Hell Gate | by Max Rivlin-Nadler 4:04 PM EDT on November 25, 2024
Residents of the sliver of land that borders Red Hook and Cobble Hill aren’t
strangers to heavy industry. Their neighborhood, also known as the Columbia
Waterfront District, is sandwiched between commercial piers and the
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Their streets carry plenty of big trucks belching
noxious fumes from the nearby shipping terminal and Amazon distribution
centers.
“We’re used to heavy trucks, traic stretching down the block, the rumbling,”
John Leyva, who has lived in the neighborhood for 30 years, told Hell Gate.
“We’ve seen garbage trucks, the DOT parking heavy machinery, we’re just kind
of stuck between all these other neighborhoods that don’t want none of that on
their streets.”
But even amidst all this industrial activity, a new concrete recycling facility,
located at the intersection of Kane Street and Columbia Street, stood out for
blowing potentially toxic dust all over the neighborhood.
“The dust was all over the place, on windy days it looked like a hail storm,”
Leyva said.
