About
Mission
The Newtown Creek Alliance is a community-based organization dedicated to restoring, revealing and revitalizing Newtown Creek.
The Newtown Creek Alliance represents the interests of community residents and local businesses who are dedicated to restoring community health, water quality, habitat, access, and vibrant water-dependent commerce along Newtown Creek. Since 2002, the Alliance has served as a catalyst and channel for effective community action and our efforts have made a positive and enduring impact on the health and quality of life of Creek-side communities.
The Newtown Creek Alliance works to restore the Creek by securing mitigation and remediation of known environmental hazards – both in the neighborhoods surrounding Newtown Creek and in Newtown Creek itself – reporting ongoing sources of pollution, and preventing new pollution. To restore the ecological functions of the waterway, the Newtown Creek Alliance supports investments in green infrastructure, bioremediation, and habitat restoration.
The Newtown Creek Alliance endeavors to reveal the Creek by conducting tours by foot, bike, bus, and boat that educate the public about the history of the waterway and current activity. We also work to nurture and expand open spaces along Newtown Creek to enable public access to a waterway which has few public access points and we partner with educational institutions to teach Newtown Creek-based curricula.
The Newtown Creek Alliance helps revitalize watershed communities by playing a leadership role in area-wide brownfield redevelopment planning, creating programs that improve the environmental profile of industrial businesses, and engaging in workforce development to create local green jobs. Our work supports environmental, economic and human health.
Staff and Board of Directors
Kate Zidar (Executive Director) is an Environmental Planner with a professional focus on solid waste, open space, urban agriculture and stormwater management. As Executive Director of NCA, she works to strike a balance between waterfront access, environmental health and economic development for the city’s most polluted waterway. Kate serves as Chairperson of the Steering Committee for the Stormwater Infrastructure Matters (S.W.I.M.) Coalition, an organization committed to ensuring swimmable, fishable waters around New York City through Green Infrastructure. Kate teaches graduate courses in Writing, Solid Waste Management and Green Infrastructure at Pratt Institute. Kate has experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors, consulting previously for the Planning Center at Municipal Art Society, NYC Housing Authority’s Greening and Gardening Program, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership and Habana Outpost. Kate is a founding member of the North Brooklyn Compost Project, and a board member of the Lower East Side Ecology Center. She holds a BS in Biology from the University of Colorado, and an MS in City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute’s Graduate Center For Planning and the Environment.
Michael Heimbinder (Chairperson & Project Manager) is Founder and Executive Director of HabitatMap, a Brooklyn based non-profit that builds web-tools to support grassroots environmental organizing. He is also a technical advisor to the Organization of Waterfront Neighborhoods where he consults on solid waste management issues in New York City. Michael is a graduate of Colorado College and received his M.A. in International Affairs from the New School for Social Research.
Christine Holowacz (Vice-Chair) is the Community Liaison at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment plant for the Newtown Creek Monitor Committee. Christine received the Woman of the Millennium and the Carmine “Dusty” De Chair Community awards from the Seneca Club in 2001 & 2002 for her work with GWAPP and a Citation in 2002 from the Borough President for her work in the Polish Community. President of the Greenpoint Property Owners since 1989, Christine devotes much of her time to issues concerning senior citizen homeowners. She is also the Church of St. Cecilia political and housing coordinator. She holds a BA in Economics and Accounting from Brooklyn College.
Paul Parkhill (Treasurer) is the Director of Planning and Development for the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center, a nonprofit developer of industrial space in North Brooklyn. Since joining GMDC in 1999, Paul has worked on all aspects of the organization’s real estate, planning and renewable energy projects, along with GMDC’s response to the North Brooklyn rezoning and the Newtown Creek Brownfield Opportunity Area. He is also co-founder and co-director of Place in History, a non-profit that sponsors neighborhood planning, history and public art projects, and is the co-author books on Long Island City and the Phelps Dodge site along Newtown Creek. Paul holds a BA from Brown University and a Masters Degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University.
Laura Hofmann (Secretary) is a St. Anthony’s parishioner, mother of six and grandmother of three. She is a lifelong Greenpoint resident who’s family has been negatively impacted by the environmental degradation of her neighborhood. Because of this, she’s been active in parks, waterfront and environment organizations in her neighborhood for many years. She is currently a member of the Newtown Creek Monitoring Committee, Kosciusko Bridge Stakeholders Advisory Committee, Barge Park Pals and others. Laura is also a student at LaGuardia Community College majoring in Liberal Arts with a focus on Labor & Community Organizing.
Steve Lang has a PhD in sociology and is an associate professor at LaGuardia Community College where he teaches urban sociology and environmental sociology. He has done research on the political ecology of urban and suburban coastal environments. At LaGuardia, he helps foster a sense of awareness on the part of faculty and students regarding the environmental, political, and economic issues facing Newtown Creek.
Dorothy Moorehead is a real estate broker in Queens and serves as the Chair of the Environmental Committee of Queens Community Board 2.
Phillip Musegaas is the Hudson River Program Director for Riverkeeper where he manages a staff of attorneys and investigators whose mission is to safeguard the ecological integrity of the Hudson River. He earned a J.D. with a Certificate in Environmental Law from Pace University School of Law. As a research assistant with the Pace Energy Project, Mr. Musegaas worked on a joint project with the United Nations Environment Program writing a handbook on drafting sustainable energy legislation for developing countries. As a legal intern at the Pace Litigation Clinic, under the supervision of co-directors Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Karl Coplan, Mr. Musegaas appeared in federal court, conducted settlement negotiations, filed motions and formulated discovery plans on violations of the federal Clean Water Act. He received his Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) in Geography from the University of Washington.
Bill Schuck is a Greenpoint resident who has the good fortune to be one of the few City residents to actually live on the Newtown Creek. Bill is a visual artist and educator with a studio located a few feet from the Creek’s bulkhead; he has been boating and kayaking on Newtown Creek for 15 years.
Evan Thies is the founder of Brooklyn Strategies, a consulting firm that provides public affairs and strategic planning services to non-profit, political, and corporate clients. Evan spent years in public service as a senior adviser to New York City Council Member David Yassky, at the office of Sen. Hillary Clinton, and as a communications specialist for political campaigns, including that of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Evan is a resident and activist in Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Participating Organizations
Barge Park Pals
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center
Greenpoint Williamsburg Association for Parks and Planning
Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance
Newtown Creek Monitoring Committee
New York Industrial Retention Network
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Queens Community Board 2
Queens Community Board 5