Elevated Waterway

Over the past few years, several of the stations on the elevated portion of the Bronx IRT 6 line have undergone renovations.

As these were completed, panels of artwork were also installed making the stations a little more cheery.


This artwork consists of either colorfully tiled murals or whimsical metal sculptures.  My favorite is the "Cross-Bronx Waterway" sculpture, located at the Middletown Road station.  The artists are Amanda Schachter and Alexander Levi of SLO Architecture, commissioned by MTA Arts & Design as part of the NYC Transit Rehabilitation program.


Their piece pays homage both to the train's course as it navigates its way across the borough, while also traversing parts of the Pelham Bay watershed, which includes the Hutchinson River,  Westchester Creek, and Bronx River waterways, before reaching the Harlem River as it crosses into Manhattan.

The sculpted panels are mounted in such a way that when standing on the platform it is as if you are underwater looking up at items floating on the surface.

I think this is a really fun, creative way to expose aspects of the Bronx's ecology
to the public that they typically don't see or even think about
as they commute back and forth to work or school.

I can tell you it has certainly made my otherwise long,
daily commute a little more delightful!

Quenching a City's Thirst

Earlier this summer, after being closed for 40 years, the High Bridge, formerly an aqueduct,  re-opened to public pedestrian traffic.  Spanning the Harlem river at the northern edges of  the Bronx and Manhattan, it was originally constructed in the mid-1800's to meet the growing demand for fresh water in response to the City's explosive industrial and residential growth at that time. 

Construction of the High Bridge was completed in 1848, bringing fresh water from the Croton River, 40 miles away in Westchester county to an increasingly thirsty city.. Over 100 feet high and close to 2000 feet in width, it was considered to be a major engineering feat at the time,




Yet, less than 20 years later, demand was already outpacing the capacity of the High Bridge's two original 3-foot pipes, and a 7.5-foot one was added. The aqueduct remained in service until the 1950s. 

This pattern of escalating demand for water continues unabated even today.  Two major projects-- the High Bridges of our time-- have been undertaken to meet this challenge. One is the Third Water Tunnel and the other is the Croton Water Filtration project.

In 1954 the City recognized and began planning for ways to improve the dependability of the City's water supply system.  In 1970 construction finally began on the Third Water Tunnel. This project is not expected to be completed until 2020.  Like the High Bridge, the source of the water flowing through it also originates in Westchester county.  At a cost of 6 billion dollars and a length of  316,800 feet (or 60 miles) it will ultimately have the capacity to deliver 1.3 billion gallons of water daily to NYC residents.  It is considered to be one of the "...largest and most complex public works projects ever attempted", not only in the city, but the country as well.

The Croton Water Filtration Plant, on the other hand, began construction seven years ago and was just completed and brought online this past May.  It is located under a section of Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, "inside an excavated area big enough to hold Yankee Stadium". Again, like the High Bridge once did, it will bring water from the Croton watershed and is capable of treating as much as 290 million gallons of water a day, about one-third of the total daily citywide demand.  Understandably it too has been cited as one of the largest construction projects in the City’s modern history.

However, will projects of even this colossal scale be enough to slake the City's thirst? If the past is any indication, maybe only for just a little while.  According to the census, the City's population continues to grow, and faster than original estimates anticipated.  At 8.5 million people, it has already surpassed projections for 2020!

At some point the City may just finally reach its limits-- either that of ingenuity or of nature.

Beantown Serenity

A couple of weeks ago, I spent a few days at a conference in Boston.

Respite. .  .

Amidst the Prudential Center's complex comprising of 3.2 million sf of office, retail, hotels and a ginormous convention center, was this wonderful little open air park and garden. Read more about it here.

click image to enlarge

In NYC, during a comparable weekday, a delightful place such as this would have been filled to the brim with people, but in Boston (at least while I was there), incredibly, it was almost always empty.  Go figure!

. . .Habitat

It combined both straight edges along with curvy, rounded ones. . .and had two fountains (nice Feng Shui!), one in the shape of a spiral!

But what I found really exciting were the

         beautiful plantings

                           gently sloping grass area

                                                           winding gravel pathway

                                                                                      slate pavers

. . . Permeable Paradise!

The Bees Knees

Last year I visited the Monti Building in Brooklyn, as part of GreenHomeNYC's Green Building Open House tours.  This is a great example of a building that gives as good as it gets.  For one thing, it is home to a variety of small local businesses and artists, so it is supportive of local economy and culture.  

For another, it utilizes a variety of energy efficient technologies (you can read more about those here), including several which can be found on the roof--  a 9 Kw solar array that provides for most of the buildings day-time electricity needs. . .a 4000 sf, low maintenance green roof. . .

. . .and walkways that make use of permeable pavers, both of which help with storm water management.

But I think the most delightful of the building's features are the roof top beehives!  Urban bee keepers are important members of the local/urban food economy.

Another delightful feature of this building is that it is a Birds of Brooklyn site! This is "...an audio art project [that] aims to reconnect city dwellers with the natural sounds of the area and raise awareness about declining bird populations in urban environments."

That just sounds like fun to me!

The New New York DIY Green Block Party

Save the Date!

Last year I attended an innovative street fair sponsored by GreenHomeNYC (a great local non-profit, BTW), called the New New York DIY Block Party.

Instead of the typical cookie-cutter event with the usual suspects for vendors, selling pretty much the same ubiquitous, bland merchandise (e.g. tube socks, sunglasses and gyros), the New New York focuses on teaching the public how to

"green their built environment -- while having fun . . .[and is committed] to hands-on presentations by vendors, programming woven into the surrounding neighborhood, and a sustainable approach to event production."

I mean at what other street fair would you expect to see a bus with a green roof!?!

Hello!!!


Well, in less than a month, the 2nd Annual New New York DIY Green Block Party will take place:

    When: Saturday, October 1, 2011
    Time: 11am to 5pm
    Where: Williamsburg, Brooklyn - N 11th Street at Wythe, in front of Brooklyn
         Brewery & around the corner from Brooklyn Bowl, 4 blocks from the L 
         train Bedford Street stop      
     Admission: Free!

Some of the fun activities that await:
    * learning how to install and plant a green roof
    * taking an outdoor yoga class with Hosh and Go Yoga instructors
    * learning how to capture and reuse rain water to water plants
    * vendors showcasing exciting new environmental products and technologies, like:
               * Brooklyn-based Vokashi compost system and kits
               * Eco-friendly kitchens presented by NYC's own Pure Kitchen
    * Bring the kids!  They'll learn how to
               * build a solar car
               * make jewelry out of bike parts by Recycle‐A‐Bicycle

But most importantly the New New York will also practice what they preach by
    * trying to minimize water and paper usage as well as other waste
    * including locally based small businesses & non-profits
    * utilizing bio-fueled generators
    * composting food waste
    * being bicycle friendly
    * providing drop-off points
        * for electronic waste (collection courtesy of the Lower East Side Ecology Center)
        * bicycles (collection courtesy of Recycle‐A‐Bicycle)
     * and much more!

You can learn more about their Green Street Festival Guidelines here or contact them newnewyork at greenhomenyc dot org for more info.

Trust me, this is one street fair that gives back as good as it gets to the public, the surrounding community and to the environment.

Don't miss it!