Birding season is upon us! Our feathery friends are returning from their winter vacations and making nests and making babies!
Man, I wish I didn’t have to go to dumb work or I’d be checking out birds on the Maspeth Creek (49th St & Maspeth Ave), tomorrow Friday April 26th, 2013 at 1pm hosted by Newtown Creek Alliance and Department of Environmental Conservation.
During the wildlife viewing announcements will be about the release of New York Wildlife Viewing Guide, Newtown Creek Alliance Bird Guide and the 2013 Birdwatching Canoe Trip Season with North Brooklyn Boat Club.
Whether you are a new supporter, or were there at the very beginning, the Newtown Creek Alliance invites you to share this moment to commemorate the great work they have done, and recognize the important work ahead, tomorrow Wednesday November 28, from 7-9pm @ The Warsaw (261 Driggs Ave).
Considering how much funk is in the creek, you know it’s gonna be quite the jam.
*Refreshments will be served, and there will be a cash bar.
Over a year ago, on September 27, 2010, the EPA opened a new chapter on the ongoing saga of our polluted waterway by designating the Newtown Creek a federally recognized Superfund Site. This program, which allocates federal money towards research and remediation and aggressively pursues polluters for subsequent remuneration, is contentious because it carries a powerful stigma; however, being on the Superfund list provides our neighborhood with powerful tools for improvement.
A year later, on October 25th, the EPA invited members of the public to an information session to educate locals on the upcoming plans for the creek. At the meeting I was told to keep an eye on the website, where data and announcements will be made public. Officials also informed me that studies into the physical geography of the waterway are set to begin next spring, including bathymetry to determine the exact geometry of the waterway and acoustic studies to find sunken obstructions, among others.
Following these will be chemical analyses to determine the exact nature of the contamination and identify areas that may still be leaching pollutants into the waterway. Interestingly – perhaps suspiciously – these studies will be conducted by firms hired and paid for by the polluters themselves, though this will of course be under EPA scrutiny and direction.
Perhaps the most interesting information I learned was that this process involves coming up with a general cost for the pre-remediation studies – in this case, 25 million dollars for the studies alone, only 5 million short of what the entire remediation effort costs at the average Superfund site – and then leaving it up to the identified polluters to decide amongst themselves who is responsible for what portion of that cost and to fund the studies themselves. The degree to which individual companies are held financially responsible is based in part on their contributions to the pollution and in part on their ability to pay; the EPA avoids bankrupting companies in pursuing remediation funding.
This is a long process, and we shouldn’t expect remediation to begin for at least 5-7 years. I was told – hesitantly, and in no uncertain terms that this was only the widest of estimates – that the cost of remediation would be around 500 million at the absolute minimum. Ours is what the EPA terms a regional “megasite” due to the nature, extent, and history of contamination. It’s a dubious honor, to be sure.
This process will prove pivotal to the future of our neighborhood, so be sure to keep a close eye on the EPA website for updates and future public meetings. If you have additional questions, contact these EPA representatives for more information:
In 1929 the NYTimes wrote that, “People do not travel for pleasure on Newtown Creek.” Those of us on the Working Harbor Committee’s “Hidden Harbor Tour” of Newtown Creek disagreed, as we traversed the 3.5 mile long estuary on a sunny Sunday.
The Working Harbor Committee (WHC), a not for profit, hosts boat tours all over the NYC area in what one of the day’s MCs called “the sixth borough” – the rivers and waterways surrounding the city. Sunday’s two-hour tour was hosted by members of the Newtown Creek Alliance, a non-profit community group advocating for development and cleanup along the Creek. New development requires cleanup, NCA claims, and would boost employment for Brooklyn and Queens residents along the Creek; as well as decrease the number of trucks trafficking goods on New York’s roadways. (One barge on the waterways, for example, could replace up to 70 trucks on the roadways.)
As the tour demonstrated, the Creek, which was once the busiest industrial waterway in the US, has a trove of secrets – wonderful and hideous.
Of the hideous, there is the “black mayonnaise” that rests 10 to 15 feet deep on the bottom of the Creek, which is the accumulation of every pollutant ever dumped there. (Since the Creek receives almost zero fresh water and is barely affected by the tides, the pollution literally does not move, even after centuries.) At some points in the Creek, the water has almost zero oxygen in it; at other points, mutant forms of life have been identified. What else can be expected of the place where Astral Oil began and Standard Oil burned down?
Of the wonderful: There is the building on the Queens side which one NCA member claimed was where Thomas Edison was building electric cars in 1915. Further wonderfulness: despite the vast environmental degradation, life has begun to come back to the Creek, largely because certain areas have been abandoned by industry. Birds, mussels and fish – if not abounding – are at least present; while some young people even managed to find a spot for an afternoon palaver.
Join us for a special water tour with expert narration from guest speakers. There are limited tickets available at workingharbor.org for a very rare tour of the length of the Newtown Creek. New York’s forgotten history will be revealed — as well as bright plans for the future of the creek. Guest narrators will cover points of historical interest as well as environmental and conservation issues during your three-hour exploration.
MV American Princess is a large, comfortable vessel with indoor and outdoor seating. A complementary soft drink and souvenir tour brochure is included. Cruise runs rain or shine. Hosted by Hidden Harbor Tours® in association with River Keeper and the Newtown Creek Alliance.
Explore the Newtown Creek
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Pier 17, South Street Seaport
Departs 10am sharp
Returns 1pm.
$60 – Purchase tickets here
Do you want a pair of seats for the VAN HALEN show at MSG, Tuesday 11/13? Then stop by The Diamond to find out about their raffle. Proceeds go to the Newtown Creek Alliance. $5 Raffle tickets went on sale last Thursday and there are only 100. So if they didn’t sell out over the weekend, I suggest getting over there ASAP to try and score a chance. Drawing will be this Thursday 11/8! Grand prize is two seats to the show. Good 2nd and 3rd place prizes too.
“When the Department of Environmental Protection held the grand opening of the Newtown Creek Nature Walk, it was a lovely day by all accounts: the sun was shining, a cool breeze blew off the water, and children played in the new park.
There was just one problem, say several who attended the event last month. The place stunk, as it did for several days this pas summer with a sewage-like smell.”
Ok, there has been a lot of mentioning of this Newtown Creek Nature Walk park thingy the DEP thought up lately and I just have to say – are they mentally retarded? Why on earth ANYONE would want to spend a day any closer to the shit plant is beyond me.
“But residents say the smell has grown worse recently, more pungent, covering a wider swath of the neighborhood for more days out of the year.”
Honestly, I have to disagree. I have only smelled it on but a few occasions this Summer and as a kid I remember it stinking and I lived further away from it than I do now. It actually seems about the same. Maybe it depends on which way the wind blows, but honestly, that’s neither here nor there – the place is a fucking warehouse for SHIT. What do you really expect it to smell like? Really?
“A few years ago this was billed as the last place anybody on earth would want to be,” said Ann Kansfield, pastor of the Greenpoint Reformed Church. “Most of the people who could move out of the neighborhood did. I mean what kind of affluent person would want to buy a place here?”
Ok, I wouldn’t go as far as saying Greenpoint was the last place anyone on earth would want to be, but I do agree that many who could leave did. Many went out of state, some out to Long Island but many have stayed. It’s not the same place it was then, someways better, others worse. But I definitely can’t say the Creek Reek has changed either way.
No disrespect to The Newtown Creek Alliance, which I’m sure is trying to do only good things and of course I would be insane to not want cleanup and less stank in the Creek, but I honestly can’t help but think the “Nature Walk” is just a waste of money. Why would anyone want to go walk around basically in the middle of a sewage treatment plant? Yeah the views are nice but I highly doubt it’s going to be anything but desolate over there.
However, I bet it’s nice for people who work there. Someplace a little nicer to have a smoke break.
Birding season is upon us! Our feathery friends are returning from their winter vacations and making nests and making babies!
