New York Blurs

On the Brooklyn-bound Q train over the Manhattan Bridge.

Floating the Apple

Mike Davis of Floating the Apple.

East River Power

I like this idea of using rivers as power sources, because it makes perfect sense. The currents of the East River are very, very strong, reaching up to maybe 2.5 knots at low tide. I don' t have my handy tide chart, otherwise I'd know exactly what it is. While rowing during low tide, if you're rowing with the current, you barely have to row at all--the water just moves you along. Rowing against the tide, though, is a struggle.

Rowing Under the Manhattan Bridge

During our Dumbo Cove rowing sessions, the next and final row is next Sunday at Brooklyn Bridge Park, south of the Manhattan Bridge.

East River Park

Rubber Duckies

Too bad I have work and Josh's birthday today, otherwise this would've been amazing to see.

Chasing New York City's Waterfalls, Brooklyn-Rail Style

My photo essay in the upcoming July/August issue of the Brooklyn Rail. Click the image to see the full version.

Chasing New York's Waterfalls

The Waterfalls under the Brooklyn Bridge.

In New York City, you can find cascading waterfalls right in the middle of the East River. This sounds impossible in the city, but of course, these aren’t natural waterfalls. Instead of falling from cliffs or mountains, these waters churn from metal structures—but at least the water’s real.

The waterfalls are part of Dutch and Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson’s current exhibit: The New York City Waterfalls, unveiled on June 26. The four waterfalls are located throughout New York Harbor: Under the Brooklyn Bridge, between Pier 4 and 5 in Brooklyn, on Pier 35 in Manhattan and along the north shore of Governors Island.

Courtesy of New York Water Taxi’s “Unofficial” Tour, I was able to check out the waterfalls, as well as the rest of New York Harbor, and learn about New York’s history a bit more. Launching from South Street Seaport’s Pier 17, the four waterfalls could be seen. Before we saw the waterfalls up close, we explored the rest of New York Harbor first. Our guide pontificated on the origins of Battery Park City, the Hudson River, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge Park.


The Waterfalls at Governors Island.

The metal structures resemble scaffolding, stirring up imagery of New York City construction. Using intake filter pools located in front of the waterfall, East River water is collected without harming fish. The pump sucks the water to the top of the scaffolding. The water falls down into the East River through a filter that resembles a cheese grater and creates the frothy waterfalls-look. Around each waterfall is black piping to deter boaters and swimmers from approaching too closely. At night, the Waterfalls will be lit up with LED lights powered by renewable energy. The heights of the Waterfalls vary slightly from 90 to 120 feet tall, mimicking New York’s skyline.


A close-up of the Waterfalls under the Brooklyn Bridge.

New York City is surrounded by water, and Eliasson wants New Yorkers to become aware of their aqueous environment. With that, you have the waterfalls, which showcase New York’s relationship and proximity to the water.

“In developing The New York City Waterfalls, I have tried to work with today’s complex notion of public spaces,” Eliasson said in a press release. “The Waterfalls appear in the midst of the dense social, environmental and political tissue that makes up the heart of New York City. They will give people the possibility to reconsider their relationship to the spectacular surroundings, and I hope to evoke experiences that are both individual and engage a sense of collectivity.”


The Waterfalls at Pier 35 in Manhattan.

The Public Art Fund and the City and State of New York, and especially Mayor Michael Bloomberg, pushed for these temporary exhibits throughout the city.

Eliasson describes his inspiration as coming “from natural elements and phenomena to create sculptures and installations that evoke sensory experiences.” He often plays with light and water in his works, such as the Green river in different Asian, American and European cities.

Eliasson is also featured at the Museum of Modern Art and P.S. 1 with his exhibit Take your time, a retrospective of his works, including new pieces.
Plans for the waterfalls began in March, 2006 and construction started in March, 2008.The Waterfalls will run through October 13, seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m, except on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.


The Waterfalls under the Brooklyn Bridge at night.

Bits: East River Access, Anti-Koran Film and Luxury with Development

1.

"East River's Edge" editorial from the New York Observer

I like the way the Observer thinks.

2.

"Dutch lawmaker says anti-Koran film almost finished" by Alexandra Hudson, from Reuters

So Dutch politician and now filmmaker Geert Wilders created an "anti-Koran" film, which obviously offends Muslims around the world. Yes, he has freedom of speech and the right to create whatever he wants, but, think about it: if someone made an anti-Bible film, how would that go over?

And, on another note, it's interested to see that Turkey made a statement against the film, considering their struggle between remaining secular and non-secular.

3.

"Pondering Public Uses for a Hall Named Great" by Terry Pristin from the New York Times

It's a good thing New York City is restoring and no destroying the Battery Maritime Building, which is in itself an interesting place (the ferry to Governor's Island used to dock there). It's an even better thing that New York City is looking for public uses for the building. But why are luxury apartments (and hotels, in this case) attached to every restoration and development project?

Bits: Designing the Waterfront, Euros in NY, South Asian Accents, Iranian Magazines, Disappearing Islands, Disaster Relief, Lifeboats & Dead Dolphin

It's been a while since I've done one of these, since I don't have that office job anymore and all. But now's a good a time as any to start it back up again.

1.

"Turning a Pier Into a Park," New York Times Editorial

I've been following the entire Pier 40 debates because I am invested in its outcome (hell Community Village Boating). There are three plans (Related's Las Vagas-izing of the Pier, along with housing Cirque du Soleil, Urban Dove's focus on sports and the Pier 40 Partnership's desire to maintain the Pier as is while creating more organizational space. Out of these, the New York Times favors the Related plans, and while it does make sense from a business point of view because the Pier needs to generate money for its renovation and for the Hudson River Trust, I was kind of disappointed. I thought maybe the Times would root for the underdog--the Pier 40 Partnership. Yeah, sure, they don't have a firm plan, but, come on, it's the perfect plan. Don't destroy something that already works, don't push stores and restaurants down our throats, we already have Seaport for that. Let Pier 40 live on as a pier for the people.

2.

"'Euros Accepted' signs pop up in New York City" from Reuters

So the dollar is so, so bad that stores around New York are accepting Euros, and other foreign monies from tourists taking advantage of their monetary superiority.

3.

"East River State Park" from A Daily Dose of Architecture

This blog posted images of the winning design concept for the East River State Park in Williamsburg. While it looks nice, it's hard to tell whether there is ACTUAL waterfront access. We don't need more railing along the rivers, right?

4.

"An Ad With Talking Pandas, Maybe, But Not With Chinese Accents" by Stuart Elliot, from the New York Times

Elliot talks about the controversy over Salesgenie's Super Bowl commercials, one that featured animated pandas that spoke with Chinese accents and another that included Ramesh, a salesman. What caught me about this article is the description of Ramesh's accent:

Mr. Gupta [chairman and chief executive of InfoUSA, parent company to Salesgenie] said he planned to keep running the other Salesgenie commercial, featuring an animated salesman named Ramesh who speaks with an Indian or other South Asian accent.

Yep.

5.

"Shutting Down Zanan," New York Times Editorial

Because it's easier to get rid of any possible opposition than actually confronting them in a civilized way, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad closed Zanan, an Iranian women's magazine. The reason? According to the editorial, because "the magazine was a 'threat to the psychological security of the scoiety' because it showed Iranian women in a 'black light.'" This, of course, wasn't true. Ahmadinejad was just afraid of women empowerment, especially in an Islamic country where sharia law sets women apart from men.

6.

"For some, climate fight is about survival," by Elisabeth Rosenthal, from International Hearld Tribune

Attention to drastic climate changes, all thanks to global warming, is growing constantly. Just look at all the havoc being wrecked throughout the world, like Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh, the tsunami in Indonesia and of course, Hurricane Katrina. There is the constant push for new environmental laws that would limit greenhouse gases from major industrial countries, like China and the U.S. (two countries which refuse to do so). One of the areas of the world that is often overlooked, both for their size and their lack of international power: low-lying islands, such as Bali, Maldives and Granada, as Rosenthal points out. As sea levels rise, these islands are in danger of disappearing. Entire countries vanished. Can you imagine that?

7.

"Anonymous donor gives $130m to cyclone-hit Bangladesh" from the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Sort of along the same lines, this is really nice. And, just so you know, 130,000,000 Australia dollars (I assume that's what the article meant) is equal to 7,946,669,332.57 Bangladesh taka.

8.

"Jan. 30, 1790: The Lifeboat, an Idea Whose Time Has Come" by Tony Long, from Wired

Because I'm a boat-nerd, I needed to share this.

9.

"Rare Dolphin 'beaten to death' in Bangladesh" from AFP

This is sad, but strangely makes sense--if something isn't familiar, you're going to be scared of it.

Lighting Bridges

If I were an electrician, I'd want Ben Cipriano's job--working on bridges. Imagine the views he must see. And I'll give Jake Mooney credit--this is a great story, like the kind of stuff I'd like to write. All I need to do is actually go out there and write it, no?

Bits: Marrying Your Loyal Best Friend and The Cost of an Island,

1.

"Man 'marries' dog to beat curse" from the BBC

So, what this article's about is that this Hindi Indian man, P Selvakumar, thought he was cursed because he killed two dogs because of health problems. In order to remove the curse, he believed there was only one cure: marry a dog (female, of course). The wedding took place in a Hindi temple and was celebrated by the people of the Sivaganga district. The article notes that the bridge wore an orange sari and a flower garland.

And this article demonstrates the perfect way to end an article with a quote (said by a relative of Selvakumar):

"On the advice of an astrologer and others, he decided to marry a bitch to get cured. Then we arranged Selvakumar's marriage with a bitch."

2.

"City Claims Final Private Island in East River" by Timothy Williams, from the New York Times

In a city made up of islands, the New York City government buys South Brother Island, located near the mouth of the Long Island Sound and near Rikers Island.

The island, home to untouched wildlife, was last sold for $10 in 1975. The city, thankfully, won't develop as they have a tendency to do, and will keep the island as a nature santuary.

Touching the River

My beautiful boat at entirely accessible and regular rowing destination Maxwell House Beach in Hoboken, New Jersey.

The view from Roosevelt Island is gorgeous—midtown Manhattan just across the way, the 59th Street Bridge, the tram and the rushing East River. This is New York City at its finest. Sitting on the steps before this panaroma is awe-striking, the juxtaposition of the urban with the natural. But there is more to this scene than just pretty pictures. Dividing the city and the river are railings, lots and lots of railings. There is a sense of detachment. You can look, but you can't touch and all I want to do is feel the water beneath my feet.

There are no railings up in Selkirk, Poughkeepsie and Ossining. I could walk over to the Hudson, sit on some rocks and feel the waves lap on my legs. The coolness of the water touching my skin was soothing.

Where are these places in New York City? Thinking about it, there are barely any. Rob has a website (not sure if he updates it now) all about New York City beaches. There are a few, such as Valentino Pier in Red Hook and Hallets Cove in Long Island City, but it feels like there should be more.

There are pushes for more access, though.

According to New York Construction (which I stumbled upon by way of goingcoastal), the city, working with other agencies, is building an extension of Harlem River Park, from 139th to 142 Street. Wonderfully enough, this is one of the few, if only, parks in New York City that allow for actual water contact:

"...offer[s] visitors...water access-points that will allow people to dip their feet in the water and load canoes and kayaks."

Rowing in the Harlem River is completely different from rowing in the Hudson and East Rivers. Up there, you're less susceptible to currents and, at least for me, it's an area I don't know too well, so the views are gorgeous.

And then you have plans like for the East River Esplanade where there is no interaction with the water; the same goes for most of the proposed plans for my beloved Pier 40.

We don't need more retail space—New York is already filled with that. We don't need another Seaport. Forget all the barriers. What we need is a return to simplier, natural things, like accessible shores.

Brooklyn Rail: The City From a Rowboat

[From the latest issue of the Brooklyn Rail. Check out the amazing spread at the end of the article.]

The City From a Rowboat
Exploring the Rivers
by Nadia Chaudhury


Rowing in the Hudson River during a row around Manhattan.

From a not-so-quite distance, New York City looks peaceful, tiny, and conquerable. Instead of riding around in the leisurely and loud Circle Line ships that frequent the waterways of New York, I am grunting with my fellow rowers, pushing and pulling our way through the messy tides of the Hudson. We are literally right on the river in a Whitehall Gig, a 25-foot-long rowing vessel. With three fellow rowers and our reliable, all-knowing coxswain at the stern I am experiencing New York from a different angle—from the waters.

Rowing in New York City sounds impossible. In this city where grids of sidewalks, streets and subways guide us through our everyday lives, it’s easy to overlook the fact that New York is, in fact, surrounded by water. At most points the city’s residents are literally blocked from the water by fences or by harsh, jagged rocks.

There are four rowers to a boat: the stroke, two engine rowers and the bow rower. The stroke rower dictates the speed and length of the oar stroke and the rest follow. Then there is the coxswain who, in addition to steering the boat, leads the boat by telling the rowers when and what pace to row.

Rowing under the Brooklyn Bridge during the FISA Row Around Manhattan tour.

Whitehall Gigs were rowboats used to taxi people back and forth between boroughs and to larger ships. It is thought that they received their name because they were sent out from Whitehall Street, which used to rest on Manhattan’s coast before the city extended the island with landfills.

Groups like Floating the Apple and East River CREW (Community Recreation and Education on the Water), promote greater access to our city’s waterways. The two non-profit organizations show anyone who happens to wander by their respective boathouses the ins and outs of rowing in the Hudson, the East, the Harlem and the Bronx Rivers. All for free.

Philip Yee is a familiar face to those who frequent Floating the Apple’s boathouse at Pier 40. As a volunteer, he sees himself as the activities and Pier 40 operations coordinator.

“I kind of expanded with the program,” Yee says. “When I first came down here, it was originally Wednesday rowing and it basically consisted of about seven people.”

Launching from East 96th Street for the 5 Borough Ramble.

On the other side of Manhattan along the East River, Mary Nell Hawk acts as the ad-hoc program director of the East River CREW. Hawk is also the vice president of the organization’s board of directors and helps with the curriculum for the group’s educational activities.

Moving uptown, she felt she needed to do something. She was already in touch with Yee at Pier 40 and she could see the East River from her apartment window. “It didn’t occur to me to even think about getting on the water.” It wasn’t even a thought for her until she read an article about groups like Floating the Apple and East River CREW who, working with City Council member Gifford Miller, were searching for increased waterfront access for smaller boats.

With St. David’s, their boat, East River CREW looked for a boat house location on the east side. After some searching, the Parks Department gave them a strip of land at 96^th Street where they soon installed a davit, a mechanical arm used to put boats onto the water, and obtained a storage container for the boat and other supplies.

“Rowing the East River versus rowing the Hudson became a big deal for us,” Hawk says. “We felt that the East River is what joins four of the five boroughs and even Staten Island if you want to, but everybody touches on the East River. This year we’ve made it our focus to row to other boroughs as much as we can because we have the access.”

Landing at the Italian Gardens, near the New York-New Jersey border.

The first East River CREW row this season was the Cinco de Mayo row. “We rowed to the Bronx River where the Bronx River Alliance was doing what they called a ‘flotilla’ of 75 canoes down the Bronx River. We joined them at the newly opened Hunts Point Riverside Park,” said Hawk.

Floating the Apple is affiliated with schools and programs throughout the city with rowing and boatbuilding programs. Among those in the past were the Graphic Arts and Communications High School through their ROTC program, Stuyvesant High School and Harbor School. With the City As School, students actually received gym credits for rowing.

“The youth program legitimized us in the sense that otherwise it would be just a bunch of old folks sitting here in our own club,” Yee says. “Getting youth involved is very invigorating and it gives us a sense of community.”

Schools programs, including Eugene Lang College at the New School University’s Lang on the Hudson and BMCC’s Now, take advantage of Floating the Apple’s facilities. In Lang on the Hudson, students build a boat to add to the program’s collection and learn about the New York Harbor. With BMCC’s program, students combine science and language arts with rowing. This past summer they studied Homer’s Odyssey on the water.

Out in the Hudson, along with an experienced Floating the Apple member, beginners get a sense for the waters by rowing around the basin at Pier 40. Those up for the challenge venture north or south of the Pier 40 and the more experienced traverse the river to New Jersey, whether to Frank Sinatra Park or Maxwell House Beach (known also as the Playa de Hoboken), a small strip of sand where another boathouse is opening up.

The sight of a Whitehall in the river is still a spectacle to many. Motor-boaters gawk as they sped by; people walking along the coast take pictures; passengers on the commuter and tourist ships wave.

Using the davit at Pier 40.

Hawk describes one instance where East River CREW was asked to take one hundred high school kids, one by one, on the water. “So we had two groups out on the boats and three groups on land. I’m out on the water and all of a sudden I’m hearing all this police sound and someone had put in a 911 call. Since then we’ve been calling the Harbor Unit.”

As wonderful as being out on the water is, it seems as though there should be more legal waterfront entrance sites. The water is a public area and everyone should have access to it, but this isn’t always the case.

During a summer outing, Floating the Apple crossed over to a cove in New Jersey and rested alongside a dock in front of a restaurant. While relaxing our arms, a uniformed man came up to us. “You’re not allowed to stay here,” he said from down the dock. We said we’d only be a couple of minutes and left soon afterwards.

“They’ll just limit the access points as to where you can get out to the water,” Yee said of the Parks Department. “The only way you could have gotten out to the water was to own a boat, rent a boat, which was expensive, or you could take the Staten Island Ferry back and forth.” Yee claims that what they are doing at Floating the Apple and the Downtown Boathouse, a kayaking shop next door to the group’s pier, is “giving people the opportunity to go out on the water and enjoy the water because the water’s for everybody.”

Landing boats at the East 96th Street boathouse.

There are ways to get around it, though.

“When I first graduated from college [in 1976] I did have one friend who had a kayak and he and I would come near here,” Hawk reminisced, referring to the waterfront on West Houston Street. “There was the ruin of this elevated highway that you could walk under and over this road. Then there was one place in the railing where a piece of debris had fallen in the water like a sort of step-down. So you’d put the kayak down and crawl through.”

The moment you experience being out on the water, it’s hard to resist its call. You’re bound to venture out there time after time.

“Once you’re on the water,” Yee said, “it’s an incredible feeling that I could go somewhere and feel like I’m outside the city and not really leave the city. In the 90s the parks got crowded, so this is the last open space in New York.”

From inside the boathouse at Pier 40.

Pier 40 offers free rowing on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the afternoon until dusk. Check eastrivercrew.org for East River CREW events.

Nadia Chaudhury is Layout Editor for the Rail and, among traveling, writing and taking pictures, is a rowing and waterfront enthusiast. Check out her blog at mysticchildz.blogspot.com

My amazingly designed spread, by yours truly: