Open House NYC 2010: New York's Laid an Egg!

Roar! Yesterday was Open House NYC, the day where a ton of cool private areas in the city are open for tours! It offers a rare chance to see some of the more hidden aspects of city life and I'm always excited for the chance to learn more about the city I love! This Open House NYC I signed up for the Digester Egg Expereince with the New York City Department of Evironmental Protection. I've always wonder what went on inside those huge towers on the shores of Greenpoint and yesterday I got the chance to find out!

  

Here I am way up in Greenpoint on my way to the Digester Egg! It's so ominous the way it looms over the East River like that! I wonder what goes on inside?

Here I am inside the egg, about to go up to the top to learn about exactly what it is this things does! Roar!

Turns out this sweet digester egg cleans contaminated water and turns it into safe drinking water! It's actually super neat! The egg uses a process of anaerobic respiration, just like at Fresh Kills Park, to break down waste products and leave us with safe, clean drinking water! Go DEP!

The top of the Egg also offers some truly unique views of the Manhattan skyline! Roar! 

Back at the DEP station they had all these great water fixtures to celebrate clean water. Then I go a drink from the water fountain! Mmmmmm! Fresh from the egg!

On my way out the staff was having trouble moving these old lockers to the trash! They were so happy that a big strong T-Rex like me came around to help them! Roar!

What a great place to visit on Open NYC! I love learning all about the neat things that go on behind the scenes to help make New York City my favorite color, Green!

A visit to Fresh Kills Park

Roar! Yesterday I went to my second to last Key to the City location... and Giraffe came with me! After out fight last week I told her I only had two places left to visit, and the next place I was going was Fresh Kills Park on the 25th. It isn't exacly a romantic place, and certainly not my first choice for a date, but Giraffe said she didn't care. We left that morning to go out to Staten Island and see what was once the largest landfill in the city. 

Here is our tour guide, Doug, who is briefing us on the bus on the way to the park. Doug is a pretty cool guy, he was really proud of what they've managed to do with the site and what the park will be when they're finished. Though when someone asked him if he was from Staten Island he did have to admit he was from my neck of the woods in Brooklyn. Roar!

As soon as our bus arrived at the top of the North Mound, Doug got the Key to the City lock out of the way...

Woah! Turned out that box held this sweet set of binoculars! If we come to any crossroads on this tour it will be good to have these 'nocks on me! Actual viewing wasn't that great, though, seeing that the weather was pretty rainy yesterday. Roar...

Here I am with Giraffe on top of the North Mound. We are sitting 200 feet above sea level on a hill made entirely of trash from New York City! The story behind Fresh Kills is pretty amazing, amazing and horrifying! The city of New York used to just dump all its trash inthe ocean, then when the Supreme Court finally said this wasn't ok, everyone's favorite city planner, Robert Moses, stepped in and chose Fresh Kills as the site for the city's new landfill. For over 50 years Fresh Kills took the city's trash and what was once flat wetlands are now 200 foot tall hills of garbage! Roar!

Here I am looking at one of the many methane pumps on the North Hill. As the garbage beneath decomposes methane is released. It's collected at these pumps and then burned off as "clean" energy. I think that's pretty neat! Roar!

Here Giraffe is taking in the post-apocalyptic scenery up on the North Hill. Maybe T-Rex and the Shadowy Way will write a song about it! Roar!

Roar! Here is the plant where they burn off a bunch of the excess methane gas! Who ever smelt it dealt it guys! Roar!

Next we headed on over to the South Mound. On the way there we passed through what was left of all the wetlands that used to occupy this area. They are working hard to preseve whats left and even have an osprey nesting here! Here you can see the osprey nest buts it's kind of hard to make out the bird in it. Roar!

Roar! Here I am up on the South Mound. You can see one of the waste processing plant in the background. Apparently it's also the tallest building on Staten Island. I wonder what the view is like from up there?

Here are Giraffe and I together on the South Mound. We had a really fun time visiting Fresh Kills Park together. It's really impressive what they're doing with the site and it's clear to me that when the park is completed it will definitely be the nicest park in New York City! Roar!

On the way out of the park we passed this lone dump truck. I just read a report the other day about 14 of these babies that were stolen from a yard somewhere out here in Staten Island! I'm glad they didn't get this one! Roar!