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