Bill Text: NY K00104 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Mourning the death of Irene Klementowicz, distinguished citizen, environmentalist, and beloved community hero

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-02-08 - adopted [K00104 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-K00104-Introduced.html

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Assembly Resolution No. 104

BY: M. of A. Gallagher

        MOURNING   the   death   of   Irene  Klementowicz,
        distinguished citizen, environmentalist, and beloved
        community hero

  WHEREAS, It is the custom of this Legislative Body to pay tribute to
citizens of the State of New York whose  lifework  and  civic  endeavors
served to enhance the quality of life in their communities and the great
State of New York; and

  WHEREAS,  Irene Klementowicz of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York, died
on January 20, 2023, at the age of 94; and

  WHEREAS, Born in the Bronx, New  York  on  January  8,  1929,  Irene
Klementowicz  moved  to  Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where she and her husband
Leon raised their four children and established  a  family  business  in
1959; and

  WHEREAS,   Irene   Klementowicz  quickly  immersed  herself  in  the
Greenpoint community by becoming a trustee of the church and  member  of
the St.  Anne's Society; and

  WHEREAS,  During this time, the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Greenpoint
and Williamsburg, New York were sites of heavy industry,  including  the
refinement  and  distribution  of  oil,  manufacturing  involving  toxic
chemicals, and the transfer  of  waste  throughout  the  nineteenth  and
twentieth centuries; and

  WHEREAS,  In  the  1960s,  Irene Klementowicz noticed the black soot
from a nearby incinerator that polluted the community's air, as well  as
the  noxious  fumes  from  a nearby chemical plant, and was motivated to
mobilize a grassroots movement across the neighborhood to advocate for a
cleaner and more healthful environment for the  neighborhood's  families
and children; and

  WHEREAS,  Successful  efforts  to  help  the environment executed by
Irene Klementowicz resulted in the closure of the Greenpoint incinerator
in 1994, the upgrading of a sewage treatment plant,  the  removal  of  a
sludge tank, the installation of pollution controls on exhaust stacks of
chemical  manufacturers,  and  zoning  controls  to  appropriately  site
industrial activities at a safe distance  from  residential  communities
and schools; and

  WHEREAS,  The  growing local environmentalist community organized by
Irene Klementowicz fought back against Greenpoint's  and  Williamsburg's
statuses   as   the   New  York  City  neighborhoods  with  the  highest
concentrations  of  waste  transfer   stations,   airborne   lead,   and
manufacturers storing or using toxic chemicals; and

  WHEREAS,  Continued  devotion  from  Irene  Klementowicz to create a
robust environmentalist movement eventually resulted in successful legal
action in 2007 against ExxonMobil and  other  large  oil  companies  for
spilling  an  estimated  30  million  barrels of oil into Greenpoint and

Newtown Creek, and the declaration  of  such  oil  spill  as  a  federal
Superfund site; and

  WHEREAS,  Irene  Klementowicz's dedication to environmental advocacy
laid the foundation for a safer and cleaner  neighborhood  in  Brooklyn,
New  York,  and  the  surrounding communities which have been enjoyed by
generations of residents in the  decades  since  this  courageous  woman
first began to organize for more sanitary community conditions; and

  WHEREAS,  Irene Klementowicz's infinite selflessness and benevolence
will shine on through her family's vivid and happy memories; her insight
and strength will forever serve as a beacon of love, light and  hope  to
the countless lives she touched; and

  WHEREAS,  Armed  with a humanistic spirit and imbued with a sense of
compassion, Irene Klementowicz leaves behind a legacy  which  will  long
endure the passage of time and will remain as a comforting memory to all
who  were  privileged to have known and loved such an amazing woman; she
will be deeply missed and truly merits  the  grateful  tribute  of  this
Legislative Body; now, therefore, be it

  RESOLVED,  That  this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
mourn the death of  Irene  Klementowicz,  and  to  express  its  deepest
condolences to her family; and be it further

  RESOLVED,  That  a  copy  of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to the family of Irene Klementowicz.