Mayor Michael Nutter recently appointed a new Director of Sustainability for Philadelphia, replacing the first director, Mark Alan Hughes, who recently left that position to take a position at the University of Pennsylvania.
The new Director is Katherine Gajewski who had been an official in the Nutter administration. She served as Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff in the Mayor’s Office since January 2008 where she managed a number of major citywide projects including the Philly Spring Cleanup which, in its first year, was recognized as the largest citywide clean-up in U.S. history. She worked closely with Mayor Nutter to appoint many Boards and Commissions, identifying candidates, making recommendations to the Mayor, and setting the direction and focus for these entities. Katherine has also led a number of the Nutter Administration’s community outreach efforts, playing a major role in the public engagement during this year’s budget process. She worked with community organizations across the city to organize eight town hall meetings last year that were attended by thousands of people.
There is an interesting July 30, 2009, interview with Hughes as he departed his city office. A print version of the interview is available online on Jargon etc. Hughes, of course, has been the principle architect of the Greenworks Philadelphia sustainability plan, which is very ambitious and creative. I would be very interested to hear your reactions to the appointment of Gajewski, or to the interview with Hughes. Everything I see going on in Philly looks very impressive to me, and I'd like to see if there are others who share this view.
