LONG ISLAND CITY — It may not be the Seine, but you can pedal your way around the shores of Newtown Creek this weekend.
Advocacy group Green Shores NYC is organizing a free bike tour Saturday that will wind through neighborhoods on both sides of the waterway, in an effort to better acquaint New Yorkers with the creek, a designated Superfund site that flows between Brooklyn and Queens.
The event is part of the organization's "Bridging the Creek" project — launched with a grant from the Hudson River Fund — which aims to engage those who live and work around Newtown Creek through an online survey, walking and biking tours and a series of community workshops.
"We just want to hear people's opinions and emotions around the creek," said Green Shores NYC president Katie Ellman. "We really want to hear from community members about it, and then we can effectively advocate on their behalf."
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The bike tour will take place Saturday at 11 a.m., starting at Hunters Point South Park and moving east along the creek through the neighborhoods of Hunters Point, Dutch Kills and Blissville and over the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge into Brooklyn, stopping at places like the Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Newtown Creek Nature Walk.
Richard Melnick of the Greater Astoria Historical Society will provide an historical overview of the uses of the creek, while Willis Elkins of the Newtown Creek Alliance will talk about the environmental issues surrounding the waterway, and offer an update on some of the initiatives the alliance is working on.
The ride will end at the North Brooklyn Boat Club in Greenpoint. The nonprofit Recycle-A-Bicycle will be lending bikes and helmets to riders who don't have their own.
The event is one of two bike tours planned for this summer.
Other activities in the Bridging the Creek project include an online survey and three community workshops which will ask local residents, businesses and organizations to share their opinions on the creek, how they currently use the waterway or how they'd like to use it in the future, Ellman said.
The results of the survey will be shared at the workshops — planned for August, September and October — and will also be used to help Green Shores NYC craft a waterfront vision plan for Newtown Creek, similar to one it published in 2011 for Astoria and Long Island City.
"That means to really engage with our neighborhood and community members to find out their hopes and dreams, if they have any, for the Newtown waterfront," Ellman said.
Registration is required for the bike tour. To register, click here. Those wishing to borrow bicycles must send an email to mail@greenshoresnyc.org.
