2016 Steering Committee
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F.L. Andrew Padian is Vice President for Energy Initiatives for The Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), a not-for-profit affordable housing mortgage lender, where he is working in the implementation of the Green Financing Initiative (GFI) and NYC’s Sandy Recovery Program (Build it Back), working with CPC staff and building owners across New York City and State. He has 30 years of experience in the unique building science of multifamily buildings, and has performed detailed energy analysis on hundreds of buildings across the country.
Mr. Padian is a frequent contributor to energy and sustainable publications, and has spoken at numerous conferences across the country over the last 30 years (NESEA Building Energy, Affordable Comfort, Apartment World, National Weatherization Conference, National Multifamily Conference to name a few). He lives in NYC, and is involved in many sustainable causes there, including GreenHomeNYC (Board Member), the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (Vice Board Chair) and the Clinton Community Garden (Gardner and Chairperson). He served as the Conference Chair of NESEA’s 2008 Building Energy Conference in Boston, and Vice Chair of the 2009 Conference, each of which attracted over 3500 participants. In 2010, He received NESEA’s Distinguished Service Award, awarded to only 20 people in the last 40 years. He created the first national model for training and certification of building managers and maintenance staff of multifamily buildings for energy efficiency; over 2000 participants have taken the extensive 1 to 5 day training.
Last year, Mr. Padian chaired a joint NESEA-GHNYC Conference on Multifamily Sustainability, and a similar, larger one called Building Energy NYC (BE-NYC) on October 16th; over 500 people attended these events.
Through GreenHomeNYC, Mr. Padian runs a sustainable jobs network called “GreenCareerMeetup” which attracts 30-50 people for each monthly meeting. For over 3 years, this 100% volunteer service has gotten one person per month a full-time job in the sustainability field.
Prior to CPC, Andy started the Multifamily Buildings Division for Steven Winter Associates, Inc., worked for the Association for Energy Affordability and as an independent consultant, and toiled in the NYC Mayor’s Energy Office and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Neal Schettler brought Clarice, Cai, and me into the garden nineteen years ago. He taught us how to trim the tulip magnolia tree, then had us care for that front bed plot. We’ve been doing so for the past sixteen years. Neal taught me how to dig dry wells to solve our drainage problems. The garden now has ten. We need a few more. In 2008, Jane Greenlaw asked me to tend the lawn. I knew nothing about grass. Since then, with the help of too many people to mention, we have been refurbishing, enriching, and revitalizing the lawn. In 2009, under the direction of Cornell University’s agrarian school, we began a seven year soil treatment plan. With two years to go, I think we are going to have a beautiful self-sustaining lawn. Something to enjoy for years to come.
This year, Anne Haas and I realized that the garden no longer had a functioning winter sidewalk snow removal team. With some really great people, we have taken care of the five, so far(!), snow falls. It’s fun to follow the weather, then meet up with terrific folks, and shovel snow! Neal taught me that a community garden is a bottom-up organization. The Steering Committee is there to provide the gardeners with what they need to make the best and most beautiful garden possible. Transparency is the key. The garden’s infrastructure is in need of repair. The loft area in the back in no longer useable. The front fence has several rusted uprights, too. Infrastructure is important.