RPS Presentation, May 10, 2023– Lisa Roy Baron- Greentopia – A New Urban State Park in Rochester, How Should it be Developed?
Lisa Baron is a graduate of the University of Rochester and University of Buffalo School of Law. She is a retired attorney having practiced with the Buffalo firm of Lipsitz, Green, Scime & Cambria, and the Akron firm of Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs where she specialized in toxic tort litigation for International Paper and Firestone.
Ms. Baron joined the board of Greentopia in 2014 and became the driving force behind the organization’s first big project in 2016, the FlourGarden in High Falls, a 250 foot linear fountain and garden in the former raceway on Browns Race. She also drove the funding and the creation of the plan to designate greater High Falls as the first organized Ecodistrict in NYS. An ecodistrict is a designated area that uses an agreed upon urban plan that integrates objectives of sustainable development and social equity to reduce the ecological footprint of a neighborhood.
She became executive director of Greentopia in 2017. Greentopia is dedicated to the redevelopment of the Rochester High Falls District into a 21st century urban greenway reconnecting Rochester to its river and spectacular waterfalls. To that end, Ms. Baron served on the ROC the Riverway Advisory Committee that secured millions in state funding to renovate the Pont de Rennes Bridge and adjacent parks at the rim of the gorge. Greentopia was also instrumental in advocating for the development and funding High Falls Urban State Park which was announced in January 2022 by Governor Hochul.
Ms. Baron is currently a trustee of Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondacks since 2019.
She also served on the board of trustees of the Susan B. Anthony Museum and House and was a member of the Arts, Sciences and Engineering National Council of the University of Rochester. Most recently Ms. Baron was a member of the Local Planning Committee for the Rochester Downtown Revitalization Initiative which created a list of shovel ready projects on Main and Clinton to receive $10M in state funding.
Lisa and her husband Jack have three children and reside in Irondequoit, New York.