Home On The Grunge

The Newtown Creek Alliance(NCA) finally has a permanent home, and the good news is there is lots of free pizza. The home is courtesy of Greenpoint’s Broadway Stages, which generously houses the NCA in a space in one of their studio facilities at the end of Kinglsand Avenue, together with a chapter of the NYC Audubon Society and the succulent Kingsland Wildlowers. The pizza is courtesy of a magical refrigerator, which seems to be stocked with an almost endless supply of the stuff; leftovers from any one of a number of events unfurling in this odd duck of a building — more on that later.

These new digs fit the NCA like a tailored suit. After all, a newly restored, multi-use community asset tucked away in a working industrial wasteland is as adequate a description of the creek that provides the NCA its name and mission as it is of the building that serves as their home.

A 4-mile long tidal estuary stretching from its mouth at the East River across from the UN back into the industrial swampland of Maspeth, Queens, the Newtown Creek, to the extent that it is known at all, is recognized as the most polluted body of water in New York City (suck on that, Gowanus Canal!). Over a century of haphazard development along its shores has left its waters dark with pollution, bound by concrete, and quite literally gasping for air: One of the first actions in a years-long Federal superfund cleanup plan was to install aerators to the dead waters at the head of the creek, to increase oxygen content.

Yet, while much has been written on the dark history of the creek, its bright future is as yet unwritten — at least according Willis Elkins, the NCA’s lanky leader. With a pedigree as a one-time urban-explorer and longtime Greenpoint resident, Elkins was elementally drawn to the creek over a decade back as a place to ply his inflatable kayak. His natural born optimism led him to to volunteer for both the North Brooklyn Boat Club (where he is a boardmember), and the NCA, where he took on the role of Executive Director 5 years ago.

In this role, Elkins guides the collaboration of all of the various stakeholders on the creek, from the bottom-feeding blue crabs slowly making a comeback in the creek’s water, to the (Ahem!) similarly bottom-feeding purple sewage-treatment domes that occasionally overflow into those same waters. It’s a tricky dance, as the creek straddles numerous geographic, political, industrial, recreational, and environmental uses. For Elkins and the NCA, the task is to ensure that, whether resident of Brooklyn or Queens; whether recreational boater or industrial user, whether cormorant or striped bass, everyone has a seat at the table.

Elkins devotes much of his time to brainstorming new ways to preserve, catalog, and enhance the creek’s natural endowments, while simultaneously educating the public about the same. Aided in his efforts by the indefatigable Lisa Bloodgood, who works as the NCA’s Director of Advocacy and Education, Elkins is often to be found aboard their small motorboat ("The Rainbow Sheen”), monitoring the creek’s waters, cataloguing its flora, setting out “living docks” to test their cleanup efficacy, or simply giving tours to interested parties. Inevitably, he acts as a pair of “Eyes on the Creek,” to catalog crumbling infrastructure, and monitor malfeasance. A recent pipe disgorging paint into the creek is but one example.

Yet for all its reputation as a toxic mess, from the NCA’s waterborne perspective, the creek is not doing nearly as bad as is often assumed. Life, as is its wont, refuses to accept the creek as anything less than a realm of possibility, and pockets of resistance are evident everywhere. “Last summer, one of our jobs was a plant survey, trying to capture every sort of plant growing within 100 meters of the shoreline,” says Bloodgood, describing her scrambles over fetid and crumbling bulkheads with relish. “The ecological richness we saw was incredible: 4000 plus individual observations, including endangered species!”

Yet, the NCA’s advocacy is not limited to cataloging flora and watchdogging pollutio. Elkins is careful to note that the industrial uses of the waterway are not only valid, but indeed can be seen to be in harmony with the overarching ecological goals of a complex urban environment. He indicaters the scrap metal facility adjacent to his offices, busy offloading their offal onto a barge. “Each one of these barges is 40 tractor-trailer trucks worth of recycling,” he notes, “so by using the waterway, they are removing hundreds of trucks from our local roadways, bridges, etc.”

The overarching goal is connection. As embodied by Elkins, caring for the creek begins with seeing it as a part of our communal heritage. “We are interested in shared views,” he notes. “We want to see more access, more places where people can get to the water and develop a relationship with it, whether for the benefit of it just being open space, or for a deeper understanding this ecology that has lived in this area for thousands of years, and how we are continuing to impact it.”

For Elkins and Bloodgood, the creek is an urban asset to believe in, not give up on. And, with an EPA Superfund cleanup in the works, the creek’s future may yet dawn bright. Certainly, with a new permanent home alongside supportive neighbors, a refreshed mission and board, and a burgeoning community interest in the creek, the NCA’s future seems rosy. Lisa Bloodgood notes as much, gazing out of her office: “You look out the window right now, it’s industrial chaos as far as the eye can see. But you look a little closer, in the nooks and crannies, and we have this treasure; such incredible beauty, and I love that!” Elkins, eating free pizza, concurs: “In many ways, it’s an optimistic place."

You can support the work of the NCA, and get a tour of their fabulous new digs (including the green roof) this Saturday, November 3, at 6pm when the organization hosts its first-ever fundraising Gala! More information is available here.