Nominations for CoWNA Officers

The following nominations have been received. If you would like to submit additional nominations, please see the information at the bottom of this post.

President - Norman Cox
Norman Cox is currently Chair of the Land Use Committee for the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association. He led the committee in the effort to include our neighborhood with the rezoning of Carroll Gardens and has represented CoWNA at meetings of the South Brooklyn Neighborhood Alliance. Past volunteer work includes service on the Board of Directors of the Washington Market Park in lower Manhattan and the Board of Directors of the Lower East Side Printshop.

Norman lives on Columbia Street with his wife, Joyce Sangirardi, and he is a partner in an architectural firm that recently relocated to a renovated garage on Union Street.

Vice President - Bradley Kerr
I am running because I am proud to call the Columbia Waterfront my home and I want to help make our neighborhood a great place to live. My wife and I moved here nearly 10 years ago, after she and her family opened a neighborhood small business, Union Max. I have been an active member of CoWNA’s Public Services Committee. Over the past year, I helped craft the association’s plan for waterfront development, advocated for our vision at the community board and helped bring attention to waterfront issues in the recent city council race. If elected, I will work hard for CoWNA and continue to push for a green waterfront that truly benefits our neighborhood and city.

Recording Secretary - Mina Roustayi
Mina Roustayi, Ph.D., has lived in this neighborhood for a decade, since the turn of the millennium. She is a founding member of CoWNA and has served on the Executive Committee since CoWNA was formed. Mina is a relentless advocate for our neighborhood's quality of life, keeping the "fix the ditch" project alive, despite much skepticism. In addition, she is working on monitoring the air, land, and water quality of our neighborhood. She would like to see a world class and attractive Columbia waterfront as a destination, where people come for recreation, shopping, eating, relaxation, education, and enjoying the sunset against a backdrop of Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty. Mina hopes that future development of our waterfront, once the lease for American Stevedoring ends, will be cohesive and carefully planned with low architecture, landscaping, and much public access to the water.

Treasurer - Chris Barker
Chris Barker is a co-founder and co-writer of The Word On Columbia St. blog, which has been in existence for the past year and a half. Through the blog, he and his wife Jessie work to keep neighborhood residents informed about news, issues, and events, as well as promote the neighborhood to those who do not live here. The blog has also co- sponsored a number of events at local businesses, gardens, and parks.

Chris is also highly involved in the Urban Meadow Community Garden and Mother Cabrini Playground, where he helps to organize events, raise funds, recruit members, and in the case of the Meadow, maintain the site. Outside of his volunteer work in the community, Chris works as the Contracts and Grants Coordinator at the NYU Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, a University based Center that provides services to schools and school districts, and conducts research on education related topics. He is also currently pursuing a Masters in Urban Planning at the NYU Wagner School of Public Service, with a focus on Affordable Housing and Economic Development. He lives on President St. with his wife, Jessie, and two sons, Lucas and Alexandre.


Corresponding Secretary - Brian McCormick
Brian McCormick has resided in Brooklyn since 1995, moving to Luquer Street in Carroll Gardens. In 1997, Mr. McCormick moved to 95 Kane Street in the Columbia Waterfront District. Prior to moving to New York from Boston in 1990, Mr. McCormick served on the Boards of the Worcester Square Neighborhood Association, Chaired the Worcester Square Park Committee- planning the restoration (now complete) of an1851 Victorian pocket park in the South End of Boston. He also served on the Board of the South End Historical Society. The South End is the largest Victorian brick rowhouse district in the United States.

Mr.McCormick is a co-founder and currently serves on the Board of the Gowanus Dredger’s Canoe Club. In 1998, he co-founded and served as the Chair of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Taskforce. Mr. McCormick is currently Director of Finance and Administration for the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, Inc. - a 501 (c) 3 non-profit planning the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, a 14-mile waterfront greenway from Greenpoint to Bay Ridge. He also serves on the Board of the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association as it's Corresponding Secretary and is an active member of the Public Services Committee.

Elections will be held at CoWNA's General Meeting on December 7th at 7 PM at Jalopy, 315 Columbia Street.

If anyone else is interested in submitting a nomination please email info@cowna.org

General Meeting postponed

CoWNA's General Meeting, which was originally scheduled for Monday November 9th, has been rescheduled for Monday December 7th. We apologize for the inconvenience. The main agenda item is the election of officers for the 2010 term. The recent withdrawal of nominations of two candidates, due to the fact that they are moving out of the neighborhood, has left us with more positions than candidates and CoWNA's Executive Committee decided to postpone the meeting, so more potential candidates can submit their nominations.

Location and time remain unchanged: Jalopy, 315 Columbia Street, 7 PM

City Council Votes 48-0 to Rezone Carroll Gardens and Columbia Waterfront

The City Council unanimously approved the rezoning of Carroll Gardens and parts of the Columbia Waterfront on Wednesday, limiting the height and scope of future developments. All of us at CoWNA worked hard toward this goal, but I want to particularly thank all the members of our Landuse Committee, and particularly Committee chair Norman Cox, for all their efforts. Also a special thank you to John Hatheway, Glen Kelly and Maria Pagano from the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association for spearheading this effort and to Council Member Bill de Blasio for sponsoring the bill.

Council Votes 48-0 to Rezone Carroll Gardens [Brooklyn Eagle]

Carrol Gardens Rezoning Sails Through Council [Brownstoner]

B61 Split in January 2010

The MTA has announced that starting in January 2010, the B61 will be going from the IKEA Terminal to the intersection of Smith Street and Livingston Street. The new B62 bus will be going from Boerum Place and Livingston Street to Queens Plaza. The change will enable the buses on these lines to avoid congestion and improve timeliness. More information can be found at the MTA website:

http://www.mta.info/mta/news/releases/?en=090729-NYCT113

City Council Subcommittee Approves Carroll Gardens/Columbia Street Rezoning

City Council's Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises met Monday 10/26 and voted to approve the proposed rezoning proposal for Carroll Gardens and the Columbia Waterfront. This puts the application one step further along the path to full approval.

Rezoning Update

Our fight to downzone our neighborhood heads into it's next phase as the City Council’s Zoning Committee will take up the issue on Oct. 26 at 9:30 am at City Hall.

Next Public Meeting: Monday November 9th

At the general meeting of the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association (CoWNA) on Monday November 9th, 7pm at Jalopy, CoWNA will be electing its Board for the 2010 term. If you would like to nominate yourself or others to serve on CoWNA's Board, please forward a brief bio of no more than two paragraphs, including why you/they are well suited to advance quality of life issues in the neighborhood. The nomination should be submitted to contact@cowna.org for public posting on CoWNA's website two weeks prior to the general meeting. Service on CoWNA's Board requires attendance at monthly Executive Committee meetings, interaction with neighbors and policy makers and above all a dedication to leading and achieving consensus on a broad range of issues that affect the quality of life for residents and businesses in the district.

Where: Jalopy, 315 Columbia Street, between Hamilton and Woodhull

When: Monday 11/9 7 PM