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Past Events
Join the Newtown Creek Alliance (NCA) and the Last Mile Coalition for an exciting walking tour showcasing existing and planned freight infrastructure around the Dutch Kills tributary in Long Island City, Queens. In recent years, mega-warehouses (dubbed ‘last mile’ facilities), have proliferated in industrial areas around Newtown Creek and other neighborhoods of New York City.
The rise of e-commerce has seen a rapid increase in last-mile developments in the industrial business zones, like those surrounding Newtown Creek. These mega facilities bring significant amounts of increased truck traffic to overburdened communities leading to higher levels of congestion, worsened air quality, urban heat island impacts, stormwater runoff, as well as ongoing issues with worker protections, fair wagers, and labor rights. NYC is now working to implement a special permit process to curtail the proliferation of last mile facilities, thanks in large part to the advocacy from elected leaders and the Last Mile Coalition (of which NCA is a member).
The guided walk will begin at the Hunters Point Avenue 7 train station and head towards the Dutch Kills tributary before ending at the Kingsland Wildflowers green roof, where participants can join in NCA’s weekly Open Hours series to enjoy the sunset from the green roof meadows and redraw our walking path.
Hear from Willis Elkins, Executive Director of Newtown Creek Alliance, and Ron Weissbard, Director of Superfund and Hazardous Materials at NYC Department of Environmental Protection, about about the history and future of Newtown Creek, while taking in unique views of the creek’s continuously evolving waterfronts.
Newtown Creek, on the border between Brooklyn and Queens, has been a center for industrial activity since the early 1800s—and has been a dumping ground for pollutants and hazardous material for just as long. Once a vibrant marshland, the Creek suffered nearly 150 years of unregulated industrial waste, sewage discharge, and oil spills from the refineries that lined its banks.
Through tremendous efforts by community advocates and investment by federal, state, and city governments, planning for the remediation of Newtown Creek is underway. The US Environmental Protection Agency designated the creek as a Superfund site, and recently finalized a plan for dredging and stabilizing its contaminated sediment.
Newtown Creek Alliance invites you to join us at Plank Road for the annual Riverkeeper Sweep! Plank Road is a unique street end site in Maspeth Queens that we have been working to restore for both wildlife and local workers/residents alike. We aim to engage folks with this rare public waterfront access area through hands-on projects that can help improve environmental conditions along the shore and in the Creek itself.
Join the Newtown Creek Alliance for a walking tour to witness and discuss a number of key environmental issues and public access opportunities along Newtown Creek. The tour will bring us to key street-end areas that we are targeting for enhanced public access, improved safety, and opportunities for restoration and ecological benefits. We will begin at Cooper Park in East Williamsburg and culminate at the Kingsland Wildflowers Green Roof, where participants can join in NCA’s weekly Open Hours series to enjoy the sunset from the green roof meadows. In total, the walk is approx. 3.5 miles long.
This 5-mile bike tour, hosted by Newtown Creek Alliance and the Last Mile Coalition, will explore the expanding infrastructure of commodity circulation, and the real-world footprint of e-commerce, around the Creekside neighborhood of Maspeth. This present condition comes in the context of 200+ years of Newtown Creek transportation logistics, from horse-carts and barges to rails and trucks.
The rise of e-commerce has seen a rapid increase in last-mile developments in the industrial business zones, like those surrounding Newtown Creek. These mega facilities bring significant amounts of increased truck traffic to overburdened communities leading to higher levels of congestion, worsened air quality, urban heat island impacts, stormwater runoff, as well as ongoing issues with worker protections, fair wagers, and labor rights. NYC is now working to implement a special permit process to curtail the proliferation of last mile facilities, thanks in large part to the advocacy from elected leaders and the Last Mile Coalition (of which NCA is a member).