New Morning for New Town?

It's well known that one of the all time great New York City views is from the Kosciuszko Bridge on the BQE. No, not that one, I mean the one looking east out over the Newtown Creek, that profoundly polluted estuary that forms a border between Brooklyn and Queens.

The Newtown Creek has long headed the list of most-polluted waterways in the United States. Among other contaminants, the water and sediment of the creek contain high levels of PCPs and VOCs (volatile organic compounds--not good). Not to mention a slow-motion oil spill in Greenpoint going on for decades. Don't despair. The creek was added to the EPA's Superfund Priorities List about a year ago. In July, the EPA signed an agreement with the "Stinky Six" most culpable for the state of the Creek: Phelps Dodge, Texaco, BP Products North America, National Grid, and ExxonMobil. Familiar faces, one and all. The sixth man, of course, is the City of New York, which according to this Brooklyn Eagle story, began using the creek as a sewer as early as the 1850s.

(Courtesy NCBOA)

The cleanup will last decades. Not to worry, while we wait, we can bone up on some of the Creek's history and culture. Check out "Air Conditioner Slime," "Smelly Tap Water," and other heartbreaking oral histories collected from area residents and posted on Creak Speak by the Newtown Creek Alliance, a community organization dedicated to "revitalizing, restoring, and revealing the creek." There are also some great photos, like this one with the KB in the background, on the site of the Newtown Creek BOA (Brownfields Opportunity Area), a more business-oriented group focused on restoring the Creek's industrial character. As the site helpfully explains, "brownfields are just vacant or underused sites that haven't been redeveloped or reused because people are afraid they might be contaminated from previous industrial uses. Sometimes they actually are contaminated; sometimes they're not."

Well if the Gowanus Canal can come back, why not us? It won't be long before we start to see boutiques, galleries, cafes, and clubs along the banks of the Newtown Creek. I can even visualize a mascot for the the revitalization effort, a lovable, yet slime-dripping creature called Brownie....