Posts Tagged ‘Queens Plaza’
fortunately verifiable
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“Choose your battles” is what the old man used to say. Then he’d remind me of how I physically compared with other members of my peer group and advised “pick up something- a brick, pipe, garbage can lid- throw it at their head, and then run away as fast as I could”. Following this advice over the years, I’ve learned something. I am not a fast runner.
Walking, however, is something I can do for hours at a pop.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Choosing the battle, however, during the short and dark days of the winter is not always up to me. Complicating my life, the recent multiple day long spurts of rain has made getting out something of a luxury. One can withstand some amount of cold, or a limited quantity of wet, but not both. In recent years, your humble narrator has developed a nearly comic book level “vulnerability to cold”.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a funny thing. The various groups I work with along the Newtown Creek and New York Harbor have a lot of meetings which I am compelled to attend, whether it be out of interest or obligation. More often than not, these meetings take place far from home, and I will take advantage of “getting there” via scenic routes in order to collect photos and tour certain locales. Unfortunately, during the winter months, darkness begins as early as half past four in the afternoon, and these meetings often start more than hour or two after sunset.
Unable to follow the old man’s advice and choose my battles, as I cannot throw a brick at natures head, an attempt is underway to improve my “hand held at low light” photgraphic skill set.
tarnished plate
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Queens Plaza is that which greets visitors to our fair borough, the home to a great machine called Queensboro. This machine, utilitarian, is the backbone which carries vehicular and light rail traffic from the western tip of a long island to the eastern shore of the great human hive’s focal point in Manhattan. Grotesque, the area has been the focus of quite a bit of municipal thought and spending over the last few years.
Mayan Apocalypse Countdown: just 8 days left until the 13th b’ak’tun ends, initiating the Mayan Apocalypse on December 21st. Tick, tock.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An amenity, called Dutch Kills Green, has been installed as a city park. Controversy over its design and the opinions of area wags notwithstanding, your humble narrator has observed that the place is being well used. A nearby school offers daily crowds of scalawag teenagers, and the place seems popular with both indigent and office worker alike. Several interesting madmen cross the place regularly, including myself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Annoying, artless graffito has appeared of late in the place. This post is offered in the hope that those of you, lords and ladies, who find themselves in the employ of those powers and potentates who enjoy official stewardship over the community might like to know the phone number of one of these “street artists”. It is realized that so much of the graffiti which turns up is anonymous, and that some minor satisfaction might arrive from being able to ring the person up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Phone conversation is something generationally aberrant to those under a certain age, with SMS text or twitter replacing verbal communication, so you might wish to tweet the artist instead. Alternatively, Facebook might be your bag.
ancient idol
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Skillman Avenue in Queens is one of the thoroughfares via which pedestrian transits are accomplished between the blessed hillocks of Astoria and the lamentable post industrial flats surrounding the Newtown Creek. It is all downhill from here, your humble narrator often tells people, but at least there is some spectacular scenery along the route. To wit, the Sunnyside Yards.
Mayan Apocalypse Countdown: just 9 days left until the 13th b’ak’tun ends, initiating the Mayan Apocalypse on December 21st. Tick, tock.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Illegal dumping is an art form here in Queens, with scatter dash arrangements of discarded goods lining both fence and wall. An odd thing I’ve noticed over the last few years is the presence of discarded single shoes. I’d be able to look over a pair of shoes, but everywhere I go these days, I’m seeing single shoes. That is weird, and there’s a story behind it, I am sure. It will likely involve a serial killer, I think.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This beautiful bit of detritus, arranged upon the old iron fence of the rail yard, has obviously been in place for a long time. Many questions occur to me, regarding it, but like many of the things which Queens wishes to have noticed- there will never be an answer. Queens is like that.
doorless corridor
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve probably been walking past this sign for better than a year. Never actually took the time to notice it, let alone grab a shot or two. Just the other day, a casual glance caused me to register its message and delightful usage of the English language, and frozen in his tracks was a humble narrator. I can almost work out the accent of the guy who made this sign.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To start with, I really like the idea of an inconvenience station, even if it is spelled in a rather creative fashion. Not only is the idea of a centralized location wherein one may be inconvenienced an extremely New York City sort of thing, and especially a “Queens thing”, but this might be a great- albeit “temperory”- addition to the new Queens Plaza.
betwixt spaces
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A recent posting- vaguely articulate– detailed a close call with a speeding bicycle in Queens Plaza’s dangerous weaving of pedestrian and vehicle pathways. A couple of folks emailed me, questioning my perceptions of where the bike path was located in physical space. Today’s post expands on the topic.
On my way to some meeting, somewhere, a humble narrator was moving through Queens Plaza. Remembering to photograph the pedestrian curb cut this time, with its icon indicating that the bike path is designed to flow right through it…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Proof of my point for the inefficacy of this situation then came whizzing across the street…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The fellow on the bicycle wasn’t doing anything illegal, as is evident in the shot above, the bike paths leading out from the Queensboro Bridge lead directly into the pedestrian crosswalk and up onto the sidewalk…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
They continue past the narrow section of the pavement alongside a subway stairwell…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Where they continue along, vehicles (bicycles) mixing freely with pedestrian traffic.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Coincidentally, that’s when two European tourists got off the Subway, having a heated discussion in some alien tongue. They didn’t seem to know which way to go, having just seen a bicycle roll through their apparent path.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’d imagine they were headed for one of the many new hotels located in the Dutch Kills neighborhood, one hopes they made it to their lodging without incident…
Also, on this day in 1945, the world changed– forever.
The Newtown Pentacle 