| High Tide 2:33am | Low Tide 8:56am | High Tide 2:58pm | Low Tide 9:45pm* |
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~ by & large ~
Photo coverage of recent happenings
at and on local waters. Send photos to asimko@waterfrontalliance.org
October 17, 2012
Four Freedoms Park Opens
With President Bill Clinton, Mayor Mike Bloomberg and other luminaries in attendance, Governor Andrew Cuomo opened Four Freedoms Park, a new waterfront space at the southern end of Roosevelt Island in the East River. The state park derives its name from a speech by President Franklin Roosevelt in which he named four freedoms -- freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. The park project was first announced in 1973.
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October 14, 2012
Floating Anti-Fracking Protest
Floating opposition to two pipelines slated to bring fracked gas to NYC: the Spectra pipeline coming to the West Village and the Rockaway pipeline running through Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Erik Mc Gregor.
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Events on the Waterfront
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October 24
Meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee to the Harbor Estuary Program10am-1pm, Hudson River Foundation, 17 Battery Place (RSVP: 212 637-3793)
Alley Creek Long Term Control Kick-Off Plan
5:30pm, Alley Pond Environmental Center, 228-06 Northern Blvd., Douglaston, New York 10am, Randalls Island Family Day1pm-6pm, Harlem River Ecology Center, southern end of Roberto Clemente State Park October 28
Family Day1pm-6pm, Harlem River Ecology Center, southern end of Roberto Clemente State Park Fireboat Fundraiser1pm-7pm, John J. Harvey, Pier 66 Maritime November 1
6pm, Seaman's Society for Children & Families, 50 Bay St. 5th floor, Staten Island Women on the Water ConferenceThrough Nov. 3 at SUNY Maritime College, Bronx |
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For a map of vessels navigating the NY/NJ waterways at this moment, check marinetraffic.com.
Tide times above are for the waters under the Bayonne Bridge on October 22, 2012.
For your waterfront's daily tides,
go to saltwatertides.com.
For information about environmental conditions (currents, water temperature, salinity, wave height, etc.) of the New York Harbor area, check the Urban Ocean Observatory at Stevens Institute's Center for Maritime Systems
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classified advertising
| Have a boat to sell?
A maritime job opening to post? Place your free water-related classified ad in WaterWire. Contact asimko@waterfrontalliance.org
Submit a bid to the NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation for the job of renovation, operation and maintenance of a snack bar and gasoline diesel services concession with optional boat rental concession at the World's Fair Marina, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens. Bids must be submitted by Nov. 20, 2012 at 11am. Take a recommended on-site tour on Nov. 7. Download the RFB here. For details, contact Revenue Project Manager Glenn Kaalund at 212-360-1397 or at
Glenn.Kaalund@parks.nyc.gov. The NYC Parks Dept. has two supervising dockmaster positions open. Employees will work at the West 79th Street Boat Basin in Manhattan, World's Fair Marina in Queens or Sheepshead Bay Marina in Brooklyn. For a list of responsibilities and of qualification requirements, please call the personnel division at 212-830-7851.
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| CONTENTS: October 22, 2012 | Click on the links below to read the stories in this edition of WaterWire.
Boaters soon will be able to go under the future Randall's Island Connector Notify NYC now delivers notices of wastewater discharges Pier 42 Plan Gain MomentumComing up: Waterfront Community Day at the pier on November 3
Help the John J. Harvey!
Meet some celebrities and have a sunset cocktail at this important benefit
Participate in the Oct. 24 kick-off meeting about this Queens park.
Did you know these organizations were part of MWA?
Newslinks
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CON EDISON WORKS ON CRITICAL PART OF GREENWAY
| |  Power Giant Removes Old
Bronx Kill Conduits With boaters cheering all over the city, Con Edison has begun to dismantle the unused concrete conduits that block passage on the Bronx Kill. The waterway should be navigable by the end of the year. " Local Bronx boating activists, our elected officials and supporters like Professor Rob Buchanan, Al Butzel, Esq., the NYC Water Trail Association and others played a major role in this collective success," said Harry Bubbins, director of the Friends of Brook Park, an environmental organization based in the South Bronx that rallied boaters with this letter in 2008 to Mayor Bloomberg and Seth Pinsky of the NYC Economic Development Corporation . "We look forward to improved landing and launching sites on both coasts of this vital waterway and to progress on the South Bronx Greenway for a perfect synergy between green and blueways here in the South Bronx."
 Con Ed spokesperson Chris Olert explained that the conduits could not be removed until a structure housing new electric feeders was constructed. "We also had to wait for the City Fire Department's fiber optics [to be] in place in the new structure," he said.
Next year, the EDC will break ground on a walkway/bikeway atop the new Con Ed structure, and a new path connecting it to 132nd Street. This will be the Randall's Island Connector, part of the South Bronx Greenway, a huge revitalization project begun six years ago that reconnects residents to the waterfront in the Hunts Point Peninsula. Phase 1 improvements are mostly complete, with the most recent project to open -- Hunts Point Landing, late last month -- providing a new waterfront space with a fishing pier and kayak launch. |
MORE STEPS FORWARD IN CSO NOTIFICATION
| | Notify NYC Now Sends Alerts During and After Storms
New York City's official emergency notification system delivered via email and cell phone alerts -- known as Notify NYC -- is now issuing advisories when storms cause untreated wastewater to be discharged into New York City waterways. Notify NYC is zip-code specific; the combined sewer overflow (CSO) alerts will be further tailored to individual water bodies. The notices will give the time period that the alert will be in effect based on rainfall amounts, computer models of overflows and the volume of each water body. You can also sign up for CSO alerts from DontFlushMe's twitter feed. For the next week, Leif Percifield, the brains behind Don't Flush Me, is raising money for his next step: a WiFi-enabled colored lightbulb, called a Visualight, that visually alerts you to possible CSO overflows. " This is the coolest geek accessory for your bathroom, boathouse, laundry room, enclosed outdoor lightfixture, or other location," he wrote in a recent email, noting that the lightbulb could have other uses, relating to weather and tides. Contribute to the Visualight project here. Focusing on Newtown Creek, Mr. Percifield assisted the Newtown Creek Alliance with its recently launched Weather in the Watershed project. New weather stations throughout the Newtown Creek watershed now measure how much rainwater is entering the sewer system. When complete, the project will result in another CSO alert system specifically for creek users. The city-wide Notify NYC effort was produced by the NYC Department of Environmental Protection and the NYC Office of Emergency Management. Debbie Mans, Baykeeper and Executive Director, NY/NJ Baykeeper, was quoted in the joint agency announcement. "This notification system is a crucial tool for protecting the public from the dangers of sewage releases," she said. "The alerts will provide invaluable information to the kayakers, fishermen, swimmers, and other recreational users of New York Harbor. People should not have to worry about becoming sick when using our waterways."  DEP posts weekly harbor water quality data online here. The NYC Water Trail Association and its partners, the River Project and LaGuardia Community College, recently concluded a season of water sampling by citizen scientists. Data is posted here. Photo by Rob Buchanan
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| ALLEY CREEK LONG TERM CONTROL PLANNING BEGINS | | Give Your Input at the Kick-Off Meeting October 24 
The second largest park in Queens, Alley Creek offers freshwater and saltwater wetlands, tidal flats, meadows, and forests. As with other urban natural areas, the park's water quality has been negatively impacted by combined sewer overflows (CSOs).
In accordance with an important agreement signed earlier this year with the NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation to create Long Term Control Plans (LTCPs) for major NYC water bodies, the NY City Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is beginning the planning process for the Alley Creek LTCP. The public is invited to the kick-off meeting on October 24.  The goal of the LTCP is to reduce CSOs using a hybrid green/gray infrastructure approach. Learn more about these efforts, and provide input on current public use of the Alley Creek watershed area as well as ideas for improving water quality at the October 24 meeting at the Alley Pond Environmental Center (228-06 Northern Blvd., Douglaston). The meeting begins at 5:30pm. DEP will give a brief presentation at 6pm, and the event concludes at 8pm. To RSVP, please email ltcp@dep.nyc.gov or call DEP's Community Partnerships Office at (718) 595-3496.
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| PLANS FOR PIER 42 GAIN MOMENTUM | | Coming Up: Waterfront Community Day on November 3
In some ways, Pier 42, on the East River, just south of the Williamsburg Bridge, is a melancholy landmark. The last working dock for cargo ships in Manhattan, it was still handling hundreds of thousands of boxes of fruit each month for the Dole Company when it shut down in 1987. In the decades since, the eight-acre platform has hosted a parking lot and an empty warehouse. But the structure is awash in potential: the last piece of the Manhattan waterfront below Houston Street not yet developed as parkland has captivated urban planners and landscape architects almost from the day the last freighter tied up there.  That process of bringing to fruition the dream of an unbroken necklace of recreational spaces around Downtown by absorbing Pier 42 into the East River Park system has taken several significant steps forward recently. On October 4, Lower East Side residents and community leaders met with landscape architect Signe Nielsen to begin compiling a wish list of features for a new park to be located on Pier 42. Among the consensus priorities that emerged were open green space, sports facilities and water-dependent uses for the pier. This session came on the heels of a September 30 public tour of the pier led by State Senator Daniel Squadron, and an announcement that Sen. Squadron, the Hester Street Collaborative, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Lower East Side Waterfront Alliance and the NYC Parks Department would host a Waterfront Community Day there on November 3, from 12pm to 4pm. This event, which marks the first time that Pier 42 is open for public use, will also kick off a campaign by the group to create an interim "pop-up park" on Pier 42 while the years-long process of planning and funding the permanent rehabilitation of the structure proceeds.  Last November, Mr. Squadron (at the pier above, center) and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer announced that they had secured $17 million in funding to begin the process of redeveloping the pier. More recently, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez allocated another $2.5 million from the Department of Transportation to begin rebuilding the bike and pedestrian path alongside Pier 42. Members of the public interested in contributing ideas to the planning and design process are invited to attend Community Board 3's next meeting about Pier 42, on Thursday, October 4 at 6:30pm at the Hamilton Fish Recreation Center (128 Pitt Street between Houston and Stanton Streets), and a planning session, on November 28, at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. By Matthew Fenton
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FIREBOAT FUNDRAISER
| |  John J. Harvey Needs to Raise $165,955 by Jan. 31What good cause could draw together singer Roseanne Cash, author Maira Kalman, restaurateur Florent Morellet and actor/author Alan Cumming? Saving the Fireboat John J. Harvey.
The caretakers of the historic fireboat have a little more than three months to raise $165,955, the amount needed to retain the federal Save America's Treasures grant that the Harvey received in February of 2011. On October 28, all are invited to the Fall Benefit at Pier 66 Maritime to celebrate the prestigious grant and dedicate the John J. Harvey roll of honor.
Family fun is on the docket from 1pm to 5pm, with face- and pumpkin-painting, tours and short boat rides as weather allows, and celebrity readings of Maira Kalman's Fireboat. Food, raffles and a silent auction add to the festivities. Tickets for children are $15; for adults, $25. From 5pm to 7pm, grown-ups can enjoy an open bar at sunset, hors d'oeuvres and music, a live auction and the unveiling of the John J. Harvey Honor Roll plaque. For tickets, click here.
John J. Harvey was built in 1931 and named for FDNY pilot John J. Harvey who was killed fighting a fire aboard the North German Lloyd Line's SS Muenchen. She served the FDNY until her retirement in 1994 -- but was reactivated on 9/11. On that day, alongside FDNY fireboats Firefighter and John D. McKean, she pumped water from the Hudson River inland for 80 hours. |
| MWA 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 lkleinman@waterfrontalliance.org. Meet some Partners of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance:
Bargemusic - Moored in Brooklyn just under the Brooklyn Bridge, Bargemusic presents great music up to five days a week, every week of the year.
Bay Improvement Group (BIG) - A coalition dedicated to the preservation, revitalization, and comprehensive planning of Sheepshead Bay.
Beachside Bungalow Preservation Association of Far Rockaway - The BBPA is dedicated to the preservation of bungalows and one of the last remaining bungalow colonies in Far Rockaway and along the Rockaway peninsula.
Blue School - A progressive independent school in Lower Manhattan.
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| WATERFRONT NEWSLINKS |
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Dredged Materials Management Method Keeps Economy Afloat"Summer has come and gone, but boaters are still making their way in and out of the Robbins Reef Yacht Club in New Jersey's Newark Bay within the Port of New York/New Jersey..."Dredging Today, October 21,2012 Research Team Aims to Crowdsource Gowanus Canal Clean Up"A research team from NYU's Polytechnic Institute is recruiting volunteers to help sort through data being collected in Brooklyn's polluted Gowanus Canal..."WNYC, October 21, 2012 Experts, officials discuss solutions to flooding, pollution at Passaic River Institute conference in Little Falls"An environmental advocate supports safely melting toxic sediment dredged from the Passaic River, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) wants to prosecute river polluters and a congressman supports finding a permanent fix for flooding..."Passaic Valley Today, October 20, 2012 Piering Into HRPT's Future"A Monday-afternoon tour of Pier 40 conducted by officials from the Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) painted a sobering picture of conditions and prospects for the 14.5-acre, one-million-square-foot structure that juts into the Hudson River at West Houston Street..."The Broadsheet, October 17, 2012 Deal Sinks for Seaport Museum Ship"...The South Street Seaport Museum needs to move the Peking, a German four-masted barque built in 1911. It was supposed to have been towed back to its native country this fall, but a deal to send it to a museum in Hamburg has suddenly fallen apart..."The Wall Street Journal, October 11, 2012 On the Wings of a Bird, Effort to Save a Bay"Coleman P. Burke wants to see Jamaica Bay and the New York Harbor restored to their former state of natural glory. As part of his efforts to do that, he's keeping an eye on the osprey..."The Wall Street Journal, October 5, 2012 New Bronx River Parks Are Beautiful But Dangerous to Reach, Advocates Say"One green patch at a time, the southern portion of the Bronx River has undergone an eye-catching makeover in recent years, from an industrial no-man's land to an increasingly people-friendly waterfront..."DNA Info, September 26, 2012
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