Having served as the founding Executive Director for the LA County Bicycle Coalition, I’m passionate about making sustainable and equitable transportation a reality in Southern California. I’m happy to have played a role in the growing bicycling movement and continue to ride around town. Since I started consulting, I have served over 25 organizations working on issues related to transportation and land use, including:

• Alliance for Biking and Walking: I have led over 20 weekend Winning Campaigns trainings, including one in Los Angeles.
• Alta Consulting: I facilitated a series of meetings to develop the Park to Playa trail plan.
• Bike Kitchen: I facilitated two of their leadership retreats.
• Bikeable Communities: I facilitated a strategic planning session.
• Bikestation: I helped raise funds and managed a new station study.
• Building Healthy Communities Long Beach: I facilitated a planning process to develop goals, which included a focus on sustainable transportation options.
• California Bicycle Coalition: I helped facilitate a planning process that engaged local advocacy organizations throughout the state.
• City Fabrick: I designed a process to help launch this organization.
• Coalition for Environmental Health and Justice: I helped this coalition develop their strategy for healthy alternatives  for the 710 freeway.
• Enterprise Community Partners: I helped plan a conference on their GreenHome program, which included transit-oriented development.
• Investing in Place: I helped them with a strategic planning process.
• LA Funders’ Collaborative: I’m currently coordinating this network of funders working for a sustainable, equitable and healthy Los Angeles County.
• LA Great Streets: I facilitated a charette with leaders to help launch this initiative supported by Mayor Eric Garcetti. I also facilitated a salon on transportation for his campaign.
• LA Más: I facilitated a series of meetings to help their leadership develop strategy related to innovative place-making projects.
• LA Promise Zone: I facilitated their leadership meetings, and part of their work relates to creating more livable streets/supporting Vision Zero.
• Little Tokyo Service Center: I’m facilitating a planning process, which include their Sustainable Little Tokyo planning and policy work.
• Livable Places: I helped raise funds for this organization that worked on innovative projects and policies supporting sustainable development along transit.
• LA County Active Transportation Alliance: I planned and facilitated a planning retreat to help this collaboration move forward.
• Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition: I facilitated two planning retreats.
• Los Angeles Walks: I facilitated a weekend leadership planning retreat.
• Reconnecting America: I helped promote a conference on the Downtown LA streetcar.
• Ryan Snyder Associates: I facilitated a multi-agency meeting to discuss a draft version of the Model Design Manual for Livable Streets.
• Safe Routes to School National Partnership: I helped plan a weekend planning retreat.
• s(o)ul: I collaborated on the development of walking tours during one CicLAvia. Speaking of CicLAvia, here’s a short interview of me as I rode the 1st CicLAvia.
• Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing: I facilitated a session for the board.
• Southern California Leadership Network: I planned and facilitated two seminars investigating land use, transportation and housing in Los Angeles.
• Streetsblog LA: In partnership with the LACBC and Safe Routes to School CA, I facilitated a dialog between local funders, advocates and the new General Manager of LADOT.
• THE Impact Project: I facilitated a one-day planning retreat for this coalition focused on collaborating to improve health conditions in communities impacted by pollution.
• Transportation Alternatives (NYC): I cultivated relationships in development for a campaign.
• UCI for Ethnography: I collaborated to create an event that brought together different leaders to reflect on the growth of the bicycling movement.
• Urban and Environment Policy Institute: I helped plan the first Bike Summit in Los Angeles.
• Vision Fleet: I facilitated a two day staff retreat focussed on organizational culture.

I’m thrilled so many people and organizations are working together to transform Los Angeles into a place with sustainable and equitable transportation options. These experiences, combined with my other clients, have helped me form a robust network with local change makers in Los Angeles. Outside of my consulting practice, I’ve given thought to the future of cars and am working to make my neighborhood in Echo Park more walkable. I also biked down the Pacific Coast.

Through these experiences, I not only worked with passionate and committed leaders, but I also gained exposure to a wide spectrum of policies and plans that impact our local environment. For anyone interested in issues related to sustainable and equitable transportation, here are a few related resources:

• An Agenda for Equity: A Framework for Building a Just Transportation System in Los Angeles County
• LADOT Strategic Plan to Provide Safer Streets and Better Transportation Options
• Los Angeles Equity Atlas
• KCET Departures LA in Motion Series
• Model Design Manual for Livable Streets in Los Angeles
• Move LA
• PLACE Program (Policies for Livable, Active Communities and Environments)
• Streetsblog LA
• Vision Los Angeles

With so many organizations working together, my intention as a consultant is to serve multiple organizations working together to affect change on a larger scale, which is what I researched for my graduate thesis. Working together, which isn’t always easy, we really can make our vision reality. Given the amount of change I have experienced over the last 15 years, I’m very optimistic about the next 15. As a father with two one-year olds, I’m even more motivated to transform Los Angeles into  a place where sustainable, equitable transportation is the norm, and not the exception!