5 Boro Ramble Success!

Account by Rob Buchanan:

"We launched at 8 or so from east river crew’s davit at 96th street and took about half an hour to get up to the little grassy patch near the willis avenue bridge that’s the best waterfront park in the city. because it isn’t a park and there are no railings and the plants that grow are just whatever’s growing there. as we arrived harry bubbins dove off a bollard and surfaced talking about all the fish he’d seen. the old rotting dock was a perfect mooring for the whitehall. arcadua in the bronx--all that’s missing is a scrap-lumber picnic table.'...

To read more of his peronal adventure and see pics from what he calls "...the best waterfront park in the city." See

Rob Buchanan's personal account, with pics!

Could be the best becuse of it's exciting location and the variety of uses we can accomodate. For this event we had diving, swimming, a gid tie up and kayaks launch and land!

More than 60 paddlers in about 40 boats participated in various stages of yesterday's Ramble, including the 17 kayaks who transited the upper bay on the home stretch.
Friends of Brook Park welcomed the beginning of the paddel from Swindler's Cove and participated with three paddlers! Thanks to the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance and UrbanDivers safety boats and LIC BoatHouse!

Bronx: Garbage Takes the Train. BS?

Bronx: Garbage Takes the Train

from the NYTimes
Read more Here

Published: August 15, 2007

Garbage is now being shipped out of the Bronx entirely by rail instead of by trucks, part of a city plan to reduce the number of trucks traveling on the streets, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced yesterday. The Bronx is the second borough to use trains to ship the garbage; Staten Island began shipping household waste in May after the city reactivated the Staten Island Railroad. The Bronx ships about 2,100 tons of garbage each day for disposal outside the city, the mayor said.

Note:

What this means is that all of the garbage being shipped out of the Bronx, which includes trash from Queens and Manhattan currently, is coming through Community Board #1 of the South, South Bronx. The Mott Haven and Port Morris neighborhoods specifically.

It comes into our neighborhoods via diesel trucks and to the Waste Management facility on the Harlem River Rail Yards. Although the Harlem River Rail Yards are owned by the NYS Dept of Transportation, and leased to Galesi Group, we enjoy no public benefit whatsoever. Still at this time there is no official public access, though it is 96 acres of waterfront property. See our efforts to create these kinds of amenities at:

http://www.friendsofbrookpark.org/waterfront.html

Email us to get involved in environmental justice efforts!

The images are of the doubled up lines of idling trucks blocking the Third Avenue Bridge at Bruckner Boulevard at the entrance to the Port Morris facility. note the police breaking through the lines to get traffic to flow and the worker with a bag of food he went to get while is idling truck was waiting to enter the facility.

See a follow-up article at:

AM NEWS Article