A Brief Review of My Work for REP-LI

I established the Research and Education Project of Long Island (REP-LI) in 1984 in order to provide a non-profit tax-exempt arm for the developing progressive movement on Long Island. From then until our re-organization around 2006, I served as its volunteer Executive Director. After that, I served as the Secretary of the REP-LI Executive Board until 2019. 

I led the research effort that resulted in the publication by the LIPC of its pathbreaking 1996 report “Long Island 2020: a Greenprint for a Sustainable Long Island,” that catalyzed the movement for sustainability on Long Island. Much of the final document was also written by me.

REP-LI has carried out numerous other research efforts, including the exploration of an alternative environmentally friendly way of handling sewage sludge, in place of land-filling or trucking it off the Island. 

REP-LI has also served as a fiscal agent for numerous local non-profit organizations. It has sponsored the Our Times Coffeehouse, and sustained a Social Theory discussion group for more than a decade, as well as many public forums.

In 1993 it was the recipient of a house donated to it by Katharine Smith for the primary purpose of providing a permanent home for REP-LI’s sister organization, The Long Island Progressive Coalition. The Katharine Smith House became the nub of progressive organizing and research on Long Island.