Category Archives: Queens

Rockaways 1-December 15

Posted by rmichals on January 7, 2013 None comments

Almost 7 weeks after Sandy hit, I went out to the Rockaways. While still on the Q53 going to B116, I saw that there had been a fire on Rockaway Beach Blvd. that stretched for several blocks. The two white window frames would have been Sunlites Stained Glass.

Rockaway Beach Blvd., Queens, NY, December 15, 2012

This had been Nussbaum Chiropractic. I don’t know how long it was a medical center. The sign in the middle reads, “Patients, to see a doctor for prescription refills, call 718-318-0090.” You can read more about the fire on the Wall Street Journal blog Metropolis.

114-32 Rockaway Beach Blvd., Queens, NY, December 15, 2012

Walking east along Rockaway Beach Blvd., the damage got worse.

Rockaway Beach Blvd., Queens, NY, December 15, 2102

It was shocking to see that the damage from a fire caused by Sandy had not really even been touched in 7 weeks.

Rockaway Beach Blvd., Queens, NY, December 15, 2012

Then I walked over to the beach.

B115th Street, Rockaway Park, Queens, NY, December 15, 2012

Work was ongoing even on this Saturday afternoon.

Boardwalk, Rockaway Park, Queens, NY, December 15, 2012

Boardwalk, Rockaway park, Queens, NY, December 15, 2012

Boardwalk, Rockaway Park, Queens, NY, December 15, 2012

This is what I saw when I went to this spot last year. This was taken from the boardwalk.

Between B108 and B105, Rockaway Park Seaside, Queens, NY, October 21, 2011

And this was this year. This was taken from the beach as there is no longer a boardwalk in this area.

Rockaway Park, Queens. NY, December 15, 2012

The beach lost a good deal of sand and now the old pilings are a bit more exposed.

Rockaway Park, Queens, NY, Decmber 15, 2012

Newtown Creek

Posted by rmichals on December 1, 2011 None comments

Last Sunday, Bill Schuck took me and Steve Lang out on the Newtown Creek in his boat. Riding low in the water gives one a whole different perspective.

Metro Terminals Corporation, 498 Kingsland Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, November 27, 2011

We rowed out to Meeker Avenue and back. We amused more than one security guard.

Bill Schuck and Steve Lang on the Newtown Creek, Brooklyn, NY, November 27, 2011

When we set it out it was an hour or two after high tide. The high tide water line was still visible. With 2 feet more of water, the Newtown Creek will be going over its bulkheads at high tide.

49 Ash Street, Brooklyn, NY, November 27, 2011

The bulkhead varies tremendously around the creek from property to property. From what I understand it is the responsibility of the owner of the property, not the city, to maintain the bulkhead. Bill mentioned that the cost for the GMDC to fix its bulkhead-this is one building-was in the millions. Now take this and multiply by NYC’s 520 miles of coast line. Bulkhead for protection against sea level rise may or may not be an economically viable solution.

Newtwon Creek, Queens, NY, November 27, 2011

Here it looks like the water, even now, comes up to the top of the wood bulkhead. At least there is a little embankment.

Newtown Creek, Queens, NY, November 27, 2011

We did pass one area of very new and relatively high bulkhead. It fronted 50 Bridgewater St. This was once the Texaco terminal but now is Peerless Importers. This is one of the places that oil was seeping from the big spill under Greenpoint into the creek. Bill thought that this bulkhead might be part of the effort to prevent further seepage into the creek.

50 Bridgewater St., Brooklyn, NY, November 27, 2011

B P Amoco still has an installation here.

B P Amoco, 125 Apollo Street, Brooklyn, NY, November 27, 2011

The Newtown Creek also hosts a large recycling facility run by Sims Metal Management. Moving recycling by barge is a great way to reduce truck traffic.

Sims Metal Manaagement, Long Island City, Queens, Ny, November 27, 2011

And while these pictures show plastic recycling, much of what goes on here is metal. Scrap metal is one of New York’s top 25 exports by dollar value. Crains New York doesn’t specify quantity but names scrap metal and waste paper as major exports to China.

Sims Metal Management, Long Island City, Queens, NY, November 27, 2011

Across from Sims on the Brooklyn side is an unused marine transfer station and the Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant.

Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, Brooklyn, NY, November 27, 2011

It never ceases to amaze me how much of New York’s waterfront is used for parking. I suppose this kind of flexible use could be considered a good thing. If there is threat of a storm, you can move your vehicle. One the other hand, it shows how little the waterfront was valued in the past.

Long Island City, Queens, NY, November 27, 2011

Waterfront living is now an easy sale at least to developers. As you can see here on the other side of the creek, Hunter’s Point has seen an incredible amount of building with more to come. That whole area is low-lying and consequently threatened with sea level rise.

Newtown Creek, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY, November 27, 2011

Thank you Bill for a great trip!

Rockaway Beach to Breezy Point

Posted by rmichals on September 22, 2011 None comments

The ocean was rough on Monday when I was out in the Rockaways. The beach was littered with big unbroken clam shells brought up by the force of the waves.

Beach 96th St, Rockaway Beach, Queens, NY, September 19, 2011

It was quiet on the boardwalk. there were a few dog walkers, surfers, joggers, but not many.

Rockaway Beach, Queens, NY, 2011

Some evidence of Irene was visible. Sand had been washed to the far side of the boardwalk.

Rockaway Beach, Queens, NY, September 19, 2011

The wooden siding of the boardwalk had been torn off and a row of chess tables and benches were upended.

Rockaway Beach, Queens, Ny, September 19, 2011

At Beach 116th Street, by the monument for Flight 587, a group of men were hanging out. I talked to Jack. He told me he was on disability. Another man was feeding the birds.

Beach 116th St., Rockaway Park, Queens, NY, September 19, 2011

While the oceanside of the Rockaways will be increasingly hit with storm surge, it is the bay side that will be hit with sea level rise. The neighborhoods of Belle Harbor and Neposit north of Newport Avenue are predicted to be underwater by 2100. Unlike Arverne, there is already a seawall along the bay here suggesting that protection might be the strategy used by this area to deal with the future water level.

Beach Channel Drive, Belle Harbor, Queens, NY, September 19, 2011

In this area, predicted to suffer from sea level rise, now there are primarily single family homes.

Beach 126th St., Belle Harbor, Queens, NY, September 19, 2011

Cronston Avenue, Belle Harbor, Queens, NY, September 19, 2011

Neponsit, Queens, NY, September 19, 2011

Then there is Jacob Riis Park, which off-season was largely deserted.

Jacob Riis Park, Queens, NY, September 19, 2011

.
The public handball courts and the private golf course. Need I say more? This feels a bit like a metaphor for all of the Rockaways.

Jacob Riis Park, Queens, NY, September 19, 2011

On the other side of the Bridge on the bay side is Riis landing. A lovely spot.

Riis Landing, Queens, NY, September 19, 2011

Then I learned that Breezy Point is a gated community. It is owned and run by the Breezy Point Cooperative. Bob Turner, the 9th Congressional district’s new representative, lives in this 99% white neighborhood. This is one area that I won’t be able to photograph.

Rockaway Point Blvd., Queens, NY, September 19, 2011

Far Rockaway

Posted by rmichals on August 9, 2011 None comments

Before going to Far Rockaway, I used the Coastal Resilience map put together by the Nature Conservancy as well as the University of Arizona sea level rise map created by Professors Overpeck and Weiss to learn where the impact of sea level rise would be felt there. The Coastal Resilience map not only indicates flood boundaries but also gives an estimate of the percent of damage to the built environment by 2080 from sea level rise. You can also select different scenarios and combine sea level rise with a Category 2 or 3 storm to see where the damage will be. While the Overpeck and Weiss map and the Coastal Resilience map overlap quite a bit, the data offered by the Coastal Resilience map serves as a reminder that sea level rise is a process.

Lanett Avenue off of Beach 9 St. marks the edge of the area, as designated by the Coastal Resilience map, that will sustain damage due to sea level rise of its buildings by 2080, with the percentage of damage increasing as you get closer to the water. Jarvis Avenue is predicted to sustain between 20 and 50% building loss due to sea level rise by 2080.

Jarvis Avenue, Far Rockaway, Queens, NY, August 5, 2011

At the water and Beach 9 St., there were a number of fisherman and a few elderly people out for walks.

Beach 9 St., Far Rockaway, Queens, NY, August 5, 2011

One block east, right on the beach, is the 4-building residential development that used to be called the Roy Reuthers Houses. According to The Wave, the complex has been sold a few times in the past several years and there are no longer restrictions that tenants must be 62 or older or disabled. The current owners have renamed it the Sand Castle. I could not make this up. The building is in the Coastal Resilience map’s zone of 20 to 40 percent building loss by 2080 and is predicted to be in the water by the Overpeck and Weiss map by 2100.

The Sand Castle, Far Rockaway, Queens, NY, August 5, 2011

The next block between Beach 6 St. and 5 St. is empty except for one lone house, which was probably once lovely and now is stripped, windowless, filled with garbage.

The Sand Castle from Beach 5 St., Far Rockaway, Queens, NY, August 5th, 2011

On the other side of Seagirt Avenue (not Blvd.) is a dirt lot.

The Sand Castle from Seagirt Avenue, Far Rockaway, Queens, NY, August 5, 2011

On a google map, you can see that Coronado Ct. was once here. In a post on Forgotten-NY by Sergey Kadinsky dated May 1, 2010, there is a photo of the bungalows that were here last year. I also learned from Forgotten-NY that the city received the property in the 90s and is now creating the Seagirt Avenue Wetlands. The city park’s website states that wetlands slow “global warming by converting carbon dioxide into oxygen at a prodigious rate.” It also mentions the alarming fact that New York City used to have 224,000 acres of freshwater wetlands. Now, there are 2,000 acres.

Seagirt Avenue Wetlands, Far Rockaway, Queens, NY, August 5, 2011

Another asset that Far Rockaway has are its dunes. These could offer some measure of protection from storms.

Near Beach 17 St., Far Rockaway, Queens, NY, August 5, 2011

On this beautiful Friday in August, around 10 am, there was one umbrella to be seen on the beach between Crest Rd. and Beach 24 St.

Near Beach 24 St., Far Rockaway, Queens, NY, August 5, 2011

At Beach 24 St., there are a few remaining streets of bungalows. I have heard a lot about them, first from a City Tech student, Rudolph Bastien, also a Far Rockaway resident. There is even a documentary called The Bungalows of Rockaway. The Coastal Resilience map has these streets in the 20s south of Seagirt in the 1-10% building loss due to sea level rise by 2080 with very high rates of damage in event of a Category 2 or 3 storm. However, this seems somewhat irrelevant. Development and poverty are bigger, more immediate threats to the bungalows and serious issues for neighborhood residents in general.

Beach 24 St,. Far Rockaway, Queens, NY, August 5, 2011

Some bungalows are adorable and well kept. All are raised a few feet, I assume to accommodate moderate flooding.

Beach 24 St., Far Rockaway, Queens, NY, August 5, 2011

Some have a strong sense of personality and being lived in.

Beach 25 St., Far Rockaway, Queens, NY, 2011

The lovingly tended bungalow on the left, I believe is the one written about in the NYT Real Estate section last fall. You can see a row of back houses behind the bungalows that front on the street.

Beach 26 St., Far Rockaway, Queens, NY, August 5, 2011

The recently built development across the street is not faring so well.

Beach 26 St., Far Rockaway, Queens, NY, 2011

Beach 105 Street to Beach 69 Street, the Rockaways

Posted by rmichals on June 21, 2011 None comments

Last week, I had the pleasure of spending time at the Brooklyn Historical Society as part of the project Students and Faculty in the Archives. I looked at several very interesting old maps of Brooklyn including a map from 1852 created by M. Dripps that shows every farm with its acreage. This map also included the Rockaway Peninsula and all of Jamaica Bay.

What fascinates me about the Rockaway Peninsula is that the ocean side hasn’t changed much except that the entire peninsula extended only to Barren Island (now Floyd Bennett field) while it now extends as far west as Manhattan Beach. It is this tip that didn’t exist in 1852 that is threatened by sea level rise.

Kings and Part of Queens Counties, Long Island, NY, M. Dripps, 1852. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.

The bay side on the 1852 map has more or less the same shape as today. A large bulge where the neighborhoods Arverne and Edgemere are now is marked “Hassock” on the map which according to dictionary.com means “A firm clump of grass in marshy or boggy ground.”

Kings and Part of Queens Counties, Long Island, NY, M. Dripps, 1852. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.

The whole west portion of this knob of land, everything west of Beach 68 St., is predicted by the Weiss and Overpeck map to be underwater given a 1 meter sea level rise. I can’t help but notice that there is a good deal of overlap between the 1852 map and Weiss and Overpeck’s map of 2100 while both differ significantly from the shoreline we know today. This coincidence leads me to speculate that the first areas to be inundated will be those areas that have been created by landfill. Maybe this is totally obvious but I found it a revelation.

On May 25th, I went out to the Rockaways. The area from Beach 115 to 84th or so is not predicted to suffer from flooding or sea level rise. There was work being done to the train. (What do you call the subway when it is not underground?)

Rockaway Fwy., Rockaway Park, Queens, NY

There are some sweet homes tucked in on 101st between Beach Channel Dr. and Rockaway Fwy.

Beach 101st St., Rockaway Park, Queens, NY

The development in this area is uneven and creates some striking juxtapositions of scale

Beach 100th St., cr. Rockaway Fwy., May 25, 2011

and style.

Beach 101st St., Rockaway Park, Queens, NY

Here really only the slivers at the edge of the ocean and the bay are flood zones. The boardwalk on this May morning was primarily being used by people out to exercise.

Boardwalk, Rockaway Park, Queens, NY, May 25th, 2011

While the beach is projected to erode, the buildings along Shore Front Parkway are probably okay given a one-meter sea level rise.

Rockaway Park, Queens, NY, May 25th, 2011

This old skate park is between Beach 92nd and 91st. Without really active beach management, the ocean is predicted to come up approximately to here in 2100.

Skate park, Beach 91st St., Rockaway Beach, Queens, NY, May 25th, 2011

It is hard to imagine that these new condos will be around in 90 years. But if they are, they will really be ocean side.

Skate park, Beach 91st St., Roackaway Beach, Queens, NY, May 25th, 2011

Arverne-by-the-Beach should be fine.

Arverne-by-the-Beach, Arverne, Queens, NY, May 25, 2011

Beach 69th St., Arverne, Queens, NY, May 25, 2011

It is the from the bay side that the water will rise. The Weiss and Overpeck map has sea level rise putting the bay through half of the property which now hosts Carleton Manor, an eleven story housing authority building in which about 400 people now live. The nyc flood maps show this block as being an island in the flood zone.

Beach 70th St., Arverne, Queens, NY, May 25, 2011

I then walked up Beach 69th St. This area on the other side of Rockaway Fwy., once hassock, is predicted to have more and more trouble with flooding and return to water.

Beach 69th St., Arverne, Queens, Ny, May 25, 2011

Beach 69th St., Arverne, NY, Queens, NY, May 25, 2011

At the end of Beach 69th St., is Jamaica Bay.

Beach 69th St., Arverne, Queens, NY, May 25, 2011

Attracted by the cement factory, I turned down Gouverneur Avenue which turns into Failing Avenue for part of a block.

Failing Avenue, Arverne, Queens, NY, May 25, 2011

The end.

Beach 72nd St., Arverne, Queens, NY, May 25, 2011

Lawrence, NY, Rosedale, Queens

Posted by rmichals on May 23, 2011 None comments

William Kornblum, professor of sociology at CUNY’s Graduate Center and author of At Sea in the City :
New York from the Water’s Edge and numerous sociology titles spoke at City Tech on April 29th. When I told him a little about this project, he suggested I go to the back side of Kennedy airport. So I did.

I took the LIRR to Cedarhurst. There is a lovely park by the train station and a nice small town atmosphere. As I walked out to Rockaway Turnpike, the constant flow of landing planes began to jangle my nerves. It doesn’t stop. About every three minutes, another plane flies overhead. Once I turned onto Rockaway Turnpike, the deafening sound of cars and trucks joined the sound of the planes. Overpeck and Weiss’s map predicts that both sides of Rockaway Turnpike north of Peninsula Blvd. will experience flooding.

I walked by this deserted Toyota dealership.

Rockaway Turnpike, Lawrence, NY, May 10, 2011

I turned down the a little street called Reyem Drive thinking there might be a view of the water that snakes through the area. Out of the last house on this street came an older white man who wanted to save my soul. His preaching was very insistent. My intuition told me to leave as quickly as possible. I didn’t even try to take his picture. Maybe it was the noise that had driven him crazy. Or maybe it was making me paranoid.

I turned down East Avenue which runs by an unmarked tank farm. My guess is that this is storage for JFK.

East Avenue, Lawrence, NY, May 10, 2011

The other half of this little peninsula is occupied by the residential community Meadowmere Park. The homes are well kept and except for the booming planes and the lack of a sidewalk, the neighborhood is an oasis.

Baker Avenue, Lawrence, NY, May 9, 2011

There is a footbridge that leads from this Nassau county neighborhood to a small triangle of Queens bounded by water on the west and by Rockaway Boulevard on the east. Kevin Walsh has a great post about this area and the bridge on Forgotten-NY.com.

Meadowmere Park, Lawrence, NY, May 10, 2011

Once you cross the footbridge, you are in Queens and a different planet. There are a few well kept homes and as I walked through there was a man working on his lawn. Right off the bridge is this home with its yard filled with trash.

1st Street, Rosedale, Queens, NY, May 10, 2011

Next door, a house had been moved to this spot.

1st Street, Rosedale, Queens, NY, May 10, 2011

At the junction of 1st and 3rd was an informal bait shop. I assume that the shop was operating with a license and the men were not friendly.
This was the last house on the street closest to Rockaway Blvd.

3rd Street, Rosedale, Queens, NY, May 10, 2011

Back on Rockaway Blvd., there is a a range of big box stores and other chains with a few independents like Kas Carpet.

Rockaway Blvd.,Rosedale, Queens, NY, May 10, 2011

And storage.

Rockaway Turnpike, Lawrence, NY, May 10, 2011

From the Costco parking lot, there is a great view of the tank farm across the way. You can also see a cement factory off to the left. There were a number of men fishing from the parking lot and this man was washing his car.

Costco parking lot, Lawrence, NY, May 10, 2011

Walking back to the Cedarhurst train station, I longed to be away from the planes. Later in the week, a report on noise pollution on NPR caught my attention. After spending an afternoon in Lawrence and Rosedale, I believed every word of the report that linked noise pollution to a shorter life.

Belle Harbor, Rockaway Park and Rockaway Park Seaside

Posted by rmichals on May 20, 2011 None comments

The beaches in New York City are maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers and are part of the built environment. Without replenishment, they would erode to nothing. Last May, 135,000 cubic feet of sand were plumped onto Rockaway covering 2,500 feet of shoreline from Beach 93 to Beach 101 according to The Wave. It is unclear to me from reading this article what this cost but somewhere between 2.8 and 4.3 million dollars. It seems there is often disagreement about the cost of beach nourishment. In this article by Orrin H. Pilkey and Andy Coburn, they argue that beach nourishment is generally futile though they do consider that the costs might be worth it for beaches in dense urban areas like Coney Island and the Rockaways.

When I went out to the Rockaways last week, work was being done on the sand in preparation for the beginning of the beach season.

Beach 121st, Rockaway Park, Queens, NY, May 9, 2011

Beach 123 St, Rockaway Park, Queens, NY, May 9, 2011

Beach 121 St., Rockaway Park, Queens, NY, May 9, 2011

And in the end you get a lovely dune.

Beach 111 Street, Rockaway Park, Queens, NY, May 9, 2011

When you look at Overpeck and Weiss’s map of sea level rise, I think it is expected that Breezy Point, the west tip of the Rockaways, would be inundated. It sticks out into the ocean and looks vulnerable. What is surprising is that the beach on the ocean side will probably it will get narrower but not dramatically. It is several large swathes of the bay side that are predicted to be hit. This looks like it will be an equal opportunity for Neposit, Belle Harbor, Averne and Edgemere. I walked through some of the streets of Belle Harbor. The bay side has a seawall. The homes are lovely. A number of homes displayed yellow ribbons, either as a general show of support for US troops in harm’s way or possibly for a specific member of the armed forces. I wasn’t sure.

Belle Harbor, Queens, NY, May 9, 2011

Beach 126 Street, Belle Harbor, Queens, NY, May 9th, 2011

Rockaway Park hosts a waste water treatment plant. It is one of four waste water treatment plants that use Jamaica Bay as the receiving waterbody.

Rockaway Park Seaside, Queens, Ny, May 9, 2011

Rockaway Park Seaside, Queens, NY, May 9, 2011

There is a considerable amount of new housing.

Beach 102 st, Rockaway Park, Queens, NY, May 9, 2011

The Weiss and Overpeck map predicts that these homes will be fine in 2100. A bit closer to the ocean and maybe buffeted by storms. It is the bayside that will flood including along Rockaway Freeway which is also where the closest subway stop is at Beach 98 Street.

Beach 101 Street, Queens, NY, May 9, 2011


		
		Broad Channel, Queens
		
			Posted by rmichals on May 13, 2011 
			None comments
		
		
		
			I have been reading Orrin Pilkey and Rob Young’s The Rising Sea. While I have yet to master all the information in this book, one of the basic ideas is that the volume of water expands when it is heated. From “The Rising Sea”: “heat 50 gallons of water to 100 degrees Fahrenheit and you will have roughly 51 gallons.” Ok. So there are 326 million trillion gallons of water on earth. So if you heat that much up even a little, it will expand a lot. 
Broad Channel is the kind of place where it is clear that the thermal expansion of the oceans will be a problem.  Here, you are surrounded by Jamaica Bay and can see it pretty much from where ever you stand.

E. 12th Rd., Broad Channel, May 6, 2011

Many of the houses in this community of 900 homes are prepared for high waters.

Cross Bay Blvd., Broad Channel, May 6, 2011

Maritime motifs are common for home exterior decoration.

W. 9th Rd., Broad Channel, May 6, 2011

Cross Bay Blvd., Broad Channel, May 6, 2011
Cross Bay Blvd., Broad Channel, May 6, 2011
Patriotism is visibly displayed. One man I talked to, as he worked on his boat, told me how happy he was that week that a certain someone (he never said the name) was killed by Navy Seals. His sister lives across the street. She worked in the World Trade Center. On the morning of September 11, 2001, it was her turn to pick up the bagels. She was not yet in the building when the first plane struck.

Cross Bay Blvd., Broad Channel, May 6, 2011

Broad Channel, May 6, 2011
If your house has a boat slip, flooding can be expected.

W. 19th Rd., Broad Channel, May 6, 2011

w. 19th Rd., Broad Channel, May 6, 2011
		

	

		
		Howard Beach
		
			Posted by rmichals on May 11, 2011 
			1 comments
		
		
		
			After getting off the subway, I walked south down 102nd. Houses and at least one old fishing shack line the end of Hawtree Basin
May 5, 2011
Then I turned down Russell Street. Many of the homes are in disrepair and generally look abandoned.

However, as I was taking this photo a middle-aged (though younger than me) white man came down the street and demanded to know what I was doing. He told me the house belonged to his father. There had been some burglaries around here recently. As I looked at the house, I wondered what there might be inside that would tempt theft. Howard Beach was living up to its reputation though residents would call this Hamilton Beach.

May 5, 2011

At the end of Russell Street is the Howard Beach Motor Boat Club.

May 5, 2011

More Russell Street:

May 5, 2001

May 5, 2011
May 5, 2011
Then I crossed the foot bridge and suddenly I was in a different world.

May 5, 2011

At the end of 99th Street, there is Frank M. Charles Memorial Park. From here, you can see JFK and the A train.

May 5, 2011

May 5, 2011
May 5, 2011
I read recently in the nyt about Hindus making offerings in Jamaica Bay. This was the first time I saw the evidence of this.

May 5, 2011

Then I walked up 95th Street.

May 5, 2011

Someone must have called the cops on me because as I was photographing at 95th and 158th Avenue, a police car idled and waited for me. Yes, Howard Beach did live up to its reputation. 
The homes on 158th Avenue as I walked to the train were a bit more modest.

May 5, 2011

May 5, 2011
		

	

		
		Hunter’s Point revisited
		
			Posted by rmichals on May 3, 2011 
			None comments
		
		
		
			April 30, 2011
Some of the earliest petroleum refining done anywhere was done here. Devoe Manufacturing was making illuminating oil from petroleum by 1863 on the site that became the Pepsi bottling plant. Standard Oil bought out Devoe in 1873. And there was still petroleum on this site in1936 when Pepsi bought it. Now it is being developed for residential use. 3,100 tons of contaminated soil were removed from the site. None of the buildings will have basements and all will be constructed with vapor barriers to protect the residents from what has been left behind by over one hundred years of heavy industry.
This whole area is either new construction or under construction. I find this kind of development very difficult to photograph. I realize how much I like contrast. I will settle for contrast of scale if that is all I can come up with.
April 30, 2011
I respect that the designers of Gantry Plaza State Park used the gantries as a center piece for the park. The gantriesserve as a reminder of the industrial history of the area.
April 30, 2011
It is generally a lovely place to be on a spring evening.
April 30, 2011
As sea level rises over the next century and into the future however this whole area west from 2nd Street and from Center Blvd is projected to be under water. The park will be a relatively small loss.
April 30, 2011
There are also approximately 10 new completed high rise apartment buildings and many more are planned. This one on 50th Street is at the end of 2nd Street. Many of these building are in the area projected to be taken over by sea level rise. And certainly all of the area west of 5th street has the highest flood risk.
I don’t know the answer to this. The city certain needs affordable housing. And 90 years from now seems like a long time.
 
 
 
 
		

	

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