It's been 18 years since New York City rezoned Greenpoint's waterfront, and local residents are still waiting for the green spaces they were promised. The city’s vision of replacing a contaminated industrial shoreline with a new community of luxury apartment towers remains incomplete — and may now be threatened by sea level rise.

Greenpoint is one of the most polluted neighborhoods in the nation. It is bordered by the East River and Newtown Creek, and centuries of industry — including oil refineries, shipyards and factories — have tainted its coastlines and poisoned the soil underneath many of its streets. The neighborhood is also home to two federal Superfund sites – the Meeker Avenue Plume and Newtown Creek — as well as the Greenpoint oil spill, one of the largest oil spills in U.S. history.

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