These little stories are from an article about people who are making a difference, and I thought little pieces of it might make good late night posts. A little bit of inspiration, perhaps, at the start of an open thread.
But talk about whatever you want!
In a year that made many of us want to give up, these unsung activists found a way to help others.
h/t hazmat
🌼
The Boat Rocker
In the late 1990s, Rob Buchanan, a former Princeton rower, had an inspiring encounter with a man named Mike Davis, who built replicas of the boat George Washington used to clear troops from Brooklyn during the Battle of Long Island. Mr. Davis, who died in 2008, had been on a mission to open up the city’s waterways to recreational use. Mr. Buchanan immediately felt a calling.
“This idea of the harbor as public space really resonated with me,” he said.
Over the years, he devoted himself to making access to the city’s coastline more equitable, an ambition that has intensified as luxury development has made waterfront access more elusive. He has helped found three community boathouses (one in Manhattan and two in Brooklyn), where volunteers provide free rowing and kayaking sessions. He is also the steering committee coordinator of the NYC Water Trail Association, which advocates clean water and safe boating and helped create the Citizens Water Quality Testing Program to check pollution levels in the harbor.
This year, he began lobbying the city to build a waterfront education center in Sunset Park, which would include work force training for maritime businesses. He joined Rocking the Boat, a nonprofit based in the South Bronx, where he directs programming and teaches boat building to middle schoolers from the neighborhood so that they can feel, as he put it, that “this is our harbor and our estuary,” and that they live in a city that belongs to everyone.
From Six New Yorkers Who Made the City a Better, Cooler, Fairer Place in 2023. Written by Ginia Bellafante, who writes the Big City column, a weekly commentary on the politics, culture and life of New York City.
In a year that made many of us want to give up, these unsung activists found a way to help others.
h/t hazmat
Open thread!
