Summer at McCarren Park

[These pictures relate to this Get to the 'Point from the Greenpoint Gazette.]

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.

Behind Huitzilli

[From the Greenpoint Gazette]

Emily Cantrell sat behind her Mac laptop as music softly fills Huitzilli, her store. Surrounding her are colorful objects—traditional textiles, panama hats, soaps, silver jewelry and lucha libre masks—that traveled from different regions throughout Mexico to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Huitzilli (pronounced “weet-zeal-lee”) means "hummingbird" in Nahuatl, a dialect from Central Mexico.

Sitting in the back room while her son, Emilio, painted, Cantrell sipped her coffee as she talked about her Mexican obsession and her foray into the business world, coming from an art background.

Helming from Denver, Colorado, Cantrell spent some time in Germany studying photography before returning home to Denver. Then, she was off to New York to follow her art. Cantrell created a life of her studio world to feed her creative side and the restaurant business to pay the bills. She and a fellow artist, Jesus Pollanco, started a studio-gallery, hosting international contemporary artists.

"We made some really great connections with different artists," she said, "and we were able to get a certain amount of attention to their work through what we did." They also had showings in Colorado, one show in Cuba, and a trade show with artists in France.

It was in New York that brought Cantrell to her husband and to Mexico.

"Well," Cantrell said with a smile, "it's a love story and an immigration story." She met her husband in New York and they went back to Mexico to meet his family. They were married and had problems coming back to the U.S. because of visa problems. After having Emilio, they eventually came back. However, they couldn't let go of Mexico and made a point of regularly going back south.

"[I was] going back there and bringing handcrafts little by little because I thought they were so amazing,” she said. “I sort of started selling out of my suitcase to my friends and had this secret dream that maybe someday I could dedicate myself to it."

In the meantime, Cantrell worked in the restaurant business while working on her art. But she was ready for a change. That's when the idea of opening Huitzilli came up, opening last July.

"One of the things that's really interesting," Cantrell said of running her own business, "is that there's so many different learning curves. In doing a new business, I get to know specific families in Mexico that live in ten different states and work directly with them. It's more than just going to a trade show and buying a whole bunch of stuff from one central location, to going to where they live normally and meeting them and their families and getting to know their problems."

While giving a tour of the store, two men paused at the storefront. Cantrell excused herself and unlocked the door. In Spanish, she asked if they wanted to step inside. After declining and chatting for a little bit, they walked away.

“I've gotten great foot traffic, a really interesting mix of people,” she said, returning to the tour.

“The neighborhood is great, I love the neighborhood, I'm so thrilled I can both live in the neighborhood, have my son in a great school in the neighborhood [P.S. 132], and work in the neighborhood,” Cantrell gushed.

“It begins a lot of conversations when they come into the store and they see something,” Cantrell said, “and they either remember something or it reminds them of something. Even people from other countries, like Latin America, feel very nostalgic for the handcrafts they have in their home country.”

“They're like, 'Oh I know how to make this,' or 'My grandmother used to do that,'” she said.

“We sell a lot of different things kind of evenly,” Cantrell said of sales. Soaps with natural scents, wool, handmade jewelry, and children items are among Huitzilli's popular items.

“The lucha libre stuff, people are crazy about,” she added. “It's been fun seeing what people respond to and how they react to different things.”

Cantrell has a close connection to each and every product in the store. Traveling throughout Mexico, she and her husband seek out unique and intimate products to bring back to the U.S.

"Basically, the business started as a wild goose chase. We've bought some ponchos in Mexico City in Culiacan where they have a really great handcraft market,” Cantrell explained. “I said, 'You know, it seems like it would be really better to go where people make these things. So that started the first wild goose chase: going to some town way off in another state that turned out to be completely not where they made the stuff and that was just the beginning of the story."

"I meet the people where they sell or find out about them through asking 'who makes this?' or 'I've seen these, where are they?' Cantrell said, explaining how she finds her products.

"It was about me trying to find different people, places, on the right day, right time and the right season because a lot of these people, a lot of these crafts, people stopped doing it," Cantrell explained. "A lot of craft traditions are dying out, so there are fewer and fewer people who are doing it. It becomes harder and harder to find people that do it and get them when they actually have stuff, because a lot of times, it's a very small amount and they sell it at a very specific time. It's tricky.”

"Right now, my art is kind of my business at the moment because that's basically all I can handle," Cantrell said of her other passion. "The photography I do is part of the business and I just do stuff that I like. I take a lot of photographs when I'm [in Mexico], unfortunately I never have enough time to edit them or even think about showing them."

"It's kind of cool that through the business, I started approaching photography again from that aspect [of commercial photography] and coming back around to it again," she added.

"I sort of knew the problem of living in Mexico, or living anywhere outside, you know, if you want to call it the third world or whatever, because I've lived there," Cantrell said.

"Being a business person, you have to deal with all of those aspects of their lives too, and the uncertainties and problems they face so that's been one of the bigger challenges."

As for the store, Cantrell said, "Right now I'm really enjoying doing an entrepreneurial project of my own in something that I love.”

TransGas No More

[From the Greenpoint Gazette]

On March 20, proposed plans for a TransGas Energy (TGE) Power Plant on the Brooklyn’s waterfront were laid to rest, thanks to the New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment (Siting Board).

The site lies north of the East Williamsburg State Park, along Bushwick Inlet at bordered by North 12th and North 14th Streets and Kent Avenue to the East River.

TGE filed a proposal to create a 1,000 megawatt cogeneration facility on late December in 2002. Originally, the plant was to be above ground, but TGE changed it to an underground facility in November, 2004. They changed the proposal again to an above-ground facility in the summer of 2007. The Siting Board rejected the proposals’ first and second phases as well.

The facility would convert natural gas into electricity for the City’s usage.

The proposal still resides on TGE’s website and includes both the above-ground and below-ground designs. The below-ground plans would include a waterfront park. The plant would have been the largest in New York City.

TGE made their proposal more appealing to the community with promises of affordable housing and better air quality.

According to the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Waterfront Task Force and the Pace Energy Project, the TGE plant would exude 1,075.32 tons of toxic emissions per year as well as increase levels of PM 2.5, which is a health risk, according to the U.S. Supreme Court and New York Court of Appeals, linked to asthma, cancer and heart disease.

The Siting Board is made up of seven members: four commissioners, from the NYS Departments of Environmental Conservation Pete Grannis, Health Richard F. Daines, M.D., Economic Development and Public Service, the latter serves as the Chairman of the Siting Board, Garry Brown. The role of the Board is to determine whether proposals for energy facilities adhere to the New York State’s Energy Plan and its impact to the environment and neighborhood.

According to the Siting Board, the facility is incompatible with health and safety concerns, doesn’t sit well with the City’s plans to develop the waterfront into a more recreational-TK friendly zone, harms to the environment and residential areas.

The Greenpoint-Williamsburg waterfront is already undergoing drastic changes, with housing developments rising and opens spaces for parks being cleared.

In its place, the City will create a waterfront park on Bushwick Inlet, 28-acres.

Aiding the fight against TGE was Greenpoint Assemblyman Joseph Lentol. “The Greenpoint Williamsburg area is quite simply starved for open space and this will only continue as more and more people move into our neighborhood,” Lentol. “This park will be a much needed victory for open space and our community. I am absolutely thrilled. “

According to Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said the park will include “boat launches, picnic grounds, soccer fields, wetland preserves and a 2-mile bicycle and pedestrian path along the East River waterfront.”

The City looked to acquire the land from Bayside Fuel in 2005, but TGE’s application was still pending. Now that the plan is rejected, the City is able to acquire the area, possibly through eminent domain

Memorializing Industrial Brooklyn

Greg Lindquist in his studio in front of an unfinished painting of the Domino Sugar Refinery in Red Hook.

Dreary and solemn, the Red Hook Sugar Refinery stood empty and alone, against the gray-streaked skies of Brooklyn. Nearby, graffiti covered a dark wall against that same sky.

These aren’t photographs. Rather, these structures, which are most likely soon to be destroyed and replaced by luxury apartment buildings and condos, will live in paintings done by 28 year-old Greg Lindquist.

With his show, Industry at the Elizabeth Harry Gallery in Chelsea, Lindquist is recording the changes in Brooklyn, specifically in Williamsburg, Red Hook and Greenpoint.

To Lindquist, the warehouses he painted are the markers of industrial Brooklyn and the U.S.

The buildings are “signifiers of the industrial revolution and of importing, exporting and production in the United States,” Lindquist said. “As globalization takes over our means of production, we’re passing on the blue collar jobs to other countries. So we no longer need these spaces, and they’re being turned into more housing and residential developments.”

“The common thing is decay and the replacement of decay with luxury and development,” he said.

Lindquist described his theme as “looking at landscape as a way of expressing, landscape as a memorial or landscape as a way of expressing memory.”

During his undergraduate degree at the North Carolina State University of Design, Lindquist was taken with World War II monuments and memorials. Going to Europe on a grant, he traveled through these areas and read about their histories. He was interested in “hat role in our collective memory, like concentration camps and these spaces from World War II and the Holocaust played in those cultures.”

Then, while at Pratt for his MFA, Lindquist shifted his focus to what he referred to as “abstract paintings based on the landscape.”

He came to realize that what he was drawn to wasn’t memorials of specific events, but really just landscape as memorials.

“I realized when I looked around me,” Lindquist said, “I was like, ‘Oh, this is happening right here, right now,’ and I felt an overwhelming urge to document that.”

In regards to development in Brooklyn, Lindquist said, “It’s a really complicated issue. It’s really exciting for me to see this happening, but at the same time, I’m really skeptical about the amount of urban planning that’s gone into it.”

He finds that the new luxury buildings “disrupt a certain continuity of urban fabric.” Though, he does make the comparison between the new developments and his own work.

“I’m making luxury objects as well, but commenting on them,” Lindquist said. “The most ironic thing that could happen is if I make these paintings, and then someone buys them and puts them in these condos. This hasn’t happened yet, to my knowledge.

“That’s the complexity of art,” he continued. “You’re equally condemning and celebrating something, and they both use the same material vocabulary of construction and decay.”

Lindquist paints over stretched linen over rigid supports, because the linen will show up behind the paint. He’s “interested in the materiality of the object.” He also uses an acrylic stainless steel medium which further enhances the industrial feel to the paintings. For the paintings in Industry, Lindquist walked around Brooklyn and took pictures, which he then digitally edited and created into slides. He painted from those slides.

Lindquist became interested in abandoned landscapes since growing up in North Carolina. He explored the North Hills Mall in Raleigh in 2003, which, at the time, was being demolished. “It was really intense,” he described, “because you go inside these spaces that you see filled with products and people and then you see it empty with everything removed from the shelves.” This was during the beginning of the Iraq war and he said, “You see all these crumbly things and it’s very desolate and kind of apocalyptic at the same time.”

“It was one of the first malls in the East coast, so it had a lot of history to it, too,” he added. “So I have some relationship with empty spaces that I feel drawn to and feel the need to make things about.”

Next on his list are surface mines in Arizona, which relates to his show, "Industry."

“These mines have been shut down and they have very interesting geometric patterns and formations and a completely different color palette,” from Brooklyn.

The former Eastern Block countries also hold Lindquist’s interest. He heard of a concrete factory that was the sole concrete factory for the entire Soviet Union. “It’s this massive, sprawling Community concrete architecture,” he described.

Often, Lindquist thinks about whether he’d move his studio and home to Manhattan. Recently, Lindquist and his brother stayed in Manhattan at a friend’s apartment. After spending some time there, “it got really disorienting, claustrophobic and kind of dense pretty fast.”

When they came back to Brooklyn, they walked by McCarren Park and Lindquist realized there was still snow in the ground. He didn’t see any snow in Manhattan.

“That kind of indicates that open space is still here [in Brooklyn],” Lindquist said. “And it also goes back to the point of that open space being quickly supplanted by development. There is this overwhelming urge to do something about it, but as an artist, I don’t think I’ll ever be an activist.”

After bringing up the point that being an artist is similar to being an activist, Lindquist replied, “That’s the main goal in making art: to raise awareness. You are alerting people to your cause.”

"Red Hook Revere Sugar Refinery (Flattening the Remains, The Age of Steam)", 2007, oil on metallic on linen, 17 ½ x 50 inches.

Building a Park at the End of India Street

[From the Greenpoint Gazette]

With the surge of interest in Brooklyn's waterfront, attention is now turned to the northernmost point of the borough. The Greenpoint Waterfront Associate for Parks & Planning (GWAPP), Open Space Alliance of North Brooklyn (OSA) and the New York City Parks Department invited Greenpointers last Tuesday at the Greenpoint Coffee House to discuss the future of the end of India Street.

In their efforts to create more park space in Greenpoint, GWAPP set their eyes on the East River's edge on India Street. Thanks to the Kaplan Foundation and GWAPP's own fundraising efforts, GWAPP procured enough money to conduct a study in order to see if the pier at India Street could be saved and used as a park.

Development is already rampant along the edge of Brooklyn with developers creating mixed-housing and retail space. They are also offered incentives to make waterfront esplanades that are accessible to the public. So far, Stephanie Thayer of OSA said 4 out of the 6 developers already agreed to these terms.

Because of this incentive, there was no need to GWAPP's study. It was then decided that they would instead build an interim community park. They wanted to "use the money to actually build something," Thayer said. The purpose of Tuesday's meeting was to decide what Greenpoint wants for the park. They wanted to "talk about all the cool things we want to do," Eric Peterson, the Brooklyn Park and Recreation Manager, added.

Peterson's role is to seek improvements to this short-term project, as he put it. Because of the park's temporary status, there are a limited number of options. First, they must build on top of the concrete instead of ripping it out because it requires too much attention from the New York State government.

Ideally, the designs would be decided upon from February and March. Then the designs would be given to the contractor in April. Construction would happen in spring and the park would open in the summer. The fourth of July was a possible opening date. Some participants spoke of how it would be nice to see the fireworks from the Brooklyn coastline. That, however, becomes a problem when the fence is taken into consideration.

The park's designs have to accommodate the active warehouse at the end of India Street. There needs to be enough room in front of the park so trucks can load and unload. It was suggested that there be a barrier in front of the park, so cars don't drive onto it. A fence around the park also becomes necessary because the business doesn't want trespassers.



Building a new fence or some type of barrier along the water's edge is necessary in order to protect people from the water. Instead of the typical riprap edge. which consists of rocks gradually sloping into the water, there is a jagged shelf that drops directly into the water. Once you're in, "you can't really get out," Peterson explained.

"New York City also has a ridiculously strong risk management issue," he said, "because people like to sue." The edge of the pier is also crumbling.

The landscape architect suggested putting up jersey barriers instead. Another participant suggested greenery along the waterfront. Barbara Mcglamery, from GWAPP, took that idea further and suggested plants and planters of different heights.

The landscape architect suggested putting up jersey barriers instead. Another participant suggested greenery along the waterfront. Barbara Mcglamery, from GWAPP, took that idea further and suggested plants and planters of different heights.

Another idea was to build an elevated park. Playing off that, Mcglammery and a friend proposed an amphitheater for the view, built further inland. In response, Peterson suggested that it would provide a space for the homeless to stay.

"The most important thing is the view," someone said. Peterson said he would see what is possible.

Because Greenpoint is also an arts neighborhood, it was suggested that different artists and artisans be solicited to work on benches and planters for the park. When it comes time for the park's demolition, these objects can be removed and used somewhere else in the neighborhood. Bench styles were also chosen, the members settled on a 1930-style bench.

Since grass cannot be planted because it needs at least 3 feet of soil, someone brought up the idea of Astroturk or some sort of soft surface for children. Peterson also spoke of a color treatment for the park's pavement, in order to distinguish it from the regular street.

There was also a discussion as to what plants and trees should be there. Mcglamery said there should be space for community gardens.

There is approximately $120,000 for the interim park, from GWAPP/Kaplan and New York State. It isn't possible to pull in more money, so "we have to work with what we have," Peterson said.

Behind the New Domino

The New Domino. © Rafael Vinoly Architects PC.

I now hold two newspaper-related jobs: my job at the Brooklyn Rail as a layout editor/writer/photographer/all-round favorite person, and now, thanks to my friend Kevin, a new job at the Greenpoint Gazette, as a reporter, and layout editor as well.

So here's my first published piece:

Earlier last week, the Community Preservation Corporation (CPC) released new plans for the New Domino, the site of the former Domino Sugar Refinery, in Williamsburg. The plans were presented to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) and Community Board 1 (CB1) on Tuesday, February 6 for their approval. The groups failed to come to a final vote.

The New Domino is being designed by architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle. They have previously worked on the Coney Island Strategic Plan and worked with Atelier Jean Nouvel on the D.U.M.B.O. Waterfront Project.

The designs for the New Domino include retail on the ground floor, which will hopefully include a grocery store. The second and third floors will contain community facilities. There will be parking in the basement and the remaining floors will be reserved for mixed-income housing.

The newly designed features of the changes is the five-story glass-covered addition to the main building. "In order to have the entire site blend together in a contextual way," explained Richard Edmond, Senior Vice President of Beyer Blinder Belle's PR firm, "we're adding the glass to the refinery. By the same token, the towers are being made to look like the refinery."

Surrounding the former refinery will be four towers, two at 40 stories tall and two at 30 stories. These buildings will be designed by Rafal Vinoly Architects. Of the available 2,200 units, 660 will be allotted for affordable housing. Those units will be distributed through two lotteries: half reserved for those residing within CB1's region and the other half for the city. If the plans are approved, the affordable housing would be built first, with the glass additions financing that construction. According to Edmond, the New Domino will offer 30 percent more affordable housing than is required everywhere else in New York.

Although the Domino Sugar Refinery was designated as a New York City Landmark in September, 2007, plans to redevelop the area were already in place. The Refinery, built in 1884, was also deemed part of Brooklyn's endangered waterfront back in June, 2007 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

During Tuesday's meeting, Robert Tierney, chair of LPC, said the factory "celebrates a time when industrial Brooklyn was kind and Domino was its crown."

The landmark status, however, fuels the ongoing debate to preserve the factory as much as possible. The most noticeable missing element in the presented designs was the yellow Domino Sugar sign. The sign wasn't included under the preservation plan, but various groups insist on saving it.

The LPC was unhappy about the missing sign, according to Gerald Esposito, CB1's District Manager.

Esposito believes the sign should be saved and integrated into the facade of the building. It loses its status as a landmark if it is set up along the East River like the Pepsi-Cola sign, another proposed solution.

"The sign is more historic than anything else in the factory," Esposito said. "I remember riding the train over the Williamsburg Bridge and seeing it."

In response, Edmonds said, "We have not come right out to say we're going to save it, but we want to. However, there are a lot of engineering complexities involved."

The glass additions were another point of discontent. Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council (HDC), challenges Beyer Blinder Belle's and CPC's claim that the glass additions must be built in order to fund and build affordable housing first. Bankoff said, on HDC's blog, that rents from the luxury apartments and retail spaces would be more than enough to finance the affordable housing. She referred to the glass additions as "inappropriate on top of a landmark building."

Like Bankoff, LPC and others who oppose the new designs, Esposito is also displeased with the glass additions. Because some buildings around the factory are being destroyed and the factory itself gutted, he suggests reusing those bricks in the design of the addition. That way, the area would preserve its industrial look.

Esposito also finds the entire housing developments "overly ambitious. The developers are providing a lot of housing in an area devoid of services--no hospitals, no grocery stores." He continued, "They're just building houses, houses, houses under the guise of affordability."

Vinoly Architects' proposed plans for the surrounding area include a 1,300-foot long esplanade, which is reminiscent of the Battery Park City waterfront. In the center will be a three-fourth acre park and there will be water taxi service to Manhattan at the formerly-closed Grand Ferry Park next door.

The plans still need to go through the basic seven month ULURP process. After that, CB1, the borough president and the city council need to approve. Interestingly enough, the area isn't under the recent Greenpoint-Williamsburg Zoning Resolution but it is still being governed as such.

If given approval, Edmonds hopes to start construction in 2009. After that, the project would continue in phases. The entire project would cost approximately $1.2 to $1.3 billion.