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Barretto Bay Strategies LLC
Barretto Bay Strategies is an urban solutions consulting firm that provides strategic advising to public agencies, community development organizations, and start-ups in the areas of renewable energy and clean transportation; urban manufacturing & distribution; and neighborhood revitalization. The firm specializes in projects positioned at the interface of public policy and market development in these spaces.
Barretto Bay’s recent clients have included a global automaker seeking to develop and deploy a zero-emission car share program in dense East Coast metros, a national developer of affordable housing pursuing a strategy of industrial job creation in a new mixed-use development, the owner of a 120 acre former shipyard in search of a repurposing strategy for a location that once employed over 50,000 workers, and an economic development organization looking to procurement localization as an approach to address poverty in an historically underserved area. Barretto Bay has advised three NYS Brownfield Opportunity Area studies as well as six NYS Energy Research and Development Authority projects
Consultant Bios
Paul Lipson served for seven years as Chief of Staff to Congressman Jose E. Serrano (NY-16), an 11-term Democrat and senior appropriator from The Bronx, NY. In 2009, Lipson served as principal author of The American Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Act (HR 4399), a bill introduced with bi-partisan support aimed at scaling up the domestic electric truck industry and helping to address air quality deficits incurred by medium duty fleets based in places like the South Bronx.
Most recently, Mr. Lipson led the PennDesign-OLIN team’s consensus-building and engagement process for its successful Rebuild By Design application to address coastal vulnerabilities in and around the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center. In this role, Mr. Lipson’s firm worked intensively with organized labor locals, food wholesalers, small businesspeople, community advocates, and the non-profit community to elicit local solutions to longstanding resiliency challenges in Hunts Point.
Mr. Torres has spearheaded a number of local, state and regional studies and implementation projects in the clean energy, procurement, and transportation spheres. Beginning in 2013, Mr. Torres managed a multi-year procurement localization study for large institutions in Bronx County on behalf of the Greater New York Hospital Association and allied organizations in The Bronx.
From 2007 through 2010, Mr. Torres served as Associate Director for the City University of New York's Center for Sustainable Energy. In this role, he promoted renewable energy and energy efficiency in urban communities, brought together policymakers, manufacturers, and end-users for regular conferences and policy discussions, and helped to secure city, state, and federal subsidies for regional fleets seeking to acquire clean transportation technology.
From 2002-2006, Torres served as a Staff Attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Rockland County. From 1998 - 2002, Torres served as special counsel to Congressman Jose E. Serrano. His portfolio included environmental law, energy policy, and legislative redress for environmentally-beleaguered communities. He also served as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice from 1994 - 1997.
In 2011 Mr. Torres established a solo law practice based in Rockland County. In 20011 he was appointed Acting Village Justice in the Village of Haverstraw Justice Court and currently serves in this capacity. Mr. Torres also serves as Vice President of Empire Clean Cities, a non-profit coalition dedicated to promoting clean energy technology and fuels and reducing pollutant emissions. He was selected to the ECC executive board in 2010.
Josh Keller is the former Executive Director of the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation, a local economic development agency serving the over 2,000 industrial businesses of Sunset Park, Red Hook and Gowanus. He worked at SBIDC for nearly a decade helping companies access complex tax incentive and financing programs. He was deeply involved in various relocation and retention projects aimed at increasing jobs and investment in the local economy. He also started a privately funded workforce development program which places hundreds of residents into industrial jobs each year.
“The Bronx is Breathing” Selected As Grand Prize Awardee in $85 Million New York Clean Transportation Prize Competition
-Project to bring community revitalization, economic development, and clean transportation to the Hunts Point community in the Bronx
Bronx, NY– The New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA), in partnership with the New York State Department of Public Service (NYSDPS) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), has announced the selection of The Bronx is Breathing: Reimagining a Cleaner Hunts Point, a project conceptualized by Urban Health Plan, the Greater Hunts Point Economic Development Corporation and The Point Community Development Corporation, for a $10 million grand prize to advance plans to bring clean transportation solutions to New York State’s busiest trucking hub. A collaboration with Volvo Group North America, along with Shell Recharge Solutions and deployment partners City Harvest and the Drivers Cooperative, the project will reduce air pollution, advance freight electrification, and support clean mobility in one of New York’s most underserved communities.