About This Item

  • Call NumberGEHP_0081
  • Summary(O:28) Description of Newtown Creek -- (2:36) 19th century industry on Newtown Creek -- (4:32) Chemical companies and kerosene come to the Creek -- (6:06) Standard Oil dominates petroleum industry on the Creek -- (7:50) No environmental regulations on the Creek until 1970s -- (11:00) Newtown Creek is where oil industry figured out strategies -- (11:35) Standard Oil fire burned for three days, burned down Greenpoint Avenue bridge -- (13:20) Greenpoint oil spill is larger than thought by State -- (14:47) Problem of difference of municipalities to get things done on Creek -- (15:40) Newtown Creek Alliance forming and leadership -- (21:30) Newtown Creek Superfund site is safe from losing funding despite presidential administration -- (22:48) Life on the Creek -- (24:24) Floating docks on the Creek -- (26:30) Problem of sewer overflow into Creek from Newtown Creek Waste Treatment Facility -- (31:10) Politicians not interested in dealing with Creek and sewage issues at they don’t address attention getting topics -- (37:56) Effects of Hurricane Sandy on the Creek -- (39:01) Importance of development to stimulate working class economy, should be building resilient shoreline -- (42:42) City should be requiring new developments to build more environmentally sustainable buildings
  • Date2018-10-24
  • Physical Description1 sound file (45min.) : digital, MP3
  • CreatorWaxman, Mitch
  • 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
  • GenreinterviewsMP3
  • NoteAudio interview conducted on October 24, 2018, by Acacia Thompson in Astoria, 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.
  • SubjectAir--Pollution ; Brooklyn Union Gas Company ; Combined sewer overflows ; Exxon Mobil Corporation ; Factory and trade waste -- Environmental aspects ; Kerosene ; New York (N.Y.). City Planning Commission ; New York (N.Y.). Department of Environmental Protection ; Newtown Creek (Kings County-New York County, N.Y.) ; Oil spills ; Petroleum refineries ; Queens (New York, N.Y.) ; Rendering works ; Sewage disposal plant ; Superfund sites ; Urban Pollution ; Waste disposal in rivers, lakes, etc. ; Bloomberg, Michael ; Standard Oil Company ; Hurricane Sandy, 2012 ; Shorelines ; Storm water retention basins ; Storm sewers ; Runoff ; Real estate development
  • 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 Mitch Waxman conducted on 2018 October 24.