About This Item

  • Call NumberGEHP_0074
  • Summary(00:37) Different residences in Greenpoint -- (2:58) Greenpoint is a very different kind of community than now -- (5:43) Family working in neighborhood -- (7:02) McGuiness Boulevard being created and neighborhood injustices -- (8:50) Waterfront active and then in decline, very little public space, Eastern District Terminal, fireboat stationed off Noble Street pier -- (12:30) Neighborhood is much better environmentally -- (18:20) Rezoning created waterfront access but changing character of area with out of scale buildings -- (19:30) Residents getting pushed out of gentrifying area -- (21:00) Accomplishments on CB1 -- (23:10) Bushwick Inlet Creek draining, McCarren Park -- (25:50) Pushed for garbage incinerator, but city has terrible waste management plan -- (28:45) Happy to see development and recreational opportunities on Newtown Creek, activating Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Building in old rope factory and community push back -- (34:37) Massive displacement in Bushwick from gentrification -- (35:55) Greenpoint becoming more activist minded in 1970s, rise of block associations in response to City crisis
  • Date2019-05-27
  • Physical Description1 sound file (29 min.) : digital, MP3
  • CreatorDereszewski, John
  • Cite AsGreenpoint Environmental History Project, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
  • Digital Public Library of AmericaThis item is represented in the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).
  • Formatsound recording-nonmusical
  • Genreinterviews
  • NoteAudio interview conducted on May 27, 2019, by Acacia Thompson in Forest Hills, Queens. Collected through Our Streets, Our Stories, an oral history project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is funded through the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund.
  • SubjectImmigrants--Polish ; Working class ; Waterfronts ; Air--Pollution ; Zoning ; Gentrification ; Community Board 1 (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.) ; Parks ; Land use--New York (State)--New York ; Real estate development ; Waste management ; Incinerators ; Catholic schools ; Citizens' associations ; Factory and trade waste--Environmental aspects ; Integrated solid waste management ; Newtown Creek (Kings County-New York County, N.Y.) ; Waste disposal in rivers, lakes, etc. ; New York (N.Y.). City Planning Commission
  • PlaceGreenpoint (New York, N.Y.)
  • RightsThis work is covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Users are free to share and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes as long as appropriate credit is given to the source and new material created with this work is shared under the same conditions.
  • TitleOral history interview with John Dereszewski conducted on 27 May 2019.