My Story
The Beginning of My Urban Planning Journey
Friendly Neighborhood Planner
How It All Started
Here I was 16 years old and one semester into my junior year in high school, and my mother decided we were going to move from Redlands, a place we have been living since I was 8 years old, to Moreno Valley. Now, don’t get me wrong I have always been the adventurous one out of my siblings. Quite simply, I am one to never back down from a dare, challenge or change to be honest (just ask my brother).
But, this change was unacceptable, as I had one year left to graduate! So, no I didn’t want to be uprooted to a new high school, but my mother is Southern at heart and what she said goes (I can laugh about it now but back then it was a tragedy).
We quickly learned that this school district did not provide bus transportation for high school students and I lived 3-4 miles away from school. I wasn’t a privileged child born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and didn’t have a car. So, my other option was to catch public transportation (i.e. the bus), but the bus stop was 1.5 miles from the house. So, you guessed it, I had to get up at 5:00 a.m., walk 1.5 miles to the bus stop for it to drop me a couple blocks from school, walk the rest of the way and be at school 30 minutes early. It was all a disaster because I was extremely exhausted each day!
Obviously, the public transportation route wasn’t working; as a result, I started walking the entire way to and from school. It was slightly better besides when it was extremely cold or hot (trust me summers in the valley got up to 115 degrees and it was brutal). I tried to make a game out of it to psych my mind out of how horrible it all was, so each day I tried to locate the fastest way to get to and from school. But, there was one obstacle in my way! You ask what this obstacle was? It was California State Route 60 (SR 60), a east-west state highway that was built to split Moreno Valley into two sections (north and south) and you guessed it there were no underpasses along my route to and from school!
This is when and how an interest in when, where, why, and how cities are built sparked. It was adversity and a daily journey (physically and mentally) that watered my interest. Yep, it was during my junior year of high school where the planner in me bloomed.
“I wasn’t a privileged child born with a silver spoon in my mouth. “
The Next Chapter
By senior year of high school I did my research on who I believed was responsible for shaping cities; and thus decided on being a Planner. The new chapter of my adult life started with me going to Riverside Community College (RCC) where I laid down my foundation brick by brick until it was time to transfer to a university. Now, you are probably wondering why I did not go straight to a four year college and the answer was it was strategic, as I stated earlier I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Nonetheless, I saved thousands of dollars, grew as a an adult, scholar, individual, and received a great education.
I ended up transferring to Sonoma State University, located in Northern California, where I majored in Environmental Planning. That is right! My Planning beginnings were in the environmental realm, and I am so thankful for these beginnings because they have molded me into a human who is aware of not only the built environment, but also the natural environment. But, as always adversity was trailing behind and I began to think of my future financial well-being; and ultimately decided that although I loved Sonoma and its environment (great pun don’t you think) that I would transfer back down to Southern California because the dorm life was expensive!
I became a commuter student traversing many freeways and highways as I made my way from Moreno Valley to California State University, Northridge (CSUN) to be an Urban Planning Student. I then proudly graduated as the first in my family from CSUN with honors might I add.
So there you have it, I have both an environmental and urban background. This makes me multifaceted, diverse and well-rounded. So, never be afraid of change as a Planner.
Urban Planning Life Motto
“Planner’s whether environmental, urban, transportation, historic preservation, land use, etc., need to be the bloom to attract people who will then pollinate others with love, peace, and knowledge.”
-Friendly Neighborhood Planner-
“Planners shall always strive to create a balance between the built and natural environment.”
-Friendly Neighborhood Planner-
Looking To The Future
Throughout my journey through childhood, college, and employment, I have acquired great knowledge, understanding, and tools as not only a Planner, but as a human being. But, my ultimate goal has always been to share what I have learned with others because Planning is an unknown field that is greatly misunderstood. It’s comical but ask my family what I do for a living and you will get a different answer from each or you might even get “I don’t know”. That says a lot about how bad we have been doing when a profession that impacts everyones everyday lives do not even know what it is or that it even exists.
Therefore, my journey has led me here to this website. My goals are to first let it be known and to step out of working the usual planning job (i.e. another person’s company or the public sector). Secondly, change the perception of planning because it’s a pretty bad one. I have even heard from an economic development director that we were speed bumps to development lol, and despite hearing things like that and the ups and downs I may have had with this profession it hasn’t diminished my love for it, but instead heightened it. The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, and I want to take a leap. Therefore, my third goal is be the teacher and the student by educating others and providing a platform where you can continue to educate me through this life journey. So, let’s start that journey… from one single step to a thousand. Here’s to the Urban Planning Life.