A distorted reflection of a sliver of moon shimmers on the water, between long streams of industrial filth. Wharf rats frolic along concrete banks, leaping from one tire to the next. A tiny paw slips on the slick trigger of a discarded gun and the drone of the BQE is cracked for a moment. It’s nighttime on the Gowanus Canal.
The Gowanus Canal, a heavily polluted, slow moving, body of water, once served Brooklyn’s shipping industry. Even though the industry is basically gone at this point, the Canal offers certain benefits that make it a little stinky jewel in our fine borough.
Benefits:
1. When dug originally, the Canal had the added bonus of draining western Brooklyn’s marshlands so they could put the Safeway in Red Hook and rich people in Park Slope.
2. The Canal has proven itself an exceptional receptacle for rats caught in a certain apartment that were not executed in an electric box.
3. Without the Canal, the F train would not make its two glorious above-ground stops at Smith & 9th and 4th Avenue. Think of all those people who wouldn’t be able to send text messages, check their voice mail and make annoying phone calls while commuting with 6000 other people in a single train car.
4. The Canal is an excellent place to unburden yourself of illegal firearms – or legal firearms that were used in an illegal act. Actually, it’s great for destroying evidence of all kinds.
5. The actual creation of the Canal was one of the first acts of Brooklyn gentrification. Once the land was drained, property values went up and the birds and fishes were kicked out so robber-barons and merchant marines could move in. So, I’m not sure if this is a benefit because it’s a politically sensitive matter – which I am clearly on the wrong side of – but, it’s certainly historically interesting.
6. Without the canal, there would be no need for the little bridges on Union, Carroll, 3rd and 9th Streets.
7. The Canal provides the central point of enjoyment for both the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club and the Urban Divers Estuary Conservancy.
Thus, I declare “yay” for the Gowanus Canal.
stumbling home from kathy and julie’s on saturday night, i took this picture of the gowanus canal, which was lit up by a nice little boat. it’s a camera phone, so pardon the shoddy resolution.
i love the canal like it was my own smelly, diseased, rat infested, gun toting child.
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