Newtown Creek Initiative
Between February and October 2000,
Place in History carried out its Newtown Creek Initiative,
an effort to examine the past and present, and help shape
the future, of Newtown Creek, an industrial waterway that
marks the western section of the Brooklyn-Queens border.
In November 2000, Place in History, in
collaboration with Laurel Hill Works, published Copper
on the Creek, a richly illustrated, interdisciplinary
history of the former Phelps Dodge copper refinery, which,
until recently, was located on the Creek's north bank, in
West Maspeth, Queens.
Between February and October 2000, working
with local representatives and activists, Place in History,
the Queens Department of City Planning and the New York City
Council on the Environment coordinated a Creek-wide community
planning initiative, which gave area residents a chance to
influence the development decisions that will determine their
neighborhood's future.
To kick off this process, more than 50
Queens and Brooklyn residents assembled in Greenpoint to discuss
the history of this much-maligned waterway, and what lessons
this history holds for those shaping the area's future.
Using these stories as a guideline, landscape
architects Jamie Purinton and Matthew Potteiger then developed
a series of schematic plans for the Vernon Boulevard street
end in Long Island City. In November 2000, these plans were
presented to neighborhood workers and residents, and will
serve as a foundation for the site's redevelopment.
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