Sue and Jo Anne Simon founded the Friends of Thomas Greene Park 12 years ago.
We are delighted that the surrounding communities now really enjoy using the park and pool.
Both Jo Anne and I were previously presidents of the Boerum Hill Association (at different times).
I am a broker with The Corcoran Group.
I also am Vice President of the Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corp.
These neighborhoods in Brownstone Brooklyn are super places to live, work and play!

Sabine Aronowsky has served on the Board of Friends of Thomas Greene Park since 2013 and she is a proud advocate for Parks and mama whose daughter is an active user of the only Park in Gowanus.
Sabine works in Community Development at the Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC) as the Campaign Manager for the South Brooklyn Accountable Development Initiative (SBADI).
She is a life-long resident of Gowanus and Park Slope, Brooklyn and has served on the US EPA’s Gowanus Superfund Community Advisory Group (CAG) since its inception in 2010. She holds a MPA from Baruch College, CUNY, and received Baruch’s Susan Ponce de Leon Scholarship for commitment to affordable housing and community development.
Sabine has been passionate about environmental, climate and social justice issues, equity and resiliency since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when she took leave from her New York employment to assist as a responder and organizer in New Orleans and Baton Rouge to help locate missing persons, rescue pets and eventually rebuild homes.

Peter Reich moved to Brooklyn in 1978, graduated from Pratt Institute in 1980 with a degree in Industrial Design, and has lived in an old artist’s loft building on the left bank of the Gowanus since 1983, two blocks away from Thomas Greene Park.
Peter has designed, developed and built adaptive equipment for the disabled, floatation tanks, folding bicycles, and has just retired after building Swift Folder bikes to order for the last 25 years.
Peter and his wife Karen have raised 3 wonderful children here, he currently serves on the EPA’s Community Advisory Group for the Canal Superfund cleanup, and he loves old trees (especially the ones around Thomas Greene Park)

Mac Premo: American, b. 1973; RISD ‘95; artist, filmmaker, commercial director. Mac’s films have exhibited in film festivals worldwide, and his art has exhibited in galleries and museums in New York, Los Angeles, Belfast, London, Florida and MoMA PS1 in Queens. Mac has won 8 New York Emmy® Awards for his video and animation work, including awards for best commercial, photography, set design and best PSA. Sometimes he writes and performs one-man plays. Mac is a NYFA Fellow, and lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two totally radical daughters.

Quinn Ventura is currently the General Manager of the Bouldering Project Brooklyn. She has been with that facility since 2018 as an employee and as a member since 2015. Before that Quinn worked as a Chocolatier, Baker, and General Manager of the vegan establishments, CocoaV, Blossom Bakery, and Urban Vegan Kitchen over the span of 8 years. Quinn is currently expecting her first baby and is the proud mom of her two fur babies Elwood and Leia.

Joe Ann has lived in the Warren Street Houses since 1980.
For all of this time she has been an advocate for the neighborhood - especially the kids and the seniors.
Joe Ann was President 572/574 WARREN STREET Tenant Association.
She has been an active member of Community Board 6. In 2020 Jo Ann was awarded a “Hero” award by the Brooklyn Borough President in recognition of her contribution to the neighborhood. We are delighted she has been an active member of the Friends of Thomas Greene Park for many years.

Michelle grew up in Los Angeles California. She studied Fine Arts with an emphasis in Installation Art and 3Dimentional Design, and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Loyola Marymount University. She made and showed her art, worked for many local artists and galleries and shortly after graduation began her Fashion Design career at Guess Jeans in Los Angeles. She moved to NY in 2001 working for NYC Skate and Streetwear Brand Zoo York as their Head Designer. During her first year in NY Michelle met Jose. After 5+ years at Zoo York, 70 hour work weeks, several changes in ownership, Creating their Women’s collection and overseeing both Mens and Womens Design, her plan was to take some time off. But, as one door closed another opened, and she took on a freelance project for Burton Snowboards, an opportunity she couldn’t refuse. It quickly turned into a job as Design Director to create a streetwear line for women, which within her first week turned into a role that directed ALL women’s and girls product for all of Burton. From gloves and goggles to snowboards and outerwear, she was responsible for 4 collections head to toe (boot / board). This role ended up taking up all of her time, traveling 340+ days a year; she was away from Jose all the time. This taught Michelle how to run a business. She had to manage multiple locations, designers all around the world, a big budget. Michelle learned a lot about what she enjoyed doing, and a lot about what she disliked about the job.
In 2007 Michelle and Jose opened Homage. Michelle always says it was a spontaneous decision, based on 5 years of conversations! Moments of inspiration led to an unwavering passion to carry out the mission of Homage. The Boerum Hill skate shop was born very organically with a café and juice bar. Michelle was no longer working for Burton; she was working side by side with Jose to run the café and skate shop. There were still super long hours, but they were doing it together, and they were owners. This was their passion.
Jose loves to feed people; the café was a place to nourish the neighborhood kids, from a physical nourishment to an emotional and support aspect.
The café/skate shop started naturally evolving into more of a skate and art hub, serving the same community in a different way: skate video premiers, socials and events. It always felt like home.
They were always doing ad hoc lessons down the street, every time they sold a board to a new kid, they offered a free skate lesson so the kid(s) could actually get into it and learn what skateboarding was all about. Delaying the falls and extending the fun made more skateboarders and kept them skating longer. Some of these kids didn’t have the resources and support elsewhere. Seeing the kids not have a safe place to skate, especially in the winter, inspired them to open up Homage Skateboard Academy in 2009.
Michelle and Jose continue to lead Homage Skateboard Academy in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Michelle handles all creative and design aspects alongside being COE, Chief of Everything! They have two kids and live by the words the family that plays together stays together.

“We pay Homage to skateboarding in so many ways. What we do as a culture is demand more of ourselves, we look out for each other like a big extended family. Skateboarding challenges us to be better, to do better. We love progress and cheer it on whenever possible. We, of course love the small victories that come with every attempt, but we also embrace the failures as part of the journey.
We challenge ourselves constantly. That is what skateboarding means to me; life can be a set of challenges; in that sense, skateboarding prepared me for life, and the obstacles that one encounters every day. Every day you have the choice to face a challenge, or to surrender. Dropping in on a ramp can shake you with fear, but if you tackle that challenge you’ll eventually walk away victorious, that’s a new level of confidence and willingness to face a challenge(s) that you just achieved – this sticks with you for life.
In skateboarding, we teach kids to evaluate risk, to stay alert, and to tackle obstacles with focus. These are practices that we hope kids use in all aspects of life.” - Jose
As an army brat who later joined the army too, Jose bounced back and forth from New York to Korea to Dominican Republic. He lived in Manhattan around age 13 where his first introduction to skateboarding happened. With a desire to help and serve, he studied psychology at The City College of NY after graduating from a seminary school for young men aspiring to be priests. Jose knew by by his third year in the seminary that priesthood was not his calling but was assured by a Jesuit that there were other ways to serve.
Jose’s passion for skateboarding and need to serve has come full circle and reminds him of how his life changed forever in the summer of 1991 at the age of 17. In Crown Heights Brooklyn, there was an off duty police officer who saw Jose climbing the side of a building to get a baseball that got hit to the rooftop of a school. The officer helped Jose, instead of getting him in trouble. He invited Jose and his skater friends to his precinct to join him in building a skateboard ramp. At the back of the precinct, the officer showed Jose how to build a ramp. He also organized a skateboard competition in Crown Heights inviting two of the top professional skateboarders of that time Matt Hensley and Ron Allen). This gesture is still a motivator for Jose and reminds him that giving back is part of serving.
Still not sure what his calling was and after losing some friends to gang violence, Jose joined the army fresh out of high school from 1992-1996. After a four year hiatus, he picked up his skateboard again and spent most of his time skateboarding in the warmer days and snowboarding in the colder days. He worked in many of NYC top skate shops quickly ascending from sales to buyer and from store manager to team manager. Eventually he got certified as a personal fitness trainer and a snowboard instructor. He became an Instructor and Director of Chelsea Piers Skateboard Program in 1999. The path was laid out for what was soon to come. He met Michelle in 2002. Together they opened Homage in 2007, and Homage Skateboard Academy in 2009.
Together Jose and Michelle lead Homage Skateboard Academy in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles. They have two kids and continue to serve the skateboarding community. Respect and kindness while exploring the path to build on confidence without sacrificing humility are values that remain strong from the formative years of Jose’s upbringing.

Harrison Rhodes is the General Manager of The Cliffs at Gowanus, a 3 floor climbing + fitness facility sitting at the tip of the Gowanus canal. Before working at The Cliffs, Harrison was a producer on the PBS television show Articulate With Jim Cotter, where he helped craft profiles on some of the world's most inspirational artists, writers, and musicians. When not working, he is an avid climber, community advocate, cat owner, and long-distance cyclist. He's stoked to be apart of the rapidly evolving and tremendously rich community in Gowanus!

Eileen Trilli, a resident of Boerum Hill for 17 years, has been active with the Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation and Friends of Thomas Greene Park for nearly a decade. Throughout that time, she has worn many hats- from local bartender to producer of the successful BoCoCa Arts Festival, community music, arts and theater festival venued in unconventional spaces such as local bars, restaurants, churches, and schools, to NYC real estate agent (from which she has fortunately retired). She is a mother to three young girls, who since birth have been very interested in the goings-on at Thomas Greene Park, volunteering at Gowanus Grind to (our favorite) the Halloween Celebration. 

From joining her local birdwatching club in the 7th grade to being an active skier, hiker, biker, and campfire enthusiast to working with the Thomas Greene Park for over 10 years, Alexandra has spent her life enjoying and protecting natural environments. When she isn't outside, Alexandra works in Real Estate where she has held positions ranging from receptionist and part-time elevator operator to commercial real estate broker and owner/ operator. What unites all of these roles has been a passion for keeping the unique character of New York City vibrant and diverse. Alexandra lives in Boerum Hill with her husband and two kids.

Past member Boerum Hill Assoc., Licensed Real Estate Sales Person - Compass, PTA Parent (Past President PS 372, The Children’s School).
Brooklyn Boulders – Community Outreach Member

Mike Chen is a queer activist and an advocate for green spaces and food justice. He has spearheaded the George Choi Scholarship, a scholarship for queer Asian Pacific Islander youth in higher education. From a scholarship to an endowment and now the largest API LGBTQ Foundation in the nation, Prism Foundation is a grassroots philanthropic organization that provides scholarship and grants to under-resourced and under-representative communities. He has served on the boards of the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance and GAPIMNY. He currently serves on the Consumer Advisory Board at the Ryan Chelsea Clinton Clinic advocating for health care for marginalized communities. He is working towards getting a degree in urban agriculture and beekeeping in his fight for food justice. Working/volunteering with Fifth Avenue Committee he has found a platform to amplify his vision; creating and maintaining green spaces for public use.

Colin Rankowitz is a born and raised New Yorker who understands the transcendent value of the city’s public parks and the sanctuary these rarified open spaces provide in the context of surviving (andthriving) within our beloved concrete jungle. Colin is a Partner of Tavros Holdings, a real estate investment and urban placemaking company, with a focus on the creation of mixed-income housing in Brooklyn and Queens. Colin is an expert on matters of zoning and land use in New York City, and a creative professional who enjoys active collaboration, and values diversity of perspective and finding common ground.

When he's not working, Colin can be found spending time with his wife Natasha and their dog Eames. Eames is an excessively adventurous and poorly behaved pup who loves traversing Prospect Park's Long Meadow and taking dips in the water at Dog Beach well into the winter months. Colin is an avid tennis player who loves attending the US Open and making the most of the city’s public tennis courts.

Graciela Razo is the Drop-in & Syringe Exchange Manager at VOCAL-NY, which is about to open its new drop-in center in the heart of Brooklyn, New York. Graciela began working in harm reduction in 2013 doing overnight outreach to youth who were engaging in sex work through Streetwork Project. She then moved to Streetwork’s Lower East Side syringe exchange program running the drop-in center for homeless youth, then eventually moved into case management. Graciela was promoted to the Harm Reduction Coordinator where she oversaw all substance use-related counseling, supplies and peer delivered syringe exchange outreach in lower Manhattan.
In March 2022 Graciela moved to VOCAL-NY to open a brand new drop-in center that focuses not only on providing harm reduction support to folks impacted by homelessness and substance use, but also prioritizes wellness services and a welcoming community space. The VOCAL-NY drop-in center will provide full drop-in services in spring 2023.
Graciela has been in Brooklyn since 2013 & is also on the board of the Free Store Project, a volunteer-run initiative that builds pop-up free exchange stores in Brooklyn & Manhattan. She is also on the board of the Friends of Thomas Greene Park, a neighborhood greenspace in Gowanus by the VOCAL-NY drop-in center. She is also a member of the Calpulli Mexican Dance community in Queens