, and any remaining members who had sat there moved to the center. However following the Thermidorian Reaction of 1794 the members of the far left were excluded and the method of seating was abolished. The new constitution included rules for the assembly that would “break up the party groups”.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s funny the way that the culture has fractured, around outdated 19th century descriptors like republic, capitalism, or socialism, or even the “nation state“. The whole notion of right and left is a relict of earlier times, and the ideation of the New York megalopolis being confined to its legal borders is ridiculous. Our local economy, even in its current state, is greater than that of most countries. Somehow though, everybody seems to be parroting the same lines on the left- and the right has fractured into a million little pieces. Everyone is pissed off, all the time, and ready for battle…
from wikipedia
The economy of New York City is the largest regional economy in the United States and the second largest city economy in the world after Tokyo. Along with London, New York City is the leading financial center of the world and a premier headquarters location for leading global financial services companies. New York is distinctive for its high concentrations of advanced service sector firms in fields such as law, accountancy, banking and management consultancy.
The financial, insurance, health care, and real estate industries form the basis of New York’s economy. The city is also the most important center for mass media, journalism and publishing in the United States, and is the preeminent arts center in the country. Creative industries such as new media, advertising, fashion, design and architecture account for a growing share of employment, with New York City possessing a strong competitive advantage in these industries. Manufacturing, although declining, remains consequential.
The New York Stock Exchange is by far the largest stock exchange in the world by market capitalization of listed companies. The NASDAQ electronic exchange has the most companies listed and is third largest in the world by market capitalization of listed companies.
The New York metropolitan area had an estimated gross metropolitan product of $1.13 trillion in 2005, the largest regional economy in the United States. The city’s economy accounts for the majority of the economic activity in the states of New York and New Jersey.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Meanwhile, that omniscient thing- which neither sleeps nor breathes nor lives but eternal hungers- looks down from the megalith, amused by the ants.
Musings about the politicians and the philosophies of the bosses stop here, though, on the street…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
…where the wise asses are and the tyranny of “the real” begins. It is going to be a hot summer, I think, the sort of season we haven’t seen since the 1970’s in New York.
Project Firebox 2
Project Firebox, 4930 – photo by Mitch Waxman
This battered sentinel is found on Skillman Avenue, just across the street from the cyclopean Sunnyside Yards.
from wikipedia
The yard is owned by Amtrak, but it is also used by New Jersey Transit. The shared tracks of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) Main Line and Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor pass along the southern edge of the yard. Plans for the LIRR East Side Access project to build tracks to Grand Central Terminal would have those tracks diverging in the vicinity of, or perhaps through, the Sunnyside Yard.
Northeast of the yard a balloon track (or reverse loop) is used for “U-turning” Amtrak and NJ Transit trains which terminate at Penn Station. Leading eastward near the south side of the yard, this balloon track switches off and turns left under the LIRR/Amtrak tracks, turns left once again, and merges with the Sunnyside yard track to turn the train west toward Penn Station.
shining city
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Gantry Plaza State Park, along the waterfront in the Tower Town section of Long Island City, offers fine panoramas of the shield wall of Manhattan’s east side. Some of my friends tell me that Long Island CIty is best exploited photographically in the early morning, when the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself is still in the east, illuminating the Shining City. For me it’s sunset.
from nysparks.state.ny.us
Gantry Plaza State Park is a 12-acre riverside oasis that boasts spectacular views of the midtown Manhattan skyline, including the Empire State Building and the United Nations. Enjoy a relaxing stroll along the park’s four piers or through the park’s manicured gardens and unique mist fountain. Along the way take a moment to admire the rugged beauty of the park’s centerpieces – restored gantries. These industrial monuments were once used to load and unload rail car floats and barges; today they are striking reminders of our waterfront’s past. With the city skyline as a backdrop and the gantries as a stage, the park’s plaza is a wonderful place to enjoy a spring or summer concert or to enjoy the Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks display.Recreational facilities include basketball courts, playgrounds, handball courts, and a fishing pier with its own cleaning table.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The funny thing, of course, if that if a 19th century citizen of the independent cities of Long Island City or Manhattan were to observe the modern scene- their first question would be “What happened to all the ships and factories?”.
from fordham.edu
Shipyards lined both the Manhattan and Brooklyn banks of the East River. In the heyday of New York’s port, the ships being built were primarily square-rigged crafts made of wood, especially oak. The raw materials for ships were readily available on the mainland and the labor force in New York did not lack members, especially during the 19th century, when immigrants were pouring in from Europe en masse. While Europeans experimented with the building of iron ships, Americans perfected the art of building the wooden ship.
Renowned for the quality and style of the ships it manufactured, the Port of New York was also known for the sheer quantity of ships that were built there. The East River was the most concentrated area of shipbuilding in the United States. The three greatest shipyards of the East River were probably the Webb-Eckford yard, the Bergh-Westervelt yard, and the Brown-Bell yard. These produced some of the most famous ships and made a fortune in the business, but they represent only a small fraction of the multiple and diverse shipyards dominating the East River.
Commercial yards made up a vast majority of the East River shipbuilding industry, but the government also took advantage of the area to establish a shipyard. The New York Naval Shipyard was established on the site of a former mercantile shipyard, located on the Brooklyn bank, in 1801. It built and outfitted approximately 100 vessels during the War of 1812 and was called upon again during the Civil War to build nine-gun steam sloops and eight-gun side-wheel double-enders. Established by John Quincy Adams, the New York Naval Shipyard continued to build ships well into the 20th century, until it was finally abandoned in 1966.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The East River was once bursting with industry, and was lined by docks. Famously dangerous, the docks of New York and its corollary municipalities were the first melting pot. When a ship’s cargo was being unloaded and a new one loaded, a process that might take as long as a week, the crews of itinerant sailors would pass the time in flophouses and bars which lined the waterfront. Established society shunned the waterfront, with its temporary populations of tattooed sailors and the mongrel contagion of ideas and exotic possibilities they carried with them.
from earlysda.com
At about 8 o’clock P. M., two lines of people were formed to march each side of the street. Wax candles, about three inches in circumference and four feet long, were now lighted, and given into the hands of each man in the procession. The corpse, which was richly dressed, and adorned with fresh flowers, was placed in a little basket with four handles, four little boys carrying it. It looked like a sweet little child asleep. The procession, with the priest ahead of the child in the middle of the street, and two long lines of men with lighted candles on each side, was rather an imposing sight in the dark night. The walk was about one mile and a half, to an ancient-looking stone church in the upper town. As we passed into the church I saw one of the flagging stones of the floor raised up, and a small pile of bones and dirt beside it. The consul told me the little child was to be put in there. The child was set down by the altar. The priest occupied but a few moments in speaking, then took up a long-handled cup or ball, perforated with holes like a grater, through which, as he uttered a few words, he sprinkled the child with what they call holy water, some of which, whether by accident or otherwise, feel on us who stood at the head of the procession. After this part of the ceremony, all but the child returned in order with the procession. Mr. Harden, the consul, on returning, told me how the child would be disposed of. Two black slaves would strip it of all its clothing, cover it with quick-lime to eat off its flesh, then pound it down in that hole with the other bones and dust, until the stone would lie in its place again. They would have its clothing for their labor. Thus, in this dilapidated charnel-house, and place for divine worship, they disposed of their dead. I was told that Paraiba was one of the oldest towns in South America, being of nearly three hundred years’ standing.
After disposing of our cargo here, we invested our funds in hides and skins, and sailed for New York. After a pleasant and prosperous passage of some thirty days, with the exception of cold, freezing storms on our coast, we arrived at the quarantine ground several miles below the city of New York about the last of March, 1826. As we had no sickness on board, I was allowed the privilege on Sunday of taking my crew with me to hear service at the Dutch Reformed church. This was the first religious assembly I had met with since I covenanted to serve God, and I enjoyed it much. It seemed good to be there. In a few days we were relieved from quarantine, and I was made glad in meeting my companion and sister in New York. My brother F. took my place on board the Empress for another South American voyage, and I left for Fairhaven, to enjoy for a season the society of my family and friends, after an absence of some twenty months.
The Newtown Pentacle 