Olmsted, Public Health, and Urban Planning with Olmsted-Beil House | Episode 244

PAST PROGRAM | Virtual Programs

Join Turnstile Tours and the Friends of Olmsted-Beil House for a virtual panel discussion to mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of Frederick Law Olmsted’s report for the Staten Island Improvement Commission, a comprehensive plan for the island’s growth and development. We will hear unique perspectives about Staten Island in the late 1800s, Olmsted’s public health recommendations, and his legacy in the greenest borough of New York City. The panel will include Prof. Catherine Seavitt Nordenson, Director of Graduate Landscape Architecture Program at City College’s Spitzer School of Architecture; Jessica Kratz of the Staten Island Greenbelt Nature Center; naturalist Ed Johnson, emeritus curator of science at the Staten Island Museum; and moderated by Andrew Gustafson of Turnstile Tours.

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Keeping NYC Waterways Clean: Stormwater Management | Episode 54

PAST PROGRAM | Virtual Programs

Ever wonder why you shouldn’t go to the beach after it rains? Or why you shouldn’t take a shower during a rainstorm? Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) are one of New York City’s most persistent and pervasive environmental challenges. Learn how our city’s water system works, how it handles stormwater and sewage, and why, unfortunately, the latter winds up in our waterways thanks to the former. Join Doug Chapman, a LEED-certified professional with experience designing green roofs, as we look at strategies for tackling CSOs, using the infrastructure of the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a case study.

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From the Brooklyn Navy Yard to Mars: Honeybee Robotics

The Brooklyn Navy Yard has a long tradition of exploration. For 165 years, the Yard built, outfitted, and repaired ships that traveled millions of miles around the world, including building the first US Navy ship to circumnavigate the globe (USS Vincennes, 1826-30), dispatching the groundbreaking US Exploring Expedition (1838-42), and receiving the Navy’s first nuclear submarine USS Nautilus after it passed underneath the ice of the North Pole (1958). But none of these ships went as far or as deep into uncharted territory as systems developed by Brooklyn Navy Yard tenant Honeybee Robotics.>> Continue reading