THE WATERFRONT, NOT JUST THE VIEW

A tugboat heads east on the Kill Van Kull near Port Richmond, Staten Island, with Bayonne, New Jersey in the background. (Photo by Ed Mahala)

LOCKED ON LAND AT THE WATER'S EDGE

I'm told you can live in the middle of this island and feel as landlocked as a Nebraskan.

But of course it's just as possible to feel that way, living here at the water's edge, if you seldom go near the water. The water, in this case, being the Kill van Kull, which flows west from New York Harbor, sandwiched between Staten Island and Bayonne, New Jersey, to Newark Bay and into another Kill called Arthur.

To live here is to live along, or close by, an active industrial waterway with its own (yes) proud industrial history, some of which survives even now, long past Staten Island's industrial prime. Mostly the waterway goes about its business seen yet unseen, especially by those of us who are its nearest, most constant neighbors. But the audible waterway won't let you forget it's there.

SOMETIMES INVISIBLE, BUT RARELY SILENT

Even indoors in winter, with one layer of window glass and one layer of heavier insulating glass muffling the sounds of the machines and multitudes outside, the Kill van Kull won't be stifled. The whistles and horns call and respond to each other along its span, a music played mostly in the early evening.

Looking out at the Kill Van Kull from Faber Pool Park esplanade, Port Richmond; the Bayonne Bridge in the background. (Photo by Ed Mahala)

And though it happens much less often than when we first moved to this house two short blocks above Richmond Terrace, there are still the times when I wake from the muddle of not-quite-sleep and feel the merest vibration, which I imagine as the churning of powerful engines submerged beneath the waterway at the bottom of the hill.

A LITTLE-NOTICED BACKDROP

And yes, the sight of tankers and container ships gliding right or left at the bottom of Westervelt Avenue still stops me in my tracks, just as it did when we moved here decades ago.

Even the clanging and pounding of the periodic dredgings by the Army Corps of Engineers have a kind of romance. They're what keep the containers and barges and tankers and tugs moving--little noticed by most of us, most of the time--through this water- and silt-filled crevasse.

Other than vague impressions and romantic notions, though, I really know very little about a stretch of waterway that has been the backdrop for more than 30 years of my life. But that, I hope, is about to change now that warmer weather is here.

ON THE KILL:  An ocean-going container vessel and a tug pass under the Bayonne Bridge near Port Richmond. (Photo by Ed Mahala)

THE CONTINUING EDUCATION
OF A STATEN ISLANDER

The impressions I've just related are, all of them, passive, formed at a distance. And even where I've had a more active, intimate association with the point where land meets water--along the Ballpark Esplanade in St. George, at the Snug Harbor dock in New Brighton, and at Faber Pool Park in Port Richmond--they've been safe, civilized and tentative.

Though much of the waterfront is off-limits, either because it's under commercial or industrial use or because it's a contaminated brownfield, I propose to explore, photograph and write about whatever bits of unfenced stretches of waterfront are accessible, as far west along the Kill van Kull as seems safe and interesting.

I consider the effort part of my continuing education as a Staten Islander. I hope it yields some work you'll find worth looking at and reading.

Comments

[DOORtoDOORrealty]

Great work, love pixs, good content, have lots in common. Keep up the good work

[Dan Icolari]

God loves an enthusiastic praiser. And so do I.

[Robin Locke Monda]

I love the photographed objects, especially your tubular light and the coal cover. Wonderful!

[Dan Icolari]

Thanks very much for the link--and for your generous compliment, Joe.

You didn't mention what I'm about to, so pardon my boosterism if you already know all about the international noshing that goes on, on or very close to Victory Boulevard between St. Marks Place and Cebra Avenue, in restaurants offering home cooking from Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Mexico, West Africa, Poland, Sri Lanka and Albania (pass the Burek, please).

All very Recession-consciously priced.

[Joe]

Hi Dan,

Great post. A couple of months back I read a report by the Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team on the state of the Staten Island Waterfront, specifically on the North Shore. It sounds like something you'd be interested in, though it's possible you've already read it. See here: http://aia.org/aiaucmp/groups/aia/documents/pdf/aias078002.pdf

In somewhat related news, after returning from a trip to Manhattan with my girlfriend this past weekend, I finally took the time to step out of the ferry terminal and walk along the waterfront before heading home. I saw two women playing a makeshift game of tennis, some high school age youth roller blading, and couples strolling by the water. Overall, it made for a very relaxing experience, and shed some light on the many people that call St. George their home.

Keep up the good work.

-Joe

[Dan Icolari]

Good point, Bill--and thanks for making it.

Do you remember a politician named Nick LaPorte (I think he was an assemblyman) who wanted to build an expressway along the waterfront, to "relieve" traffic on Richmond Terrace and the north shore in general?

We can be thankful THAT proposal never went anywhere!

Kinda like Lanza's attempt to resurrect the Secession Follies--a particular brand of snake oil that, at least from what I read of Advance commenters, seems not to be going over so well this time.

Thanks again for writing, Bill.

[Bill Martin]

The waterfront out here is probably more consistently accessible than in any other borough since it is not blocked by any stupid highways.