Hoboken's piers are collapsing.
The good news (I always like to give the good news first): piers collapsing up and down our waterfront is actually a good thing- a sign that the Hudson is clean. The lack of pollution in the Hudson has created a habitat for microorganisms that are attacking the wood of our waterfront piers. These same microorganisms would not have been able to survive in the Hudson of old. Let's not forget that this is the same river that served as a sewage receptacle for New York City for hundreds of years. This is the same river that used to catch fire. This is the same river that captains of ships used to moor in to use the polluted water to strip their ships of biological debris! (Yes, really!) But today, things have changed. Oysters, fish, crabs, and even the microorganisms that sustain them, are back.
The bad news: this is creating a real problem for the piers built on older wooden structures- many of the piers in our city. Further, repair costs to the infrastructure of our piers are going to skyrocket. As far as I know, this is the third collapse near Stevens parking lot in the last few years. You can see from the picture below that wooden piles support the piers. Note: I took these pictures from the water today.
Who knew something so small can create a problem so big?
The obvious material to repair the piers with would be an inert metal of some kind. One that is intrinsically sterile would have advantages in repelling microorganisms. I nominate silver as the metal of choice. Highly sterile and with its own oxide coating, the silver pier pile is the way to fame and prosperity for Hoboken.
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect Rob I disagree. When I see that collapsed pier, I see stimulus. Looks shovel ready to me. This needs to be repaired with wood so that our children have shovel ready projects when their economy blows.
ReplyDelete-Luke Sidewalker
Well commented Luke. However, merely because the new, hi-tech silver piers do not pander to the creation of old-fashioned jobs, it does not necessarily mean that they will not provide work in the guise of new jobs. The hi-tech silver pier will, in fact, bring with it a new set of jobs needing a new set of labourers. Instead of shovels, I see a tin of brasso and a duster. Where once we had the wooden - on again- off again -boom and bust labour of the bad old piers, today we hail the year-round economy-protecting labour that Hoboken so deserves.
ReplyDelete