Alex Lowenstein, Resource Manager, Living City Brooklyn Gowanus
Alex brings to Living City Block Gowanus a dedication to bringing communities together around their own development through projects that tackle energy, waste, and water issues. Before moving to New York City, Alex worked on several projects in St. Louis, Missouri that were designed to engage local residents in the revitalization of their own neighborhoods, including the design and implementation of a hyper-efficient produce market and education center in the midst of an urban food desert and creation of a storm water mitigation plan for a neighborhood’s central corridor that reconnected inhabitants on either side of the divide by involving them in the design process. In New York, Alex worked at the Association for Energy Affordability (AEA), where as an energy analyst he surveyed multi-family buildings in all five boroughs as part of the Federal Weatherization Assistance Program, analyzed their energy consumption, and designed retrofit packages to optimize energy efficiency. As Director of Technical Services at AEA, he oversaw implementation of the Con Edison Multi-Family Energy Efficiency Program, which resulted in the installation of energy efficiency measures in over 1,000 large residential buildings in the greater metropolitan area over the past two years. Alex received a bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Design from Washington University in St. Louis.
Tom Harris, Fund Raising Consultant
Maxwell Fine, ESQ, Legal Consultant
For the previous two years Max was Associate General Counsel for Pluvius LLC, a renewable energy development services company in St. Louis, MO. Before that Max worked with senior attorneys at the Pace Energy and Climate Center to analyze and write policies that accelerate the use of alternative energy technologies, specifically combined heat and power (CHP). Max earned his Juris Doctor from Pace Law School with an Environmental Law Certificate, and a Land Use Law and Real Estate Certificate. He is a LEED Green Associate and a member of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. Currently, he is an attorney on mortgage backed securities litigation.
Jeni Wright, District Energy Consultant
Current Interns
Brodrick Spencer
Shane McCabe
Former Team Members
Vanessa Meer, M.E.M., LEED AP
Vanessa Meer works to create a more socially and environmentally responsible society, leveraging her interdisciplinary background in earth and environmental sciences, environmental law, and public participation to direct work at LCB. Vanessa has expertise in coastal environments, green building (including LEED, LID strategies, and Brownfield redevelopment), and sustainable business practices. Vanessa’s experience includes environmental and geotechnical engineering and project management at the multidisciplinary engineering firm, YU & Associates, where she worked on remediation/redevelopment projects in Chelsea, parking facilities for the New Yankee Stadium, and the NJ Turnpike Widening Project Exits 6-9. She has trained professionals for their LEED AP and Green Associate exams and does independent consulting. Vanessa is also an adjunct professor at Berkeley College in Manhattan – where she teaches environmental conservation – and an associate at Green Drinks NYC – where she organizes social networking events for environmental professionals. She has an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University with honors in earth and environment science and a masters degree from Duke University in environmental management.
David Krieger, Community Director
David Krieger was formerly the Managing Director of the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation where he drove strategic urban revitalization initiatives for the several hundred-acre Gowanus Canal region of Brooklyn. Leveraging the twin engines of creative culture and sustainability, David is piloting new methodologies for urban regeneration in the midst of one of the country’s most complex Superfund cleanup projects. Specifically, David has worked to create a regenerative buildings, energy and ecology corridor within Gowanus. In addition, David has worked on both rural and urban revitalization projects in upstate New York, Dubai and in India with International Management Group on a 450 acre, Olympics grade sports academy and education complex in Hyderabad. David graduated from University of Pennsylvania, Cum Laude with a degree in comparative literature. In 2011 David was awarded the Urban Land Institute’s Young Leaders Scholarship Award in recognition of his efforts in the community in Gowanus.
Anna Kramer, Energy Intern
Ben Cole, Legal Intern
Victoria Vele, Social Media & Water Research Intern
Kristen Schlarb, Water and Community Intern
Rich Greene, Urban Planning and Community Outreach Intern
Eliza Bruce, Urban Agriculture Intern
Alexia Nazarian, Urban Agriculture Intern