Today, we tip our hat to a couple of locals who are making the East Village a greener, cleaner place.
Photos from “East River and the Sanctum we walk” by Alan Gastelum.
Alan Gastelum Garbage collection this past weekend.Some people go to the park to photograph birds, while others document trees. Alan Gastelum photographs garbage. This past weekend, he and 20 volunteers filled almost two dozen industrial-sized bags with trash gathered on the banks of the East River.
The cleanup effort at the East River Promenade was organized by the photographer along with Partnerships for Parks and the Lower East Side Ecology Center.
Almost two years ago, Mr. Gastelum, 31, an East Village resident who enjoyed relaxing in the park, began taking pictures of stray items that washed ashore: broken marine rope, dirty T-shirts, bottle caps, baseballs and toys. With every new tide, different items would wash onto the rocks, he said. Some of them, he kept: he has collected ceramic coffee mugs, wooden planks, single sneakers and plastic relics beaten smooth by the East River. Read more…
Melissa CroninOn Wednesday, the last day of school, dozens of students hung up their Gone Fishin’ signs – literally. Along the East River esplanade, kids of various ages tried out their angling skills at a fishing clinic hosted by the Lower East Side Ecology Center.
“Our goal with fishing clinics is to get people down here to learn about the river,” said Daniel Tainow, the center’s educational director. “We want to teach people that there are things they can do to help protect the quality of the river.”
While kids threw back anything they hooked, a little further up the river, near the Williamsburg Bridge, it was a different story.
“I eat whatever I catch,” said Wilfredo Castro, one of several East Village residents who lounged by their fishing poles. He fishes on the river almost every day. “The ecosystem is healthy. That’s why the fish like it,” he said. Read more…
Kathryn Doyle A beach under the Brooklyn Bridge is
inundated with sewage waste and runoff
from South Street in rainy weatherSwimming pools in the East River? Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer floated the idea in a video introduction to the Blueway, a project that would revitalize a stretch of the East River from the Brooklyn Bridge to Midtown East. And it’s not as farfetched as you’d think: the historically polluted waterway is perfectly swimmable by Environmental Protection Agency standards. There’s just one problem: sewage overflows.
Dan Tainow, education director at the Lower East Side Ecology Center, explained the issue to local residents yesterday during a tour of the East River that doubled as a discussion of the Blueway project. Due to the age of New York City’s sewer system, he said, wastewater from household sinks, showers and toilets shares the same set of pipes as runoff from city streets.
Most of Lower Manhattan’s wastewater travels through this pipe system to the Newtown Creek plant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where it is cleaned, filtered and released into the East River. But during the fifty to sixty rainy days per year when gushes of street water could overwhelm the pipe system and force sewage back up into homes, the sewage is diverted directly into the East River by Combined Sewage Outflows, or CSOs. Read more…
“The west side has the High Line, Hudson River Park, Chelsea Piers,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer at the first community-wide planning meeting for the East River Blueway. “Now it’s time for the East Side to have an iconic outdoor space.”
In its planning stages since September 2011, the Blueway aims to make the East River more accessible, with beautified walkways, from the Brooklyn Bridge to East 38th Street. Yesterday’s meeting brought together residents, politicians, and members of Community Board 6 as well as the project’s design team to share ideas regarding water access, biking routes, and improved water quality for swimming, kayaking and fishing.
Crossing the FDR is currently a major obstacle to accessing the river. According to Adam Lubinsky, Managing Principal of WXY Architecture + Urban Design, the East Side has only half the number of street crossings – including underpasses, overpasses and street level pathways – as the West Side. “How can we engage with a river that we’ve been separated from for so long?” asked Mr. Lubinsky. Read more…
Michelle RickGood morning, East Village.
Get together with friends, munch on hamburgers and have fun for today is the Fourth of July. Today is a day of happiness and celebration. If you don’t have plans, here’s a list of places to watch fireworks later on tonight.
In other news, EV Grieve reports that Leo, a cat who was stranded on a East River barge, has been rescued. A reader noticed Leo stranded there Saturday afternoon. A Facebook page bringing attention to the cat’s plight was created yesterday. EV Grieve has a photo of Leo, safe and in a cage.
Meanwhile, EV Grieve also has a reader-submitted photo of construction work taking place at 200 Avenue A. The city’s Department of Buildings does not have work permits on file for the spot which used to house Superdive bar.
After working 20 years as a crane operator on barges, Jim Scileppi has learned to love the East River. Employed by the New York Parks Department, Mr. Scileppi and his crew work from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day in all types of weather conditions.
This week his barge parked at 12th Street to finish adding stones to the East River walkway’s erosion-protection wall. According to Mr. Scileppi, the Parks Department project is wrapping up its fourth year of working to fortify the wall and restore the bike lane overlooking the river.
NYU Journalism’s Meredith Hoffman reports.
