March 27th – Greenpoint

I started at my least favorite place in Brooklyn: Maspeth Avenue.

Equity Works
At the corner of Vandervort, there is a site that was a MGP and is now a recycling facility. A line of trucks waits outside to dump their loads. I felt very intimidated and didn’t try to shoot.

Greenpoint MGP
Across the street is a huge site that was also a MGP. It is largely empty though there appears to be a baseball field on the site and on the far end, the Greenpoint Little League has its field. I asked the owner of Brooklyn Rebar which is across the street if I could go up into his two story building to get a better view of the site.

ACME Steel Metal Works
The building at 72 Lombardy Street goes through the whole block. The site is contaminated with trichloroethene (TCE) a chemical used to degrease metal.

Meeker Avenue
I also walked to the end of Meeker Avenue at the Newtown Creek. a foul filthy spot yet you couldn’t tell at least the day I was there that there is both a huge quantity of petroleum spilled underground in this area as well as a plume of other chemicals that were usd in metal manufacturing and dry cleaning.

March 22nd

Nina Young joined me for a tour of some of Williamsburg’s toxic sites. We started at the waterfront.

Brooklyn Navy Yard 13 Acre Parcel
Then went on to the site of the Nassau Works Manufactured Gas Plant now occupied by the Department of Sanitation. The major structure on the site now is a salt storage facility.

Rutledge Station
We stopped at a housing development that was built on the site of a former holding tank. There was a group of children playing outside. This little girl was very curious about us.

Skillman Station
At another former holding station, we found a wedding banquet hall. From the street, the building looked like an ordinary brick warehouse. Inside, the rooms are the elegant stuff of bridal fantasy.

Pfizer
This site, at 630 Flushing Avenue, was remediated by Pfizer. it is now a parking lot.

March 8th

202-218 Morgan Avenue

This site is owned by FritoLay and its brownfield application is under review. From the driveway of what must be a factory, you can look into this empty lot. On the street side, it is securely fenced.

At the far end of the lot is this abandoned building.

353 McKibbin Street
This site housed a chemical works and is now an empty lot. As I approached the site, I did a double take first thinking someone had left a costume on the street and then realizing that an artist was taping herself doing a performance wearing this outfit.

I also walked along Grand Street and noticed a pair of boots someone had let behind.