[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 24 (Tuesday, March 10, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E330-E331]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     IN HONOR OF IRENE KLEMENTOWICZ

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 10, 1998

  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Irene Klementowicz, a resident of my district who has fought hard to 
protect the environmental health of her community.
  Ms. Klementowicz has actively worked to improve her community since 
she first arrived in Greenpoint. Among her many activities, she helped 
ensure that a local factory started implementing pollution controls. 
This was especially important since it was situated directly across 
from two schools.
  This early activism led to an appointment to Community Board 1, where 
she continues to champion the health and safety of her district. Among 
her accomplishments, she can be credited with a hard-fought and 
successful campaign to shut down the Greenpoint incinerator, long a 
source of pollution and nuisance.
  Ms. Klementowicz's efforts have been recognized by numerous civic 
organizations. The City Club of New York honored her with an award for 
grass-roots leadership to the Concerned Citizens of Greenpoint, of 
which she is president. This group was formed to address environmental 
conditions that are detrimental to the health of Greenpoint citizens.
  Her selfless efforts on behalf of the Greenpoint community have 
earned her the respect, and in some cases trepidation, of numerous 
public officials. She is both a tireless opponent of environmental 
degradation, and a committed activist for improving the quality of life 
in her district.
  The efficiency and effectiveness Irene Klementowicz has displayed in 
Greenpoint should serve as a model for all community activists. Without 
people like Ms. Klementowicz working to improve communities on the 
local level, our work as Members of Congress would be compounded 
tenfold. It is the hardworking people like Ms. Klementowicz who

[[Page E331]]

keep alive the small-town feeling which could so easily be lost in a 
big city.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues rise with me in this tribute to 
Ms. Irene Klementowicz, a woman who has worked very hard to improve her 
community.

                          ____________________