Communities Advocating to Capture Value from Development with Somerville Community Corporation, Union Square Neighborhood Council, and Pratt Center for Community Development

3:00 PM, in the Auditorium

This panel will feature two accounts of community-led efforts to ensure that new development serves the public good. One account is of an effort to recover value created by a city-sponsored upzoning in Gowanus, Brooklyn and direct it towards new resources for the neighborhood’s public housing residents. The other account is of the negotiation of a community benefits agreement (CBA) with the master developer of a transit oriented development in Somerville, MA. The panelists will discuss the challenges of advocating to distribute publicly generated value according to principles of equity, fairness, and sustainability.

Panel organizers

Laurie Goldman

• Laurie Goldman is a Senior Lecturer in the Dept. of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University and is a member of the Union United Coalition and a Somerville Community Corporation (SCC) board member.

Bill Cavellini

• Bill Cavellini is the Co-Chair of the Union Square Neighborhood Council, a CBA negotiating team member, and a member of Union United.

Van Hardy

• Van Hardy is a member of the CBA negotiation team, the SCC board member, and Union United.

Renee Madrones

• Rene Madrones is the Lead Organizer at SCC and is a member of Union United.

Karen Narefsky

• Karen Narefsky is a former Organizer at SCC and Union United member and is currently a Tenant Organizer at Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) in New York City.

Elena Conte

Elena oversees Pratt Center’s policy initiatives and advances collaborative advocacy campaigns that link the Center’s technical assistance practice to policy. She also serves as a lead organizer, facilitator, and urban planner on projects that advance policies and projects improving equity in housing and the environment. She focuses on the intersections of land use, accountable development, sustainability, housing, and transportation equity issues. She currently directs the Center’s work with partners in 7 neighborhoods that have been slated for rezonings, including Gowanus. Previously, Elena led solid waste, energy and urban forestry efforts at a community-based environmental justice organization, Sustainable South Bronx. A lifelong New Yorker, Elena holds a MS in City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute and dual BAs, in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and Spanish, from Stanford University. She is a Senior Fellow with the Environmental Leadership Program, a Coro Immigrant Civic Leadership Program participant, and part of the Sterling Network. She sits on the advisory board of the Center for Community Leadership, and is an adjunct professor at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies.

Laura Wolf-Powers

Laura Wolf-Powers is an associate professor of urban policy and planning at Hunter College CUNY. She is an  advisor to the Pratt Center for Community Development, which is working closely with the Gowanus Coalition for Neighborhood Justice to achieve progressive outcomes in the Gowanus neighborhood re-zoning.