Posts Tagged ‘newtown creek’
soothing diagnosis
Want to see something cool?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There are three public Newtown Creek walking tours coming up, one in Queens and one in Brooklyn and one that walks the currently undefended border of the two boroughs. I have another iron in the fire, which I’ll tell you about later this week. As you’re reading this, I’m likely on a boat with the Working Harbor Committee’s Education program, showing off the harbor to a group of high school students.
Plank Road, with Newtown Creek Alliance, on April 19th. This one is free, click here to get on the list.
Poison Cauldron, with Atlas Obscura, on April 26th. Click here for more info and ticketing.
Modern Corridor, with Brooklyn Brainery, on May 18th. Click here for more info and ticketing.
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arisen another
Tug Dory at Newtown Creek in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Heading over to Greenpoint, which seems to be my occupation sometimes, your humble narrator was utilizing the Pulaski Bridge to cross the malign Newtown Creek. Suddenly, from below, waves began crashing and a vast oblong shape appeared from the void formed by the span.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This barge likely came from Allocco, an aggregates company based on Kingsland Avenue in Greenpoint. Allocco, by the way, isn’t some fey corporate composite name, rather its a family name. I’ve met members of the eponymous clan, and they’re nice guys. They sort debris into graded materials – sand, gravel etc. for resale. Allocco is one of the few corporations along Newtown Creek who fully utilize their maritime bulkheads, so I’m a fan. What’s being moved around in that barge would require the services of around 30 trucks otherwise.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Never have I seen the Tug Dory on the Creek before. This boat is a bit of a mystery to me, and not much is available on it. Unfortunately, they weren’t displaying their IMO number in a place visible from my vantage, so I’m afraid that all I can tell you is that it’s painted white.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
She may be somewhat anonymous, a pale enigma posed alongside an oblong shape if you will, but Tug Dory still looks pretty good heading out of the Newtown Creek on her way to the East River.
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second to nothing
Dredging operations on the Newtown Creek are underway.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a couple of false starts and delayed beginnings, DonJon Towing is finally getting busy over on my beloved Creek. The dredging project is designed to provide a maritime channel for a new class of DEP Sludge Boats (see this Newtown Pentacle post from back in January of this year for details on the new boats) which will use a dock on Whale Creek, rather than the current East river facility, to accept the processed material produced by the Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant in Greenpoint.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
These shots were gathered yesterday, at Whale Creek – a Brooklyn side tributary of Newtown Creek which the sewer plant wraps around.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Unfortunately, due to a busy work schedule and weather issues, I only managed to get there late in the afternoon and missed the action. This little push boat was busily managing the barges into a docking position, however.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The dredging rig was the Delaware Bay, which is a 225 foot long monster commissioned in 2008, and outfitted with a 123 foot long boom and crane.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the actual dredging bucket, which is outfitted with some sort of esoteric gasket system. I’ve never felt pity for a big steel machine before, but… Yuck… this is Newtown Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The whole operation is meant to continue on for about six weeks. The initial phase of it, here on Whale Creek, will only be operating 12 hours a day, but once they work their way out onto the main body of the Creek – probably Tuesday of next week, they will go 24/7.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This little Survey boat was buzzing about, and I’m told it carried a battery of sonar equipment which allowed visualization of the dredging work in real time. There’s a lot of stuff down there, pipelines and cables and such, for the DonJon crews to watch out for.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A DEP contractor was on hand performing air quality tests and odor control functions. This was his little weather station.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Also part of this contractors kit was a Hydrogen Sulfide monitor, which measures concentrations of the compound released from the underwater sediments during the dredge process.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s critical, once the operation moves out of Whale Creek and heads west towards the more populated sections of the Creek in Greenpoint and Hunters Point, that you call 311 if you’re being affected by smells or noise. Also, I’ve been told that the NCWWTP Nature Walk will be closed for the weekend, in the name of safety.
If you smell something, say something, and call 311.
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alarmingly low
Tugboat! There’s a tugboat coming!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bemoaning a life lived poorly with a ribald song of lament, your humble narrator found himself crossing the fabulous Pulaski Bridge over Newtown Creek recently, whereupon the appearance of maritime traffic entering the waterway sent a bolt of joy up my crumbling spine.
Even feckless quislings can catch a break sometimes, thought I.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One was forced to scuttle at double pace across the bridge, in order to not allow the opening of its double bascule mechanisms to visually isolate me from the passing Tugboat.
Occlusion is frustrating, extremely so.
Accordingly, haste was made for the Greenpoint or southern bank of the Newtown Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The NYC DOT, who operate this bridge, will unfortunately not allow me to get close enough to shoot properly, so several lenses were utilized. Swapping out lenses is not something I like to do in a spot like the Pulaski Bridge, where the particulate dust and soot circulating on the air is particularly dense, for fear of allowing contaminants to settle inside the camera itself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Regardless of risk, a few swaps were made, as I had luckily decided to carry a full kit with me that day. The Tugboat was Vane’s “Hunting Creek.” Hunting Creek has been mentioned here before, in the post “last ounce.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Unfortunately, I was quite far from the Tug, and less than ecstatic about the images produced by my “longest” lens. The next upgrade to my photo bag is going to be a good lens with lots of reach, an expensive proposition. Of course, the simple answer to not having a lens with sufficient magnification or optimal resolution is to simply get closer to your subject.
Hunting Creek pulled away, towing a fuel barge to some destination eastwards, but I knew that eventually… she had to come back.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hunting down anything along Newtown Creek is my speciality, as well as finding the best spot to view it from, so your humble narrator was waiting with a medium reach but high quality lens attached to my camera when Hunting Creek made its way back towards the East River and the greater harbor beyond.
What? I like photographing tugboats.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The warning horns that Pulaski was opening sounded and the tug maneuvered into its course. Tower Town in LIC is really coming along, incidentally, and views like the one following will soon be a happy memory.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
They’ve already blocked out the Chrysler Building. When Greenpoint Landing gets going, we’ll lose Empire State as well.
That’s what I saw on Newtown Creek one day last week, when one set out to cross a bridge and walk about in the radiance of the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I was walking home – through Greenpoint – I almost stepped on this flat rat, which kind of ruined my day. Curdling horror notwithstanding, the sight shocked me back into a looming sense of depression and reinstated the familiarly manic state which I was hoping to alleviate via the perambulation across the Pulaski Bridge and the banks of fabled Newtown Creek.
I guess it’s true what they say – “A Feckless Quisling just can’t catch a break these days.” People say that, right?
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2014 Walking Tours
Up Next: 13 Steps across Dutch Kills, at Newtown Creek with Atlas Obscura, Saturday, April 5th – click here for more information and ticketing.
Thirteen Steps across Dutch Kills
The 2014 Walking Tours begin.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Join Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura for an intense exploration of Newtown Creek’s Dutch Kills tributary – found less than one mile from the East River. Dutch Kills is home to four movable (and one fixed span) bridges, including one of only two retractile bridges remaining in New York City. Dutch Kills is considered to be the central artery of industrial Long Island City and is ringed with enormous factory buildings, titan rail yards – it’s where the industrial revolution actually happened.
Bring your camera, as the tour will be revealing an incredible landscape along this section of the troubled Newtown Creek Watershed.
Be prepared: We’ll be encountering broken pavement, sometimes heavy truck traffic, and moving through a virtual urban desert as we cross the currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens. Dress and pack appropriately for hiking, closed toe shoes are highly recommended.
Bathroom opportunities will be found only at the start of the walk, which will be around three hours long and cover approximately three miles of ground.
Meetup – At the Albert E. Short Triangle park found at the corner of Jackson Avenue and 23rd Street in Long Island City, Queens. This is the Court Square MTA station, and served by the 7, G, and M lines. Additionally, the Q39 and B62 buses have nearby stops. Check MTA.info as ongoing construction at Queens Plaza often causes delays and interruptions.
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The Newtown Pentacle 