| Board of Directors | |
Ruth Negrón-Gaines: President
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Kevin McDonald: Vice President
The Nature Conservancy
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Charlotte Biblow, Esq: Secretary
Farrell Fritz, P.C.
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Lauren Furst: Treasurer
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Albanese Organization Inc. --------------- Lennard Axinn Island Estates --------------- Robert Bernard Capital One Bank
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Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III
SUNY College at Old Westbury
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Dr. Miriam K. Deitsch
Farmingdale State College, State University of New York
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Pat Edwards
Citigroup
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Richard Grafer
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Amy Hagedorn
Hagedorn Foundation
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Jeff Kraut
North Shore - LIJ Health System
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Mitchell H. Pally
Long Island Builders Institute--------------- Ron Shiffman
Pratt Institute
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Robert Wieboldt
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Amy Engel Appointed New Executive Director of Sustainable Long Island
 Sustainable Long Island announced the appointment of Amy Engel as its new Executive Director; responsible for overseeing and managing the organization's staff and day-to-day operations, including programs, finance, public relations, and fundraising. Engel, whose appointment is effective immediately, is the third full-time Executive Director in Sustainable Long Island's history.
"Amy has the combination of skills, experience, and dedication to lead Sustainable Long Island in advancing economic development, environmental health, and social equity across the region" said Ruth Negron-Gaines, Sustainable Long Island Board President. "We are thrilled to have such a capable and deeply committed Executive Director moving us forward as the premier community planning organization on Long Island." Engel most recently worked at the Suffolk County Executive Office as a Senior Management Analyst for the Executive Budget Office and as the County Executive Assistant to the Chief Deputy County Executive. As Senior Management Analyst, Engel's responsibilities included researching policy directives and preparing cost benefit analyses for new initiatives, writing, monitoring, and approving requisitions, contracts, conferences, transfers, grant appropriations, and collaborating on development of the Operating and Capital budgets. As County Executive Assistant to the Chief Deputy County Executive, Engel successfully advanced community development projects and facilitated municipal interaction, land use and development initiatives, and streamlined grant administration processes. She also has experience in advocacy; developing state and federal legislative agendas for the County, as well as special event planning and fundraising. "As someone who has worked both inside and outside of government, I have long appreciated Sustainable Long Island's unique role and impressive accomplishments of bringing together community members and government officials," said Engel. "I'm excited and eager to begin what I believe will be a long and fulfilling journey advancing sustainable development across Long Island." Prior to her employment at the County, Engel held additional important and responsible positions including being Consultant of Community Development for the KeySpan Corporation, the Executive Director of the Greater Long Island Clean Cities Coalition, and the Deputy Director of Government Affairs with the Long Island Association. Engel holds a Master's in Business Administration from Dowling College and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She succeeds Interim Executive Director, Rosalba M. Messina and former Executive Director, Sarah Lansdale; who held the position for seven years after following Patrick Duggan as the initial Executive Director of the organization. |
Board Member Charlotte Biblow Named Bank of America Local Hero
Partner at Farrell Fritz, P.C. law firm and Sustainable Long Island Board member, Charlotte Biblow has been named a "Local Hero" by Bank of America's Neighborhood Excellence program. Biblow was nominated by Sustainable Long Island, where she serves as secretary for the organization's Board of Directors.
"Sustainable Long Island jumped at the chance to nominate Charlotte and is thrilled she has been selected by Bank of America," said Ruth Negron-Gaines, Board President of Sustainable Long Island. "Charlotte is a true local hero and community advocate; devoting her time and efforts to advancing environmental stewardship, health, and equity across the New York region."
 Biblow is a partner in the environmental, land use & municipal law and commercial litigation departments at Farrel Frtiz and leads the firm's environmental law practice group. She represents clients in environmental, land use and commercial litigation in both federal and state courts, before administrative agencies and had been lead trial counsel in both jury and non-jury trials.
Ms. Biblow also represents governments and private developers in these areas of law, and provides counseling on land use and environmental/SEQRA issues. She also represents corporations, individuals and financial institutions in business transactions involving environmental due diligence, audits, and environmental regulations as they relate to business transactions. Ms. Biblow counsels clients about environmental permitting, regulatory compliance and investigation and remediation of environmentally impacted properties, such as brownfields sites, superfund sites and petroleum contamination sites. She is an experienced negotiator with federal, state and municipal environmental and land use regulators.
Chosen as a Local Hero, Biblow received a $5,000 contribution from Bank of America, which she has donated to Sustainable Long Island to help move forward the organization's mission in advancing economic development, environmental health, and social equity across Long Island.
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Long Island Brownfields Survey:
Understanding Redevelopment
Earlier this year, Sustainable Long Island conducted a survey of brownfields stakeholders in an effort to develop a comprehensive understanding of the general perception of brownfields redevelopment on Long Island. The survey was designed to provide insight into what works and what is challenging about current brownfields laws and redevelopment programs in New York and how the process can be improved.  This in-depth summary and analysis, located on Sustainable Long Island's blog, provides a synopsis of the survey results, an overview of the state of the brownfields redevelopment process according to respondents, and recommendations for how to improve it in order to address and balance the needs of Long Islanders.
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Long Island Regional Economic Development Unveils Projects
(via LIBN.com) - The Long Island Regional Economic Development Council adopted its five-year strategic plan this month, unveiling 13 initiatives it considers "transformative" for the region.
 The plan, dubbed "Long Island's Future Economy," featured a variety of developments and initiatives for funding. Developments included in the list of transformative projects, which will be vying for a slice of $200 million of the state's nearly $1 billion in economic development funds, include the Wyandanch Rising project in Babylon - which Sustainable Long Island facilitated back in 2003 - as well as:
- The Hempstead Village Renaissance project
- The Ronkonkoma Hub redevelopment
- The Heartland Town Square project
- The creation of an EPCAL AgriPark in Calverton
- A large-scale bay scallop restoration project
Other transformative proposals included in the plan include:
- A major expansion of Hauppauge-based Amneal Pharmaceuticals
- Matching venture capital seed funding already secured through the Accelerate Long Island initiative for commercializing local research
- Establishing a collaboration between Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory to set up a national center for energy research
- Creating a downtown transit hub in Hicksville with affordable housing, offices, labs, recreation and commercialization services under one roof for fledgling high-tech ventures
- Building a new cancer drug therapies testing lab at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
- A public-private partnership between Hofstra University and Stony Brook University to boost the number of engineering graduates - dubbed EngINE - and establishing a network of local agencies, higher education and research institutions, businesses and other not-for-profits that would increase the number of students interest in careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related industries
Read more about the plan on LIBN.com
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Farmingdale OK's Zoning Change
The Farmingdale board recently approved revamping the zoning code to allow for new downtown development. At a public hearing earlier this month, the Board accepted the SEQRA Environmental Findings Statement, adopted the Downtown Master Plan (called Downtown Farmingdale 2035), and passed Local Law 5 to amend the Zoning Code to add Article XIV Downtown Mixed-Use (D-MU) Zoning District.
This approval paves the way for multiuse buildings on 60 acres near the Long Island Rail Road station in a bid to revitalize the area with higher-density, transit-oriented development. The unanimous vote follows four years of studies and public hearings. Rezoning is the first step in a 139-page downtown master plan.
Earlier in the process, the Village of Farmingdale received a grant from NYS Department of State to conduct a BOA Step 2: Nomination Study for their downtown, contracting Sustainable Long Island to facilitate the community engagement components of the process. To establish a presence within the community and develop a relationship with residents, Sustainable Long Island attended Steering Committee meetings, shared information about the BOA/GEIS process with residents at public meetings, and distributed outreach materials to encourage participation at public hearings and involvement in the duration of the process.
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Vote for the Best of Long Island 2012
Sustainable Long Island has once again been nominated for the Long Island Press Best of LI 2012 award.
We are thrilled to be recognized as one of the top nonprofit organizations on Long Island and ask that you take a minute to vote for us and other nominees in a range of categories featuring your favorite local food, businesses, and services!
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Together we can build a more
sustainable Long Island
These rough economic times have magnified the problems we Long Islanders face each and every day. With our leaders warning us of tougher times to come, thinking regionally and acting locally is urgent. It is in all of our best interest to stay engaged and do what we can together to build a more sustainable Long Island.
Please consider making a tax-deductible gift to Sustainable Long Island that will help support our ongoing, and future work within your Long Island communities; while helping advance economic development, environmental health, and social equity!
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The Board and Staff of Sustainable Long Island |
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