Education

• When opening of our public schools was threatened by the astestos crisis, and the central Board of Education failed to follow the recommendations of Community School Board 2 with regard to asbestos abatement priorities, Christine and local parents successfully convinced the Chancellor to follow the local board’s suggestions and deal with the schools most in need first.
  
• During the City’s budget negotiations, Christine and Tom were able to secure funding to rehabilitate PS 3 and PS 33’s playgrounds, and to create or upgrade computer centers in every public school in the district.
  
• In 1993, when the religious right sought to take control of New York City’s school boards, she and others created School PAC, which gave resources to progressive school board candidates across the City.
  

• With Tom, Christine fought to rid our schools of milk made with the genetic growth hormone rBGH. They introduced legislation that would prevent the Board of Education or any other City agency from buying milk from dairy farms which use synthetic growth hormones.

Parks & Environmental Efforts

• While at Trinity college, Christine became active in the Connecticut Public Interest Research Group (CONNPIRG), and led the lobbying effort that succeeded in creating and funding the state’s household hazardous waste program.
  
• Upon graduating, Christine was a field organizer for Massachusetts Citizens for Safe Energy, a grassroots coalition working to close two nuclear power plants.
  

• At the Housing Justice Campaign, Christine sat on the Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board, and fought to increase funding and educational programs for recycling. At Tom Duane’s office, she was critical in the effort to get a special recycling program in the West 4^th Street subway, a program she hopes to replicate throughout the City when she is in the Council.
  
• Recognizing the lack of public open space in lower Manhattan, Christine and Tom worked to secure funding for the recently approved multi-million dollar rehabilitation of Chelsea Park and the renovations of Bleecker and Penn South playgrounds.

Christine has worked with waterfront activists to prevent commercial development on our waterfront, from preserving access to Guadacanal/Pier 84 in Clinton to preventing a sports megastore from opening on the Chelsea waterfront. Christine is a member of the Chelsea Waterside Park Association.

Fighting Bias Crime

As Executive Director of the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (AVP). Christine not only improved AVP’s reputation as a victim services agency, but increased awarness of bias crimes nationwide.

Christine’s service to AVP brought the organization nationwide attention when she led the lesbian and gay community response to manhunt for serial killer Andrew Cunanan. Christine brought the focus away from Cunanan as a "killer gay" and refocused the crisis by demonstrating that Cunanan was a threat to the lesbian and gay community. AVP received national attention when it posted, and later paid a $10,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Cunanan. Christine’s leadership was a direct response to a killer who was a threat to people throughout the country. The media portrayed Cunanan as a "killer gay", but Christine’s initiative forced the media to focus on how Cunanan was a dangerous individual to all people, not just lesbians and gays.

Later, Christine was appointed to the Mayor’s Task Force on Police/Community Relations, which was established in response to the recent wave of community/police confrontations that began with the Abner Louima case.

Christine is also the co-author of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs 1996 report, Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Related Violence in 1996. She was also on the organizing team for and prsenter at the Presidential Summit on Hate Crimes held in November 1997.

Tenant Organizing:

• At the Housing Justice Campaign, Christine was an outspoken leader in the fight to preserve rent protections and lobbied the City Council to preserve funding for eviction prevention programs. She also administered a low-interest loan program to provide heat and hot water for financially troubled tenant owned buildings.
  

• At Tom Duane’s office, Christine organized neighborhood campaigns to save tenants homes and protect and improve the affordable housing stock every neighborhood in the district. The battles included fighting for the Sigmund and Ivelli tenants on West 22^rd Street, Elaine Schechter of Perry Street, and the residents of Leo House on West 23^rd Street, as well as playing an essential role in the effort to preserve and maintain the buildings owned by Martin Fine on 9^th Avenue in Clinton.

Today, Christine is continuing her work for tenants as a volunteer with Chelsea United for Tenants Rights and as a member of New York State Tenants and Neighbors.

Lesbian and Gay Rights

As Executive Director of the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, Christine fought to protect Lesbian's and Gays from violent attacks.  Christine organzied rallys, lobbied the City Council and Mayor. 

Women’s Issues:

• During the Democratic National Convention in 1992, New York’s abortion clinics were threatened by attack from Operation Rescue. Recognizing that threat, Christine reached out on Tom Duane’s behalf to all the police precinct captains in the Third Council District to make sure they understood that clinic defenders were allowed to be present to protect clients (in the past clinic defenders had been erroneously arrested). Christine also organized outreach to other councilmembers so they could replicate this effort in their districts and coordinated a district-wide clinic defense training. Having volunteered as a clinic defender in the past, Christine again volunteered her time to be a captain for one of our clinics in Greenwich Village.

• Several issues of sexual harassment within government came to Tom Duane’s attention during Christine’s tenure and she took on efforts to force those agencies to address the problem and punish offending employees. In one instance, a long-time frie department doctor was accused by several female firefighters of sexually assulting them during routine physical exams. Christine organized internal and external pressure on the Fire Department, forcing the doctor into early retirement.

At AVP, Christine oversaw AVP’s Domestic Violence Unit, the largest same-gender domestic violence program in the nation. And when the Village experienced a series of rapes in the summer of 1996, AVP posted information about the crimes and provided self-defense trainings for any women interested.