I am writing to offer an assessment of where seaweed farming currently stands in New York, based on several years of direct, on-the-ground involvement across towns, nonprofits, and commercial operations.

My work through Lazy Point Farms has focused on a single objective: reducing barriers so that more people can grow seaweed. That has meant investing not in aspirational future infrastructure, but in the unglamorous, early-stage tools required to make cultivation possible in the present, laser-focused on meeting real, immediate needs.

This letter announces a pause for the Brooklyn Diaper Project to improve our strategy and seek more sustainable, impactful solutions to address and solve the root causes of diaper need in New York City.

I'm writing to you today with a serious concern about NYC’s Participatory Budgeting process, and I feel it's crucial to bring to light a potential disconnect between the promise of this system and its actual outcome. My experience suggests that our votes may not always translate into the meaningful change we expect.