PICCED Staff
2001
Todd
Bruce- Architectural Job Captain
Rudolph Bryant- Director of Training
Joan
Byron- Architectural Director
Melissa
Caruso- Project
Manager
Indradeep
Chakrabarty- Planning
Intern
Paula
Crespo- Assistant Planner
/ Geographic Information Systems Specialist
Rex
Curry- Associate Director
Mannix
Gordon-Senior Planner
/ Geographic Information Systems Specialist
Naomi Johnson- Director of
Operations
Anely
Latalladi- Architectural
Designer
Errol
T. Louis- Associate Director,
Development
Mercedes
Narciso- Senior Planner / Project
Manager
Maki
Okage- Planning
Intern
Judy
Pantano- Administrative Assistant
Mohendra Ramsarup
-Director of Fiscal Affairs
Bill Riley
- Senior Construction Projects Manager
Leena Shanbhag - Assistant Planner / Geographic Information Specialist
Ronald
Shiffman- Director
Katie
Taylor- Senior Planner
E.
Perry Winston-
Senior Architect
Dean
Zias- Associate Planner/Assistant
Professor
Todd Bruce
Architectural Job Captain
[email protected]
x.6462
Todd
drafts and coordinates construction documents, develops scopes of work
and cost estimates for building rehabilitation, and files applications
and drawings with the NYC Department of Buildings.
He is proficient in 3D Studio Max and Dreamweaver.
If you have any AutoCAD questions, or you need something drafted,
see Todd.
Rudolph Bryant
Director of Training
[email protected]
x.6431
Rudy
is in charge of all PICCED's training programs. Currently he is working
on our CHDO contract as well as providing technical assistance to a
number of colleges and non-governmental organizations in other countries
to replicate aspects of PICCED's training and capacity-building programs.
He worked on the Bedford-Stuyvesant Fannie Mae Foundation neighborhood
team and other projects to be included at a later date.
(more)
Joan Byron
Architectural Director
[email protected]
x.6447
Joan
is a licensed architect and is in charge of the Pratt Planning and Architectural
Collaborative, where she provides a full range of technical services
from programming and budgeting, design, bidding and field supervision
to nonprofit community-based clients. She is also directing our brownfields
project and her projects range from low-income housing to youth centers
and other community facilities. Joan has also been working on a special
project with the School Construction Working Group and the Institute
for Education and Social Policy to develop a new streamlined program
for the development of leased school space by community-based nonprofit
organizations. She is currently working on The Bronx HUD Community.
(more)
Melissa Caruso
Project Manager
[email protected]
x.6439
Melissa has experience in projects ranging from maps
for a new public park to the designing of marketplaces. She is currently
working on the Cooper Square Supportive Housing Project, a six-story
residential building in Manhattan. She is experienced in the governmental
approval processes and details of federal, state, and local laws. Melissa
is familiar with design, land use and zoning requirements.
Indradeep Chakrabarty
Planning Intern
[email protected]
x.6450
Indradeep is working with the GIS staff on the Fannie
Mae project. The purpose of
this project is to help community groups and residents prepare plans
for themselves like in Williamsburg and Sunset Park. Indradeep is also
a good person to consult if you have a question about mapping.
He is also helping to create GIS Basemap files and work on the
Metadata project, which will enable us to source and search our GIS
databases.
Paula
Crespo
Assistant Planner / Geographic
Information Systems Specialist
[email protected]
x.6455
Paula is
an assistant planner who contributes research, writing, data analysis,
and GIS mapping skills to PICCED's land use and community development
projects. Some of the more recent projects she has worked on include
the citywide Manufacturing Land Use and Zoning Initiative.
She is currently
involved in preparing a community plan for western Astoria, being part
of the city's post-9/11 alliances for rebuilding, and in working with
young adults from the South Bronx as part of a youth project to identify
neighborhood concerns and opportunities.
Rex Curry
Associate Director
[email protected]
x.6461
Rexs
shares the responsibility for the management and direction of the urban
planning staff. His specialty
is community-based planning, neighborhood analysis, historic preservation,
and related economic development services such as commercial real estate
analysis. Rex also teaches a
variety of urban planning seminars and studios in Pratts School
of Architecture.
(more)
Mannix Gordon
Senior Planner / Geographic
Information Systems Specialist
[email protected]
x.6466
Mannix works on community-based
planning projects, including affordable housing development, land use
& zoning and transportation issues. His expertise is in Geographic
Information Systems and he coordinates with our computer consultants
and maintains our computer systems as well as the PICCED website. Mannix
develops new relational databases for GIS applications and new survey
instruments. He provides technical assistance and training on GIS to
a number of our clients and teaches a graduate course on Planning and
GIS at Pratt Institute.
Naomi Johnson
Director of Operations
[email protected]
x.6429
Naomi
is in charge of overall office operations at PICCED. She supervises
secretarial staff and students and handles timesheets, expense reimbursements
and building maintenance issues.
Anely Latalladi
Architectural
Designer
[email protected]
x.6448
Anely is an Architectural Designer and Draftsperson
for the Pratt Planning and Architectural Collaborative at PICCED working
on housing, childcare and school projects. Currently Anely is on a team
researching possibilities for maintaining the "Casitas" in
many Green Thumb gardens located around the city. She is proficient
in preparing construction documents and researching architectural materials.
Errol
T. Louis
Associate
Director, Development
x.6436
Errol has been active in Brooklyn politics for more than 15 years.
In the early 1990s, he co-founded and managed the Central Brooklyn Federal
Credit Union, and has worked on economic development projects throughout
the United States. At present, in addition to working on public policy
and development issues for PICCED, he is a part-time student (at Brooklyn
Law School) and a columnist for Our Time Press and the New York Sun.
Mercedes Narciso, RA
Senior Planner / Project Manager
[email protected]
x.6449
Mercedes is
a registered architect who is currently working as a senior planner
and project manager. At present, she is responsible for coordinating
the Bedford-Stuyvesant 197-a Planning process, including communications,
data and research management; assisting in the design, preparation and
facilitation of workshops; and coordinating the research, analysis and
preparation of the final plan. Mercedes has also been responsible for
coordinating planning efforts and providing planning assistance to community-based
groups who are preparing Section 197-a plans throughout New York City.
Ms. Narciso
managed the research, analysis and preparation of The Manufacturing
Land Use and Zoning Initiative, issued in May 2001. This is a policy
report that provides a comprehensive analysis of land use, zoning, financial,
technical assistance, and environmental strategies to revitalize New
York City's manufacturing and mixed use districts. As an architect,
Mercedes has extensive experience in building design and construction
rehabilitation of affordable housing in New York City.
Maki Okage
Planning Intern
[email protected]
x.6455
Maki is working with the GIS staff on the Metadata
Project which implements a management information system that will enable
PICCED to make much better use of the raw data we collect and facilitate
searches of data. Maki was part of the team that worked on the Manufacturing
and Land Use Sloan project. She is skilled at various database programs
such as MapInfo and Excel.
Judy Pantano
Administrative Assistant
[email protected]
x.6465
Judy
maintains Director Ron Shiffman's calendar, schedules meetings, drafts
correspondence, coordinates travel plans, greets and gives tours for
visitors to the Pratt Center and orders supplies for the office. She
also does similar work for Associate Director Rudy Bryant.
Mohendra Ramsarup
Director of Fiscal Affairs
[email protected]
x.3507
Mo is responsible for preparing PICCED's operating
budget, reviewing proposals and contracts for compliance with funder
requirements, authorizing expenses and reviewing all expense reports.
He prepares financial reports for foundations and outside agencies,
auditors and for internal use. Mo also meets with staff to monitor project
expenses to keep budget estimates on target.
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Bill Riley
Senior Construction Projects
Manager
[email protected]
x.6451
Bill
oversees housing construction projects ranging from $250,000 single-building
projects to $20 million multi-site rehabilitations. He supervises staff
performing construction monitoring; reviews scopes of work, specifications,
construction drawings and cost estimates; conducts building evaluations;
and performs engineering-related tasks on various projects. Bill is
also teaching classes on the construction phase of the housing development
process in PICCED's training programs.
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Leena Shanbhag
Assistant Planner / Geographic
Information Systems Specialist
[email protected]
x.6454
Leena
is a member of our GIS team. She has worked on community planning as
well as citywide policy projects. She conducts research, spatial and
data analyses, land use surveys and mapping. Some of the recent projects
she has worked on include the Childcare Needs Assessment study which
involved a demographic and geographic analysis of issues affecting childcare
in New York and also the recent Manufacturing Land Use and Zoning Initiative,
an extensive study on issues and opportunities in
Manufacturing areas.
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Ronald Shiffman
Director
[email protected]
x.3494
As the co-founder and Director of PICCED, Ron is
a city planner with experience in providing program and organizational
development assistance to community-based groups in low and moderate-income
neighborhoods. His expertise is in financial packaging, innovative community-based
financing, real estate development and community-based planning. Ron
is a professor at the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment
with emphasis of studies on such topics as sustainable development and
Brownfields revitalization. He is member of Salzburg Congress on Urban
Planning and Development (SCUPAD) and the International Research and
Exchange for Development (IRED). Both groups work on global policies
and environmental issues and projects.
(more)
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Katie Taylor
Senior Planner
[email protected]
x.6453
Katie
manages our HUD CHDO (Community Housing Development Organization) training
and technical assistance contract, where she works with CHDOs and potential
CHDOs in New York City and surrounding areas developing technical assistance
plans and coordinating the provision of services. She coordinates the
training series we provide several times a year, which includes classes
on all elements of the development process. Katie also provides research
and technical assistance to groups on housing finance applications and
on a variety of community development issues under the Fannie Mae and
LISC initiatives and serves as a planner on neighborhood 197a plans
in Brooklyn.
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E.
Perry Winston
Senior Architect
[email protected]
x.6452
Perry
is the Pratt Planning and Architectural Collaborative Senior Architect,
acting as project manager and architect of records for housing (both
rehabilitation and new construction), childcare, and community service
projects. He participates in architectural research and neighborhood
planning studies, training and workshops and is coordinator of East
New York work under the Fannie Mae Foundation grant. He is also working
on an urban agriculture project "ENY Farms!" where community
gardeners sell their produce at a new farmers market in East New York.
Perry is interested in "green" building materials and in urban
"Brownfields" redevelopment.
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Dean
Zias, AICP
Associate Planner/Assistant
Professor
[email protected]
x.4416
Dean
produces customized computer-generated planning materials, assembles
statistical and narrative documents relating to proposed housing, community
services, land use, site development and economic development projects.
He maintains a library of planning, census and Dun & Bradstreet
data and is expert in database creation, maintenance and analysis and
spreadsheet construction. He is also involved in training programs and
teaches statistics in the graduate program. Dean maintains PICCED's
mailing list and is currently coordinating the SEEDCO AmeriCorps Community
Volunteer program.
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