AERIAL FUTURES: NEWBURGH ENCLOSURES
May 17, 2019
Newburgh, NY USA
PROGRAM
Friday, May 17
Think Tank: 9:30AM—5:00PM
Public Event: 5:00—7:00PM
Atlas Studios: 11 Spring St., Newburgh
Public Event Speakers:
Alexandra Church, Newburgh City Planning
Brandt Knapp, PennDesign
Ed Harrison, New York Stewart International Airport
Moderator: Andrés Ramirez, AERIAL FUTURES
Situated only 60 miles north of Manhattan, Newburgh is a city of great significance in American history. The city played a key role during the American Revolution and flourished throughout the economic boom of industrialization. Over the course of the last century, Newburgh, much like other industrial cities in the region, has struggled with economic stagnation and urban decline.
One of the most promising drivers for Newburgh’s economic development and growth is its airport. After opening a few international flights in 2017, the airport began attracting unprecedented attention, passengers and new business. In 2018, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey rebranded SWF as New York Stewart International Airport, positioning it as New York’s Budget Flight Hub.
AERIAL FUTURES: NEWBURGH ENCLOSURES examines New York Stewart International Airport (SWF) as a catalyst for development in Newburgh and its neighboring region. AERIAL FUTURES invites participants to consider how the airport can accelerate innovation and development in its immediate vicinity, and how it can generate nuance ideas for rural entrepreneurship and urban regeneration. Looking beyond programmatic conventions of air travel and transportation, the think tank will facilitate an imaginative discussion about how SWF can be an engine for local development.
AERIAL FUTURES: NEWBURGH ENCLOSURES also presents the research and design of a second year Master of Architecture studio from the University of Pennsylvania. During their integrated studio, students developed design proposals to transform the Short Line Bus Station, currently located across from SWF and 20 minutes west of Newburgh proper. The studio reimagines the bus station as a complementary facility for the airport, city and region, connecting the suburban context, with its big box chain stores, to visions for a hyper-local food destination and leisure hub.
The Destination
Stewart International Airport is stimulating the region with hundreds of jobs and thousands of new, international visitors. Newburgh can benefit from passenger growth and economic activity at the airport. Through its identity, pride and heritage, Newburgh - a destination, can draw visitors to stay, enhancing tourism and entrepreneurship.
Productive Landscapes
The ecosystems of the Hudson Valley can be intricately local as well as global in their networks. Agriculture, rural and urban, is a particular asset to the region - it can be fostered and contribute to sustainability, commerce and well-being. From forestry and food industries to bird paths and water infrastructure, productive landscapes may be complementary to Stewart International Airport, Newburgh and Orange County.
Disruptive Journeys
The way we commute, deliver goods, and even cook a home-cooked meal are changing at a rapid speed. Connectivity between the airport, the city and the region will be redefined by new types of automation, artificial intelligence, and modes of living. These technologies offer promising solutions to cut costs and emissions in transportation, retail and logistics.
PARTICIPANTS
Alex Kemp
Alex Kemp is the Investor Relations Representative at the Orange County Partnership, an economic development corporation whose goal is to attract new business to Orange County, NY, while also helping expand and retain existing companies. Alex is a graduate of The University at Buffalo where he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with concentrations in Finance and Marketing. After graduation, Alex became an Integral part of the Orange County Partnership, which continues to reach new heights in business attraction/expansion and Investor growth. Alex is skilled and experienced in financial accounting and management, business development, sales & marketing, public relations and event management. In addition, he spends his time contributing to local organizations including United Way of Dutchess-Orange Region as a grant reviewer, Leadership Orange as a fundraiser and volunteer, American Red Cross as an avid donor and a dedicated Board Member for the SUNY Orange College Association.
Alexandra Church
Alexandra (Ali) Church is a planner focused on urban redevelopment, public realm, and historic preservation. She is currently the Director of Planning and Development for the City of Newburgh, NY where much of her work focuses on redevelopment and economic development, remedies for severely distressed property, and inclusionary and participatory planning. She has previously held positions with the City of Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority and with several consulting firms focusing on municipal planning. Ali holds an undergraduate degree from Bard College and graduate degrees in City Planning and Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania.
Amanda Dana
Amanda Dana is the Director of Tourism for Orange County. She has over 25 years sales and marketing experience in the Hudson Valley region with 18 years in executive recruiting/talent management and 10 years focused on real estate and economic development. During that time, she has grown and cultivated many working relationships with individuals and organizations and has amerced herself with being tremendously involved with her community. Because of her strong alliances, she has developed a very successful skill set of connecting people and organizations with valuable resources. Amanda joined the team of the highly recognized Orange County Partnership in 2013, heading up their Business Retention & Expansion division. In this role, she is responsible for fostering the growth of Orange County companies. Prior to joining the Partnership team, Amanda ran a successful real estate practice in Orange County, New York.
Amelia Baxter
Amelia Baxter believes that the 21st century-built environment is filled with opportunities for trees. Baxter co-founded WholeTrees in 2007 to develop and sell products and technologies that would scale the use of waste-trees in commercial construction, increasing forest revenues, and offering green construction markets a new material for the 21st century. Amelia has led project teams in over $2M in USDA research grants working toward the commercialization of the tree's natural engineering. By raising equity investment for her company, attracting national executive talent, and pinpointing nascent urban markets for trees as structure, she has participated in the growth of a truly conscious and regenerative company.
Bill Fioravanti
Bill Fioravanti joined the Orange County community in 1999 when he relocated with Frontier Communications from the Capital District area. A champion of youth development, Bill entered the non-profit world in 2004 as Executive Director of the Town of Wallkill Boys & Girls Clubs. In 2009 he became Associate Executive Director for the YMCA of Middletown, leading the project to construct and launch their new South Orange Family YMCA branch in Monroe. Ever the Orange County champion, Bill pivoted into economic development in 2012, serving as the Vice President of Membership for the Orange County Chamber of Commerce, and later as the Director of Business Attraction for the Orange County Partnership. In those roles, Bill was part of a dynamic team of economic development professionals that enjoyed great success over the past several years drawing numerous industry leaders, and quality jobs, to the area. In 2018, he landed what he calls his “dream job” as Orange County’s Director of Economic Development.
K Brandt Knapp
K Brandt Knapp is a co-founder of BRANDT : HAFERD with Jerome W Haferd. BRANDT : HAFERD is a Harlem-based architecture and design studio. Their body of work includes academic research and a range of built projects - from the domestic to the workplace to the urban - that challenge the limits of design practice.Performance and Play, Abstract vs. Built Form, Nature and Territory are some of the interests explored in the practice. Haferd and Knapp were winners of the inaugural 2012 Folly competition held by the Architectural League of New York and Socrates Sculpture Park. Another architectural installation, caesura, at Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park in 2015 was a collaboration with artist Jessica Feldman, and supported by grants, the NYC Parks and local organizations. Their work has been exhibited at various institutions including Storefront for Art & Architecture. Brandt received her Masters of Architecture from Yale School of Architecture. She has taught at MICA, NJIT, Pratt Institute, Columbia’s GSAPP, PennDesign, and Barnard College.
Darrick Borowski
Darrick Borowski is an architect, urbanist, researcher and educator based in New York City. At The We Company, he explore opportunities for leveraging the company’s growing platform for social impact, including the development of WeLive, a new approach to urban housing that supports more mobile, more social, more holistic lifestyles. His work and research revolves around community and collaborative living and working, responsive environments, and the pursuit of resilient urban futures. Darrick teaches design at School of Visual Arts in NYC. He has lectured and served as a guest critic at The Architectural Association, Pratt, Parsons, CCA and Harvard GSD. He received his Master of Architecture with Distinction from the Architectural Association in London and his Bachelors from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
David Church
David Church is Commissioner of Planning for Orange County, New York. Appointed to this position in 2002, he oversees land use, planning, agriculture, and grant units as well as the County Water Authority, and the County Transportation Council (or MPO). Previously he was Executive Director of the Albany-based New York Planning Federation. He has also held positions with The Catskill Center and the Conservation Foundation/World Wildlife Fund. Early in his career he was a partner in Landscape Studies specializing in environmental impact assessment. He is a member of the advisory board of both the Hudson River Estuary Program and the NYS DOT Scenic Byways Program. He serves as President of the NYS Association of County Planning Directors and has served as Chair of the Hudson Valley Agribusiness Development Corporation as well as co-chair of the NYS Region 3 Open Space Committee.
Ed Harrison
Edmond (Ed) Harrison, joined the Port Authority of NY & NJ (PANYNJ) in 1993 and became General Manager of New York Stewart International Airport (SWF) on June 9, 2014. His goals as General Manager include business development and advancing the PANYNJ’s vision for SWF as a strategic aviation asset and important economic engine for the state. Prior to taking over at SWF, Ed was the Manager of Properties and Commercial Development for Newark Liberty International and Teterboro airports, overseeing an aviation real estate portfolio that generated $800 million annually. Ed is a past commissioner for the New York State Board of Commissioners of Pilots. He is also a Board Member of the Fairfield University Alumni Association, and a member of the Navy League of the United States, the National Defense Transportation Association, Airports Council International, and the American Association of Airport Executives. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Fairfield University, and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Baruch College/The City University of New York.
Enrique Ramirez
Enrique Ramirez is Communications and Research Manager at REX, an international architecture and design practice in New York. He holds a PhD in Architectural History and Theory from Princeton University and a Master of Environmental Design from Yale School of Architecture. His writing, which covers design at all scales and across different media, has appeared in publications such as Perspecta: The Yale Architectural Journal, Harvard Design Magazine, The Journal of the History of Ideas, e-flux, and others. Enrique serves as an advisory editor for Manifest: A Journal of American Urbanism and Landscape and is a member of the Curatorial Advisory Committee for Exhibit Columbus. He currently reviews art and architectural titles for the Los Angeles Review of Books. Enrique is also a bassist for the sound art collective Field Works.
Gabe Berlin
A graphic designer by day and a transportation advisor by night, Gabe Berlin is chair of the Transportation Advisory Committee of Newburgh, NY. Based on the efforts of Councilman Anthony Grice, the Transportation Advisory Committee (formerly known less ambitiously as the Parking and Traffic Committee), was restarted in October of 2018 after years of dormancy. Instrumental in helping Gabe chair the Committee is fellow city resident Naomi Hersson-Ringskog, who spearheads a wide array of projects and outreach. The Committee’s main objective is to foster communication between the public, elected officials and City of Newburgh officials. This includes education campaigns for the public as well as relaying the concerns of the public to correct city government officials or departments. Originally from Washington, DC, Gabe has lived in Newburgh since 2015.
Ginger S. Evans
Ginger S. Evans is CEO of Reach Airports, a US-based airport management joint venture between Munich Airport International and The Carlyle Group’s CAG Holdings. Over the past three decades, she has successfully served in key leadership positions of government agencies and private firms within the aviation and transportation industry. Evans has worked with in private consulting on major aviation projects in Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America, as well as rail projects in New York and Washington. At Reach Airports, she is responsible for the overall management of the company, business development serving the North American market, and partnerships with airport-related services firms. She is a member of the National Academy of Construction, and the International Women’s Forum, and currently serves on the technical committee of Ainda Energia & Infraestructura and the Executive Committee of Transportation Research Board.
Greg Lindsay
Greg Lindsay is a senior fellow of the New Cities Foundation – where he leads the Connected Mobility Initiative – and the director of strategy for LACoMotion, a new mobility festival in the Arts District of Los Angeles. He is also a non-resident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Foresight Initiative, a visiting scholar at the New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, urbanist-in-residence at URBAN-X, and co-author of Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next.
James Kostenblatt
James W. Kostenblatt joined Empire State Development as senior project manager in spring 2018, where he works closely on the strategy development and execution of the Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council. Prior to that, he served as an associate director at NYU’s Wasserman Center for Career Development, where he led the assessment and program evaluation team. In that role, James ran a team responsible for strategy and performance management, collecting career outcomes data on NYU graduates each year, analyzing the data, crafting reports for NYU stakeholders, and responding to internal and external requests for analysis. Prior to joining NYU, he managed the Peace Corps’ Northeast Recruitment Office, using performance data to strategically develop and improve recruitment efforts for the Peace Corps. He also spent three years teaching English and planning and managing community development projects in Mozambique.
Jerome W Haferd
Jerome W Haferd is co-founder of BRANDT : HAFERD and currently teaches architecture and urban design at Columbia GSAPP, Barnard, and City College. His interests include how architecture establishes a dialogue with contemporary phenomena, nonhegemonic users, and spaces. Jerome has previously worked in the offices of OMA/Rem Koolhaas and Bernard Tschumi Architects. He received a Master of Architecture from Yale University and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Ohio State University. Their work has been exhibited at various institutions including Storefront for Art & Architecture and the AIA New York Chapter.
Jonathan Drapkin
Jonathan Drapkin is President and CEO of Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, the regional public policy, research and planning not-for-profit serving the nine counties of the Hudson Valley. Pattern’s mission is to improve the quality of life through regional strategies while encouraging a sustained, strategic and balanced approach to growth. At Pattern, Jonathan has developed a portfolio of projects and assistance to the region in community and economic development. Pattern’s studies are often cited in discussions of regional issues and Pattern’s opinion on a myriad of issues is highly sought after. As executive director of the Gerry Foundation, Drapkin guided the creation of Bethel Woods Performing Arts Center at the site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. Prior to that, he was county manager of Sullivan County. Spending his earlier years in New York City, he worked in the administration of Mayor Ed Koch and as Director of the New York City Council’s Office of Oversight and Investigation.
Kaja Kühl
Kaja Kühl directs the Hudson Valley Initiative at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). The initiative enables research and design projects that enhance the built and natural environment in the region by expanding social impact design, research and scholarship beyond the classroom. She is the founder of youarethecity, a research, design and planning practice focused on creating dialogue about the urban environment. Informed by the belief that everyone has agency in shaping their own environment, youarethecity collaborates with institutions, individuals and non-profit organizations to produce maps, diagrams, writings, designs, websites, events and exhibitions about urban spaces. Kaja received her Diploma in Architecture from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany and an MS in Urban Planning from Columbia GSAPP.
Kate McPhillips
Kate McPhillips, AIA is a licensed architect working in HOK’s New York studio. Her ten years of professional experience covers a range of disciplines on projects in the US and across the globe. She brought a unique set of design and analysis skills to HOK when she joined the Advanced Strategies Group in Houston in 2012. Here she worked as a programmer in the pre-design analysis portions of the project, where she developed relationships with clients that led her back to design. In 2014 Kate transferred to HOK in New York and began contributing to the La Guardia Airport Terminal B design competition. Working from concept design through construction administration, Kate remains an integral part of the design and delivery team. The La Guardia Airport redevelopment project is the largest P3 design build project in the country. It spans five years of her career and has offered invaluable exposure to the complex challenges that require expedited design solutions. Her roles have included building design, programming, airside planning & coordination, and technical documentation for construction.
Kevindaryán Luján
Kevindaryán Luján was elected to the Orange County Legislature in 2017, representing Newburgh’s district 4. He is the first Latino to represent Newburgh in the Legislature and one of the youngest legislators to date. Kevindaryán has listed amongst his top priorities: enhancing public transportation throughout Orange County, increasing county funding towards long term affordable housing, sustainable economic development and boosting tourism across the region. He is a member of numerous local and regional organizations such as the Orange County Planned Parenthood Action Council, Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson, the NAACP, the City and Town of Newburgh Democratic committees, the Orange County Young Democrats and the Orange County Democratic committee. Kevindaryán is a city of Newburgh resident whose family has lived in the Hudson Valley for over 30 years.
Louise Braverman
Practicing locally and globally, Louise Braverman is an award-winning architect whose firm, Louise Braverman Architect, is committed to building sustainable architecture of art + conscience. A graduate of the Yale School of Architecture, she established her practice to design aesthetically inventive architecture that embraces diverse communities. Recent projects include Centro de Artes Nadir Afonso, an art museum in Portugal that encourages public participation with art; Derfner Museum, an art museum in New York that facilitates multi-generational engagement; and Village Health Works Staff Housing, an off-the-grid dormitory in a post-genocide village in Burundi. Her work has been recognized by her peers, resulting in early selection as an Architectural League’s Emerging Voice, elevation to fellowship in the American Institute of Architects and invitations to present the work of her firm at the 2018, 2016, 2014 and 2012 Venice Architecture Biennales, both at international exhibits and at the United States Pavilion. Hyperloop Suburb, her 2018 installation at the Time Space Existence exhibit in Venice asked the pivotal question “How do we want to live?” in the context of the development of new transportation technologies.
Michael Torelli
Michael Torelli has been the Manager of Properties & Business Development at New York Stewart International Airport (SWF) for the Port Authority of NY & NJ (PANYNJ) since July 2008. Michael is part of SWF’s management team responsible for the management of tenant agreements and relationships, property management, business development, business continuity and is a liaison to the local community, including elected officials. Additionally, Michael is on the SWF Air Service Development Team, which develops strategies to attract new airlines and expand existing carriers’ services. Prior to working for PANYNJ, Michael was the Regional Director for Empire State Development in the Mid-Hudson Region and the Director of Business Attraction for the Orange County Partnership. Michael is active in local government and community boards. He has served for 7 years on the Village of Goshen Planning Board and is a founding member of the Orange County Alliance for Balanced Growth – a standing committee of the Orange County Partnership started to promote the positive aspects of commercial development. Michael has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Brockport and is working on his MBA. He is also a graduate of Leadership Orange in 2004
Naomi Hersson-Ringskog Torelli
Recognizing the power of incremental change, Naomi Hersson-Ringskog founded Dept of Small Interventions (DoSI) to launch place-based projects to amplify cultural assets, galvanize collaborations, and build social infrastructure. After receiving her Masters Degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University, Naomi co-founded No Longer Empty, a New York City non-profit that revives underutilized properties with large, site-specific art exhibitions, community outreach, and educational programming. Naomi is dedicated to being an engaged member when serving at No Longer Empty, Institute for Public Architecture, and Awesome Newburgh Foundation. She co-chairs the American Planning Association's Arts & Culture committee. She is a member of the Urban Design Forum of Coro Leadership NY.
Rob Eisenstat
Rob Eisenstat is the Chief Architect of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Engineering Department, an award-winning multi-disciplinary in-house department of architects, landscape architects, planners, and engineers who provide design and construction management services for the agency. He has been an architect in the Engineering Department for the past 28 years. He holds NCARB and LEED certification, and is a member of the Architectural League of New York and the American Institute of Architects, where he has been co-chair of the New York Chapter Transportation + Infrastructure Committee since 2007.
Scott Grimm-Lyon
Scott Grimm-Lyon AICP, is the Executive Director of GatewayJFK a public-private partnership in Southeast Queens that focuses on economic development in the Air Cargo Industry. GatewayJFK is home to 600 businesses, 8,000 workers and is a vital part of New York’s 8.6 Billion air cargo sector. Scott has worked for think tanks including the Center for Collaborative Change and the Schumacher Center for a New Economics, business improvement districts, and community-based organizations across the NY metro region. Scotts specializes in local economic development and has worked on issues including coastal resiliency, affordable housing, foreclosure prevention, business displacement, and developing a riverside greenway. Scott has an MS in City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute, is a graduate of Coro’s Neighborhood Leadership program, is an AmeriCorps alumnus and serves on the executive committee of the American Planning Association’s New York Metro Chapter.
Todd Erling
With an academic background in environmental design and planning from Miami University and the Pratt Institute, years of experience in community and economic development, and growing up in the family orchards Todd brings a holistic approach to agri-business development. Todd lives on his wife’s family farm in Southern Columbia County and has hands-on knowledge of the challenges to the Valley’s agriculture while applying practical Economic Development programs and projects to protect and preserve open space by keeping farmers in business. With Hudson Valley AgriBusiness Development Corporation’s (HVADC) Board of Directors Todd has developed the first regional entity to focus on farms and local food business as economic development in the Hudson Valley. HVADC has grown to having multi-year service contracts with 7 counties’ economic development offices and raising almost $8 million since 2007 for programs and services to assist ag-related/ag-dependent businesses in the region.
