The Sound: A Region of Leisure Hunts Point, NY to New Haven, CT Fernando Arias | Armando Birlain | Xiao Ming Zhang
Mansions and wealthy neighborhoods characterize the old New England or small beach town feel, and border a good portion of the coast of the Long Island Sound. Property values in Westchester County, Long Island, and southwestern Connecticut, starting at US$500K, are among the highest in the nation, due to the proximity to New York City and their maritime location on "The Sound".
The first European to record the existence of Long Island Sound was the Dutch navigator Adriaen Block, who entered “The Devil’s Belt”, as it was known then, from the East River in 1614.
Today, recreational boating and seasonal tourism create a robust economy on the Long Island Sound, estimated at US$9.1 billion in 2010.
Boat building and navigation technologies are potential sources of manufacturing innovation for various communities in the Long Island Sound region.
Parks, beaches, golf courses, shopping, entertainment all support tourism industries that cater to newly-weds, kids and families, and seasonal food & dining events in the Long Island Sound region.
Long Island Sound has historically had rich recreational and commercial fishing, including oysters, lobsters, scallops, blue crabs, flounder, striped bass, and bluefish. However, in recent years the western part of the sound has become increasingly deficient of marine life.
Several major cities are situated along Long Island Sound and more than 8 million people live within its watershed. Major Connecticut cities on the Sound include Bridgeport, New London, Stamford, Norwalk, and New Haven. Cities on the New York side of the Sound include Rye, Glen Cove, New Rochelle, and portions of New York City (the boroughs of Queens and the Bronx).
Edge: Long Island Sound 518 coastal miles
A “sound� is often formed by the sea flooding a river valley, and is identified by a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land.
Long Island Sound is also an Estuary, which are partially enclosed bodies of water where freshwater (water without salt) meets salty ocean water.
Polluted sediment from harbor, river and waterway dredging has been dumped in four sites in the Sound. A dumping site near Stamford, Connecticut and another near New Haven, Connecticut were expected to remain open. In 2007, the U.S. EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began a five- to seven-year, $16 million study on more sustainable methods to dredge harbors in the Sound.
Major environmental problems currently affecting the Sound include hypoxia, debris and other man-made pollution, and over-development. Industrial pollution includes mercury influx from the hatting industry in Danbury, Connecticut. New York City and other municipal sewage systems have long dumped nitrogen, among other pollutants, into the Sound, which contributes to hypoxia.
New Haven Harbor Circa 1920
New Haven Harbor Quinnipiac Park
New Haven Harbor Active petroleum industries visible
New Haven Harbor Decaying manufacturing stock
New Haven Harbor 100 year flood zone coverage
New Haven Harbor Roads, Industries, Transportation, Parks
New Haven Harbor Flood risk to regional assets
New Haven Harbor Contaminated flood waters compound risks
New Haven Harbor Zoning stitched along 21 coastal miles
New Haven Harbor Impact on Regional assets
New Haven Harbor Phase One | 2011
New Haven Harbor Phase Two | 2030
New Haven Harbor Phase Three | 2050
New Haven Harbor Program generation
Hunts Point Peninsula Circa 1900
Hunts Point Peninsula Concrete Park, Bronx River
Hunts Point Peninsula Concrete Park, Bronx River
Hunts Point Peninsula Barretto Point Park
Hunts Point Peninsula 100 year flood zone
Hunts Point Peninsula Roads, Industries, Transportation, Parks
Hunts Point Peninsula Flood risk to regional assets
Hunts Point Peninsula Contaminated flood waters compound risks
Hunts Point Peninsula Zoning stitched along 27 coastal miles
Hunts Point Peninsula Rail network
Hunts Point Peninsula Phase One | 2011
Hunts Point Peninsula Phase Two | 2030
Hunts Point Peninsula Phase Three | 2050
Hunts Point Peninsula Program generation