WITH THE VISION OF UNIVERSAL FREEDOM
FOR ALL MANKIND
THIS TREE IS DEDICATED TO
RICHARD COCHEO
AND ALL
PRISONERS OF WAR
AND
MISSING IN ACTION
1973
(There are a few other Freedom Trees dedicated to other POW/MIAs in this little section of Shore Road Park.)
A series of educational signs posted along the Bay Ridge waterfront
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, with the longest bridge span in the Americas
with a retroreflective stripe to reduce bridge strikes. Looks like this crossing might be about to get seriously snazzed up.
This hiring center for immigrant day laborers moved into this Cekis-painted trailer after its previous home, an 8-by-12-foot wooden shack, was blown 120 feet into a nearby parking lot by Hurricane Sandy.
One of several little rows of bungalows branching off of Beach 108th and Beach 109th Streets in the Rockaways. The big brick building in the background is St. John’s Residence for Boys.
Things weren't quite so ragged-looking here before the storm hit. And I suspect Mary used to be a bit larger than she is now. Just to the left are a few empty lots where some houses had to be demolished after getting walloped by Sandy.
Modular shacks like these, primarily serving as bathrooms and lifeguard stations, were installed a few months ago in different locations along the city's beaches, replacing structures that were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. They're a pretty impressive sight, at least until you start to notice the plywood panel, black tarp, and various unidentified dangling things. Some temporary materials were apparently used in order to hurriedly get the structures ready for summer, but the city plans to fix up the units during the off-season.
On November 12, 2001, two months and one day after 9/11, American Airlines Flight 587 to the Dominican Republic crashed into the neighborhood of Belle Harbor on the Rockaway Peninsula shortly after takeoff from JFK. This monument commemorates the 265 lives lost in that disaster, the second-deadliest aviation accident in US history.
You can't really tell in this photo, but the gaps between the stones of the memorial provide a view out over the Atlantic Ocean.
AFTERWARDS I WANT ONLY PEACE
That's the translation of a line written by the Dominican poet Pedro Mir; the original Spanish verse is inscribed on the other side of the portal. At left is a list of the home countries(/territories/neighborhoods) of the people who died in the crash. The English portion reads:
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
FRANCE
HAITI
ISRAEL
PUERTO RICO
TAIWAN
UNITED KINGDOM
UNITED STATES
AND BELLE HARBOR, NY
The hundred-year-old Engine 268/Ladder 137 firehouse, landmarked by the city earlier this year
The Rockaways were hit particularly hard by 9/11, with a disproportionately high number of residents killed in the attacks. In an expression of the peninsula's collective grief, this formerly vacant lot was transformed into Tribute Park, with a number of monuments to the victims and a clear view of the altered downtown skyline across the waters of Jamaica Bay.
This is the dome of the cupola visible in the previous photograph.
A plaque on the back reads, in part: "Thanks to . . . the Master Sculptor Isabella Slobodoff, for giving her all in the final days of her life, who at 69 years of age, carved the Firefighter's helmet, her last mighty work, deep into the frigid cold of winter here with assistance of her son, artist Roman Slobodoff".
Reminiscent of the K.I.D.S. Corner Library we saw last year, this is one of several bright orange book boxes that Urban Librarians Unite set up around the city outside public library branches closed because of damage from Hurricane Sandy. But this one's out of books!
This device operates on the principle that birds hate cheap beer more than they like fresh figs.
This synagogue celebrated its 90th anniversary last year, six months before Hurricane Sandy flooded its ballroom, chapel, and everything else in the basement.
At St. Francis De Sales Church; flagpole dedicated by Daniel M. O'Connell American Legion Post #272
This is located in the prayer garden of St. Francis De Sales Church. The plaque on the left and the cross above it, made from World Trade Center steel, are dedicated to the victims of 9/11, twelve of whom were parishioners here. The plaque on the right commemorates the lives lost, including those of five more parishioners, in the crash of American Airlines Flight 587.
Several contiguous lots on this street now lie vacant, their Sandy-destroyed homes having been bulldozed.
I believe this is part of the city's ongoing effort, predating Hurricane Sandy, to restore the deteriorated seawalls along Jamaica Bay in this section of the Rockaways. (That's a Seastreak ferry from Manhattan speeding by in the background.)
During the mid-1970s, two massive cylindrical tanks, built to hold liquefied natural gas, were constructed here in Rossville, Staten Island (aerial view). They were never filled, however, due to strong community opposition and the fear generated by the explosion of an (emptied) LNG tank on the northern part of the island that killed 40 workers in 1973.
So these two enormous structures, supposedly "designed to withstand the impact of a 747 jet airliner", have just stood here unused for almost four decades. Many animals found a home in the surrounding woods over the years, and a good number of people have made their way up to the tops of the tanks to take in the unique views of the city they provide (next photo). I remember being up here right after a big snowfall a few years ago and watching a small herd of deer moving together through the picturesque white landscape. Where else can you see something like that in New York City?
There have recently been plans afoot to demolish the tanks, which some people consider a "horrible blight". As you can see, the forest around them has already been bulldozed. Parts of the staircases have been torn down, and supposedly there are going to be or have already been tests conducted to determine what it will take to level the tanks.
I can't blame the property owner for wanting to do something more lucrative with the land, but anyone who thinks these tanks are a "horrible blight" has no imagination, in my opinion. They always looked magical to me, these rusting behemoths sprouting out of the woods, with deer and other wildlife running around. The first time I stood on top of them is a moment I'll never forget.
Anyway, here's to appreciating the tanks for what they are, for however much longer they're around!
