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WaterWire is your platform for getting the word out. All comments, points of view, event notices, and letters to the editor, Alison Simko, are welcome.
 
EventsEvents on the Waterfront
Click on the links for more
information about these events.
A detailed calendar of events
may be found at www.waterfrontalliance.org/calendar


September 1
Cruise: Tug and Barge Destination Cruise
10a, Hudson River Park to Red Hook
Clean-up: Hurricane Relief at Rockaway Beach
10a, Beach 97th Street on the boardwalk

September 4
Festival: The 2011 Great North River Tugboat Race and Competition
10a, Hudson River, best viewing at Pier 84 (West 44th Street)

September 8
Forum: Parks & Waterfront Access on the East Side
4p, Sutton Place Synagogue, 225 East 51st Street
Exhibition: The Maritime Role in the 9/11 Response
6p, Lighthouse Tender Lilac, Pier 25, Hudson River

September 10
Festival: Meadowlands Birding
Meadowlands Environment Center, Lyndhurst, NJ 
Bike Tour: Old Brooklyn Waterworks
10a, $20, intersection of Jamaica Ave & Highland Blvd
Competition: Governors Island Swim
2:48p, Governors Island


The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance is asking for information about 9/11-related events taking place at or
on the water, so that we may post this information into our public calendars.

Please send your information to Louis Kleinman at 212-935-9831, x104 or  [email protected]

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*Tides are for the waters off City Island, the Bronx, on September 1, 2011. For tidal information at your specific waterfront, visit www.saltwatertides.com and the Urban Ocean Observatory

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TOCCONTENTS: September 1, 2011
Irene: A Dress Rehearsal
Largely spared, NYC got a taste of a new style of catastrophe prep

Happy Campers!
MWA's Harbor Camp lets kids get wet -- and teaches them at the same time

The 19th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race
Better than ever

Meet Some MWA Partners
ireneIRENE: A TASTE OF STORM SURGES TO COME?
Outer Boroughs & Neighboring States Hit Hard by Flooding

NYC is Largely Spared, though Receding Waters Reveal Seawall Gaps


"That doesn't look right," Judith Berdy noted, looking out her window across the East River on Monday, August 29, the day after Tropical Storm Irene blew through New York City. She squinted. Had part of the Queens seawall fallen into the river?
 
As president of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society, Ms. Berdy has connections. She called the office of Dorothy Lewandowski, Queens commissioner for the Dept. of Parks & Recreation. She went downstairs, took photos and emailed them to anyone who could help, including the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance.

Ms. Berdy's photos made their way to Katie Ellman, director of the Queens waterfront organization Green Shores NYC, who went for a closer look.  

"The seawalls in Astoria Park and at Hallets Cove were unsuccessful in holding back Irene," Ms. Ellman reported, "but the worst appears to be at Queensbridge. The seawall has been slowly crumbling for some time now and it appears that Hurricane Irene was the last straw."

 

"It's definitely worse than it was. The water came up and now there are big, gaping holes in the seawall," said Elizabeth McQueen, the steward for Queensbridge Park and president of the Friends of Queensbridge Park Committee. Access to the waterfront park has been blocked since 1999, she said. "Pieces keep falling off, and the holes keep getting bigger. I'm hoping Irene will call more attention to this waterfront."  

 

Repair of the seawall has been on the Green Shores NYC agenda for years and is part of the new Waterfront Vision for Astoria & Long Island City released earlier this summer by Green Shores and the Trust for Public Land.   

 

As Hurricane Irene bore down on the metropolitan area on August 28, government officials took dramatic measures. The Coast Guard ordered cargo and bunker handling operations to cease, and pleasure craft to seek safe harbor. The NYPD readied inflatable zodiac boats and flat-bottomed, metal jonboats for potential rescues, while Mayor Bloomberg, crediting the NYS Climate Action Plan with helping the City prepare for the storm, called for mandatory evacuation in low-lying waterfront areas.

About 40 vessels rode out the storm in Battery Park City's North Cove Marina, protected by the skyscrapers of the World Financial Center. High tide crested almost a foot above the cove's breakwater entrance but only lapped at the Zone A neighborhood's esplanade.

At the  South Street Seaport Museum, the NYC Economic Development Corporation  took charge, sending some boats upriver out of the City: Lettie G. Howard and W.O. Decker to Kingston, and Pioneer to Verplanck. The owners of the fireboat John J. Harvey also chugged north to Kingston. At the helm of the Pioneer, Capt. John Doswell of the Working Harbor Committee reported an uneventful trip upriver and back to NYC the next day. Those who stayed north of the City felt the brunt of the storm, as recorded by Capt. Doswell: "In Kingston with Lettie, Decker & Harvey: Huge flooding, really fast ebb in the creek. Harvey hit by three sailboats, one large floating dock. One sailboat remained hung up on Harvey's bow. Decker hit by two of the sailboats, and the floating dock. Flooding two blocks inland. Same all night Sunday. Less, but still fast ebb & debris Monday am."

"In the end," Capt. Doswell reflected in his note, "while the decision to move the boats up river (along with much of the USCG, Army Corps and dozens of others) was prudent, considering the impending storm, high winds and anticipated surge, it turns out we would have been much better off staying back at Pier 16."

The approach of Irene highlighted the potential for damaging storm surge in low-lying areas, a scenario that particularly concerns the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA). The organization envisions a storm surge sweeping through the City's six Significant Maritime & Industrial Areas, all of which are in Zone A. Known as SMIAs, these are areas that encourage the concentration of heavy industrial uses in the neighborhoods of Sunset Park, Newtown Creek, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Red Hook, the South Bronx and Staten Island's North Shore. The NYC-EJA is worried that an extremely strong storm surge could  spread unsecured heavy chemicals throughout these waterfront communities. "The City of New York has not analyzed the cumulative contamination exposure risks associated with clusters of heavy industrial uses in such vulnerable locations," says NYC-EJA director Eddie Bautista.

Some worried that Irene's storm surge would damage the fragile wetlands of Jamaica Bay, but so far, reports have come back positive. "I didn't see any damage to marshes or much debris," said Don Riepe, director of the northeast chapter of the American Litoral Society and a longtime Jamaica Bay advocate. "Of course it's hard to tell unless you do an aerial photo and compare with previous maps to discern any marsh loss. I checked one of the heronries and the egrets, herons, etc. were all OK. My tame egret, Egor, showed up at my dock the day after the storm looking fine. Some of my neighbors had flooding and I had 1.5 feet of water in the living room, but that's much less than I expected. Several summer houses on the East side of Crossbay Blvd. were destroyed. They were all attached and at the end of a boardwalk out in the marsh."

After tracking the movement of vessels heading for shelter before the storm and then returning to New York Harbor and the Kill Van Kull (using Automatic Identification System software; click here to see for yourself), Will Van Dorp of Tugster reported on his blog that "The sixth boro -- writ large -- seems to have weathered this overrated storm well."

"Irene's less than anticipated fury was natures' lenient lesson for those in the New York metropolitan area," said Roland Lewis, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance. "We must figure out what worked and what didn't work as we protected people and property from the storm. But we must also take the longer term lesson that a flooded and resilient city is our future and government at every level must plan and design to accommodate the water that we live with. We can't afford to tread water." (back to top)

Photos, from top to bottom: Judith Berdy, Katie Ellman, Robert Simko

campMORE THAN 1,000 HAPPY CHILDREN GOT WET THIS SUMMER AT HARBOR CAMP

MWA Program Offers Urban Kids the Chance to Get To, On and In the Water 
Because the MWA believes that every child in the metropolitan area should have the opportunity to have fun at and on the water, the Alliance has sponsored a unique program called Harbor Camp every summer since 2004. The water-oriented program features exciting field trips and active, hands-on lessons in ecology, history and maritime studies. The goal of Harbor Camp is to cultivate a sense of stewardship of natural resources in these young students.

MWA's Harbor Camp just wrapped up another successful summer of getting campers out on the harbor. A total of 1159 children raised sail, learned about harbor ecology, and got their hands wet at a record number of eight waterfront sites and educational vessels around the harbor.

2011 Harbor Camp featured four exciting new host sites:
� Clipper City (Manhattan By Sail), a huge sailing vessel where campers experienced tall ship sailing
Beacon (Classic Harbor Line) for an ecological tour of the Hudson River
Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy for seining and shore exploration
Lower East Side Ecology Center for fun activities about East River ecology

The venues that continue to host trips year after year include: Adirondack, Tug Pegasus, Waterfront Museum, NY Harbor School, and the fireboat John J. Harvey.

Greg Robertson, a counselor from University Settlement, one of the United Neighborhood Summer Camps, said, "Our kids had such a great time on the Clipper trip. We had 90 people on the trip. Thank you so much for the opportunity. This was an experience that many of our campers could probably never enjoy without MWA's generous grant."

This year marks the seventh year of MWA's sponsorship of Harbor Camp, in partnership with the United Neighborhood Houses, through the generous support of a MWA funder. The United Neighborhood Houses summer camps include UNH, CAMBA, Goddard Riverside, Hudson Guild, Union Settlement, University Settlement and Chinese Planning Council


"As Harbor Camp continues to expand, the program increases New Yorkers' exposure to and awareness of the opportunities and challenges presented by our waterfront," said MWA chief operating officer Cortney Worrall. (back to top)

Photos by Ian Douglas

tugHERE COME THE TUGBOATS!
September 4: Annual Tugboat Race, Parade and Maritime Competitions  
The 19th annual Great North River Tugboat Race, sponsored by the Working Harbor Committee, is set for this Sunday, September 4, at Hudson River Park Pier 84 (West 44th Street). Events will include a tugboat parade, a mile-long tug race, nose-to-nose pushing contests, line throwing, spinach eating and tattoo competitions.

"New Yorkers sometimes forget they are surrounded by water, and that there is a whole maritime industry working here. This tug competition is the one time a year people can really see what we do," said Craig Rising of McAllister Towing and Transportation, one of the largest and oldest tug companies in the country.

On the day of the race, a 25-foot, 200-horsepower workboat named The Bronx could find itself sandwiched between a state-of-the art, 100-foot, 5,000-horsepower vessel and a century-old harbor tug named Pegasus. Working boats from many of New York Harbor's major towing companies will also complete, including tugs from McAllister Towing and Transportation, Miller's Launch and Donjon Marine. A handicap system will give smaller and less powerful boats a chance to win trophies.

The event begins with a tug parade at 10am. After the race, which begins at 10:30am and should last about 15 minutes, the tugs will challenge each other to nose-to-nose pushing duels.  

 

The best viewing will be along the Hudson River esplanade between West 70th and West 44th Streets, or on the tug race spectator boat. Boat tickets are $30 for adults and $25 for children under 14. Free for ages 4 and under. Tickets can be purchased in advance online at www.workingharbor.org or at the Working Harbor Committee tent at the
pier on the day of the event.    

 

After the parade, race and nose-to-nose competition, the tugs will repair to Pier 84. There, deckhands will compete to be the fastest to lasso a bollard on the pier in the line-toss competition. Judges choose the best-looking tug, best vintage tug, best-dressed crew, best mascot and best crew tattoo. This year, the spinach-eating contest, amateur line-toss competition and a knot-tying event are open to the public. Admission to all pier events is free.    

 

 

The organizer of the race, the Working Harbor Committee, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to spreading the word about the rich history, current vitality and future potential of the New York/New Jersey Harbor. Friends of Hudson River Park and Circle Line 42 are co-sponsors of this event. 
(back to top)

Photos by Mitch Waxman

partnersMWA PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
Expanding every week, the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance is more than a coalition; it's a force. We are ferry captains, shipping executives, park directors, scientists, sailors, paddlers, swimmers, teachers, urban planners, architects and more. Together, we advocate for the best possible waterfront in the best possible city, a waterfront that is clean and accessible to all, with a robust maritime workforce and efficient, affordable waterborne transportation. Join us! Contact Louis Kleinman at [email protected].

Meet some Partners of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance:
  • SailNY    www.sailny.org 

    SailNY, a non-profit association, has brought affordable, public access sailing to New York Harbor since 1996.

  • Sandy Hook Pilots Association    www.sandyhookpilots.com 

    The Sandy Hook Pilots Association aims to provide pilotage service for the port of NY, NJ, Hudson River, Hell Gate and Long Island Sound.  

  • Saratoga Associations       www.saratogaassociates.com
    Landscape architects, architects, engineers & planners.
  • Scenic Hudson     www.scenichudson.org
    Scenic Hudson works to protect and restore the Hudson River and its majestic landscape as an irreplaceable national treasure and a vital resource for residents and visitors.
    (back to top)  
NLWATERFRONT NEWSLINKS
 
 A Place Uniquely Theirs to Savor Day's End
The New York Times, September 1, 2011

Rockaways in cleanup mode after Hurricane Irene
Daily News, August 31, 2011

Irene Tosses Aside a 100-Year-Old Queens Bungalow
The New York Times, August 31, 2011

North Shore waterfront development: The people speak
SI Live, August 31, 2011

Donjon Marine Refloats Sunken Barge 2001 on Kill Van Kull
Maritime Reporter, August 30, 2011

After hurricane, New Yorkers hardly miss a beat
The Wall Street Journal, August 29, 2011

Down Atlantic, a Refrain: It Could Have Been Worse
The New York Times, August 28, 2011

On Rockaway, Faith in a Five-Foot Wall
The New York Times, August 28, 2011

Hurricane Irene Could Be a Toxic Shitstorm in the Gowanus Canal
New York Magazine, August 27, 2011
      

(back to top)

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