My Brooklyn

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When the Dutch arrived at New Amsterdam around 1630, they purchased land across the Western Edge to develop for agricultural settlement. Large areas of the Gowanus Creek formed part of the purchased land. So, if we want to trace the Gowanus Canal, it goes way back to the 1630s which they called the canal, The Gowanus Creek. It became an important daily use for the Dutch to be able to travel back and forth to Manhattan. Around the 1840s, the creek was known for their huge oyster’s sales. From 1853 to 1874, the canal became the main transport lane for the height of the Industrial Era. By 1920, the canal was the most trafficked canal in Brooklyn. Considering the amount of traffic that the Gowanus has experienced, you can say that the Gowanus Canal has become dirty as the years passed by.

Today the Gowanus Canal is not only polluted but it’s worst when the rain hits. There are 11 outfalls and sewer exits emptying into the canal. That’s approximately 400 million gallons of wastewater being dumped in the canal every year. Let alone, the rain water must be factored in as well. On rainy days, the canal has overflooded and taken over the Gowanus community streets. During hurricane Sandy in 2012, the raw sewage flowed straight to the canal. With the excessive rain from the hurricane and the overflowing sewage, you can see human waste floating in the streets. This problem keeps happening in the Gowanus community. The sewage system needs repairing and the canal is already taking in more that its suppose to. Besides the over flowing into the canal, the contamination issue keeps increasing and gets worst as time passes by.

When asking guest speaker, Joseph Alexiou, “What should the city do to clean the canal?” His answer was “If the city changes the entire sewage system in Gowanus it can help control the amount of water flowing to the canal. It will also prevent the sewage overflow and the flooding.” But then as good as that idea sounds, Joseph admitted that the city wouldn’t even consider that, due to the amount of money that will take to accomplish. Not only the money will be the issue, but the time to redesign a new sewer system. Joseph believes that it will take a few decades before the canal can be a little cleaner. He also points out that the city has been ignoring the sewage problem and that made the contamination worsen.

I can agree with Joseph when he says that the city will completely ignore the whole replacing the sewer system idea. Over the summer I worked at a city agency, Department of Design and Construction, and just being there I noticed that before the city starts working on any project, they must undergo many stages before they can even get approval. So aside from the length of all the initial process, the project might just shut down due to the amount of money that the city will have to invest in. Now maybe if the city redirects some of the water flowing in canal to another body of water, that can help solve the overflowing of the canal issue. I’ve also thought that if the city starts digging up the many layers of sediment that the canal has, maybe the contamination level decreases. It either can help or worsen the contamination. The main question that will always linger is, “When is the Gowanus Canal going to be decontaminated?” And many other questions like what is the city going to do about it? Will they continue to ignore it ?

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The street that I live on is unique. I live in Manhattan, to be more specific West Harlem. But to be even more specific, I live on 126 Street and Broadway Ave. I’ve been living here since I was 8 months, so practically my whole life. Harlem has been known to be a dangerous community, but I’m going to have to disagree. You see, living in Harlem has many advantages. I live on a six-story building and that’s pretty much the height of all the buildings around this street. There are many affordable housing buildings as well, which are tall. Most of the buildings facades are brick, some red or brown or white bricks. Most of these building are over 100 years old. But with new construction around the block, glass is starting to show more. Is very interesting to see the change of materials in the neighborhood. My block has all brick buildings and across the street there the buildings facades are just glass. I just interesting how materials on buildings can impact your feelings. Brick is more classy and rusty giving sense of history. Where glass gives that feeling of modern and futuristic.

Another important feature about this street, is that we have many means of transportation. The 1 train is just a block away, which you can take to 42nd Street and connect to other train lines. Or you can walk to the A, B, C, D train. There are also many bus lines that can take you to Bronx, Lower and Upper Manhattan, and Queens. Another splendid feature is that you find a Deli around each corner. Aside from Deli’s, there is a strip of stores running from 125th street and St. Nicholas Ave. all the way to 125th street and 5th Ave. You can find anything in those stores, from food, clothing, shoes, and pharmacies.

Something that I love about my street is the diversity. My street or what everyone here calls it “my block,” is mixed with many cultures. There are Jamaicans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and many more. The people here are very energetic and colorful. Everyone in the block pretty much knows each other and every morning you are greeted by the neighbors. Every summer the block is very loud with many types of music playing and BBQ’s. Due to Columbia’s new campus, there has also been an increase of college student moving in and that’s even more diversity coming into the block.

Another excellent feature will be the number of parks surrounding us. The most renovated park is the West Harlem Piers. It was completed approximately 5 years ago. This park is a place where families go have picnics, or go for a jog, to ride the bike, to fish or just to enjoy the view of the water, New Jersey and the George Washington Bridge. There is the Sakura Park, Riverside State Park, and other smaller playgrounds.

The past few years I started noticing that the neighborhood is being gentrified. Columbia University started a 10-year plan. This 10-year plan consists of 3 new buildings that will form part of Columbia’s campus. These buildings took down 2 restaurants, 2 gas stations and a few apartment buildings.