Freshkills Park in Staten Island, New York, is transforming what was the world's largest landfill.Įach section of the park gives visitors a glimpse at the extensive undertaking. The landfill it's being built upon was shut down in 2001 and the vast park is opening in phases, with its completion projected in 2036. They're gonna see phenomenal views that we have of the waterways and also the Manhattan-like Oz in the distance," said Hirsh.Īt 2,200 acres, Freskhkills Park will be nearly three times the size of New York's Central Park, making it the largest park to be developed in the city in over 100 years. "They're gonna fly kites, they're gonna see a scientific mobile lab that we have there. Hirsh, atop a hill with hundreds of acres of land at her heels, points across the water at the Manhattan skyline. Eloise Hirsh, administrator of Freshkills Park and president of the Freshkills Park Alliance, was tasked with transforming those hundreds of acres of compiled garbage into an enormous, activity-filled public space. The Staten Island screening of "Graves of Arthur Kill" will be on April 2, at the Seaman's Society for Children & Families, 50 Bay St., starting at 6 p.m.Staten Island's Freshkills Park was once the world's largest landfill, a dumping ground for New York City's abundant heaps of garbage. "People who love the waterfront and are into ships and maritime history. "It appeals to a certain mindset," Kane said. He said he thinks the Staten Island screening will be the largest the film has had yet, and said it has been well received by people interested in the maritime history of the city. He's also submitted it to several film festivals and has released it for $12 online. Kane said he's screened the film to acclaim in a maritime museum in Manhattan, and plans to show it in Yonkers soon. 1 on the itinerary, but it's on the itinerary."
"I've had people from California, from Michigan, a guy from Wisconsin comes back repeatedly," he said. The most intrepid boat gawkers trespass through neighbor Tony Conssean's backyard, Conssean said.Ĭonssean previously told DNAinfo New York that tourists regularly knock at his door asking questions about the spot. Others follow a make shift path of street signs and wood planks into muddy marshland and to the edge of the water where the boats are visible. The site is a popular spot for photographers and maritime historians, who take kayaks or boats to get a closer look at the ships from the Arthur Kill. "You literally could walk from one ship to another it was so crowded." There were hundreds of vessels in there," Kane said. "It's really a shadow of what it once was. In the '60s and '70s, Kane said the site was packed with rotting ships, but he added that it doesn't take in as many craft now as it used to. The graveyard at one time hosted the fire boat that responded to the deadly General Slocum boat fire in 1904, which Kane said was one of the worst disasters in the city's history. Kane said the graveyard - which has been described as an "accidental museum" - has been host to countless historic boats and still has a few in the water.Ĭurrently, it has a huge tanker that washed ashore in Stapleton after Hurricane Sandy, a ship that took part in D-Day and a submarine destroyer from World War II that was the first ship manned by an all-black crew, Kane said. The graveyard serves as an official dumping ground for disused and decommissioned ferries, tugboats and barges that sit in the water until they are dismantled or salvaged. It is currently owned by Donjon Recycling, according to WNYC. The graveyard was founded by John Witte and was originally named the Witte Scrapyard.
They also interviewed the former owners of the rotting crafts, nearby residents and others familiar with the graveyard to track the history of the site. Together, the pair set out in a row boat to film the ships. Van Dorp, who lives in Kew Gardens, Queens, publishes the blog Tugster, which is dedicated to New York's waterways - an area he's dubbed the city's "sixth boro." Kane, a former Associated Press editor, tracked down the man behind the images: Will Van Dorp, a creative writing professor in New Jersey with a passion for maritime history that led him to photograph the boats in 2010. I thought this could translate into really compelling footage for a documentary." "What caught my eye was the way they look, I thought it's just fascinating how they look like ghost ships or crumbling wrecks. "I spotted some images on the Internet of these rotting, rusting ships," said Gary Kane, the documentary's director. Crown Heights, Prospect Heights & Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.
0 kommentar(er)
