This Red Hook Sinkage is Caused by Worms

In case you missed it, on Friday, Amy's New York Notebook ran an item about sinkage of land in Red Hook that was accompanied by this photo clearly showing something collapsing into the water over time. We ran the photo along with Amy's post and the Brooklyn Record's take on it on Saturday. Well, Carolina Salguero, director of PortSide New York, which helps spread a great deal of information about Red Hook and about waterfront matters in general, emailed to say that this particular photo doesn't show land sinking. "That is not land sinking," she wrote. "That is 'relieving platform' failing as worms get at the supporting pilings underneath."

So, while there are sinkage issues in parts of Red Hook (land is sinking and the odd sinkhole opening here and there) and the problems will get worse as traffic and development increase, the fringes of Red Hook aren't falling into New York Harbor. If you want a sense of how much of Red Hook was at one time marshland or tidal and how much land was created with fill or by draining, check out this post done by Callalillie last year, who overlaid an old map of the neighborhood atop a current one.

The bottom line is that there's sinkage in Red Hook and the potential for more in the short-term future, but in this case, we've got to blame it on worms.

Related Post:
Red Hook: Slowly Sinking?