Flatbush Gardener: Historic Districts Council

Showing posts with label Historic Districts Council. Show all posts

2009-01-23

Community Blogging at HDC Coffee Talk, February 2

I am very proud to have been invited to speak at the Historic Districts Council's (HDC) next event in their Coffee Talk series on the morning of February 2, on the topic of "Community Blogging".

Site of a teardown of a detached Victorian house in Ditmas Park West, Flatbush, Brooklyn

Teardown Site, 480 Stratford Road (East 11th Street)

Community Blogging
Monday Morning Coffee Talk, with the Flatbush Gardener

Monday, February 2nd, 2009
8:30-10:00am

Neighborhood Preservation Center
232 East 11th Street
New York, NY 10003

Community bloggers are increasingly the voice of local neighborhoods. As larger newspapers focus less and less on the day to day, neighborhood-based blogs have assumed the role of providing updated, detailed accounts of the issues that directly affect built environment and quality of life. With little more than an internet connection and a digital camera, these activist reporters monitor communities with a passion and in the process end up mobilizing their fellow neighbors to take action and make change.

Join Chris Kreussling, otherwise known as the Flatbush Gardener, as he recounts his blogging experiences since launching his site in 2006. Mr. Kreussling's blog covers a number of local issues in great detail - including the proposed Flatbush rezoning, citywide greenspace concerns, and Brooklyn community gardens - and he's learned a great deal along the way.From attracting new readers, to launching related email list-serves, to understanding what "Twitter" and other social media sites are all about, February's talk will tackle the blogging industry head-on and give you the tools for starting your own.

This event is FREE to the public. Reservations are required, as space is limited. For more information, please contact Lauren Belfer at (212) 614-9107 or lbelfer@hdc.org.

The Historic Districts Council Neighborhood Partners Program is sponsored in part by Deutsche Bank, The New York Community Trust, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Assembly Members Deborah J. Glick & Richard N. Gottfried, and State Senators Thomas K. Duane, Liz Krueger, Andrew J. Lanza & Diane J. Savino.

Links

HDC Community Blogging: HDC Monday Morning Coffee Talk, February 2nd
Historic Districts Council Web site

2007-03-17

Gowanus Canal at 9th Street, Brooklyn

Gowanus Canal, looking north from the 9th Street Bridge

Gowanus Canal, North of Ninth Street Bridge

Last Sunday, the Historic District Council's Walking Tour of Red Hook began with all of us gathering on the "plaza" outside the Smith & 9th Street station. This station is the highest point above sea level in the NYC subway system. The reason: it has to cross the Gowanus Canal.

The Gowanus Canal has had a deserved reputation for polluted, even toxic, waters. Several years ago, a circulation fan at the head of the canal was repaired, returning water flow to the canal for the first time in decades. Almost immediately, water conditions improved, and life began to return to its waters.

Gowanus Canal, North of the Bridge

Gowanus Canal, North Side of Ninth Street Bridge

All along the New York waterfront, bulkheads and piers are failing. For decades, water pollution preserved the wooden pilings. With improved water quality, shipworms have returned and are devastating the wood. You can see a bulkhead failure in the photo below.

Failing Bulkheads, Gowanus Canal, Ninth Street Bridge

I think this planter qualifies as a defiant garden. There were a couple of them along the edge on the northwest side of the bridge. I want to come back in the spring to see what's growing in them.

South of the Bridge

South of the bridge, the Gowanus Expressway crosses over the canal.

Gowanus Canal, South of Ninth Street Bridge

Earlier this week, the Gowanus Lounge noted that the Revere Sugar Dome demolition material was being carted to a scrapyard on the Gowanus. When I was there on Sunday, I noticed activity at the scrapyard south of the bridge. I think it's the same one. If so, here's the remains of the Revere Sugar Dome in action.

The Bridge

The Gowanus Canal is a working waterway. There isn't enough room for the street bridge beneath the subway station to tilt up, so it lifts vertically, straight up. You can see the cables against the column on the left of this photo.

Here's the hardware connecting the counterweight, the top of which you can see here, to the cables.

Elevator Counterweight, Ninth Street Bridge

The understructure of the subway platform is completely wrapped to contain concrete spalling off beams and trusses.

Every public structure in NYC is a branding opportunity.

The View from Above

The station platform, and the approach on either side, of the Smith & 9th Street station provide wonderful views of Brooklyn and New York Harbor.

Statue of Liberty, from Smith & 9th Street Station Platform

Links:

2007-03-12

Waterfront Museum, Red Hook, Brooklyn

[Updated 2007.03.14: Added links to Related Posts.]

The Waterfront Museum was one of the highlights of yesterday's walking tour of Red Hook, Brooklyn, associated with the Historic District Council's 13th Annual Preservation Conference. Myself, I could have spent two hours there alone. The story of the barge, not to mention the people and characters involved in saving and restoring it, is fascinating. I want to go back when the water is warmer!

It was also visual overload. I couldn't capture everything. Here's what I got.

David Sharps Speaks to the HDC Red Hook Walking Tour

HDC Red Hook Walking Tour

HDC Red Hook Walking Tour

Beard and Robinson Warehouse, Beard Street, Red Hook

[Updated 2007.03.14: Changed post title to link to my Collection - a feature Flickr just added yesterday - of my Sets of photos from the tour. Added links to Related Posts.]
[Updated 2007.03.12: Added several images.]

Today I went on a Walking Tour of Red Hook, sponsored by the the Historic District Council. This and several other tours were organized to cap their 13th Annual Preservation Conference, which I attended all day yesterday.

Follow the link from the title of this post to see today's pictures. I managed to whittle down more than half of the photos I took today. That still leaves over 200 photos. I have massive editing to do. In no particular order, here are some of my favorite images of the day.