Tell us about yourself. Where are you from, what brought you to Denver, and what do you love about the Queen City?
I grew up in a very small town in Illinois, on the Iowa border, I moved to Madison, WI for college and it wasn’t long before I found myself biking around on the city’s numerous trails and paths. I spent some time in Boston while getting my MBA, and then St. Louis, working at nonprofits focused on local food and business as well as urban forestry. I eventually landed in New York City for a couple of years before moving to Denver early last Fall for a job opportunity that my husband had received. We’re really enjoying all of the incredible hiking and biking as well as the abundant sunshine!
How did you get connected to DSP? What speaks to you about our mission?
For the past two years, I worked at Transportation Alternatives in New York City where I was able to combine something that I cared about deeply personally with my professional life. Working with such a passionate and talented group of advocates has been inspiring and helped me gain a deeper understanding of how interconnected transportation is with social and equity issues as well as the vibrancy of cities. While planning a series of webinars last year, I connected with Jill Locantore and learned a bit about the Denver Streets Partnership. My team had also been keeping an eye on some of Bicycle Colorado’s statewide work and had connected with Jack Todd on some lessons learned that we could apply in NYC. I am very excited to be able to continue this work in Denver and get to know the city by walking, biking, and taking public transit.
Have you always been interested in walking, biking and transit or is this a recent development?
My first interaction with public transit was in high school when I began visiting Chicago a bit more frequently with friends. It felt very freeing to be able to sit and talk on a train while watching the city glide by. We would pick random stops to get off at and walk around. I didn’t begin commuting by bike until college. I was pretty resistant at first as driving was very much the norm when I was growing up. My husband began taking me on bike rides all over Madison and I eventually switched my commute from car to bike. I began volunteering with the Wisconsin Bike Fed in Madison and the LivableStreets Alliance once I moved to Boston where I learned more about communicating about issues surrounding walking, biking, and public transportation as well as transportation policy.
What makes you excited about the walking, biking, and rolling scene in Denver?
Space! Our wide streets are one of our greatest challenges and opportunities. Right now, many of our streets allow for dangerous speeds. Adapting that space to separate cars from people walking, biking, and scooting will only make us all safer. Denver also already has a strong bike and outdoors culture and I’m hopeful that once people feel more confident biking and walking around the city, that they will spend less time in their cars and more time enjoying the outdoors during their commutes.