Co-Founder | Board Member Emeritus

Rides: Orange Line

I'm the Leslie Knope of transit, geeking out over meeting transport 'celebrities' and getting knee-deep in leading our advocacy campaigns.

I've always loved transportation, watching Thomas the Tank Engine as a child, living next to an LIRR branch line, and taking the New York City subway in and out of Manhattan with my parents nearly every weekday for the first few years of my life. I've lived deep in urbanity in Flushing, NY and first generation suburbia on Long Island. I've experienced 'advanced mutation' suburbia in Kissimmee, FL and dying, post-industrial small town America in my alma mater's host town of Troy, NY.

I know what it's like to have mobility and what it's like to be a stranded suburban teen. Today, I depend on public transport to get to work, home, and all the things in between. I write from a deep appreciation for all modes (yes, including cars) and the big picture of how each fits into the puzzle of productive cities and enabling productive people.

When I first moved to Boston, I experienced what it's like to be trapped underground for 45 minutes just outside Davis Square after one of the worst in-tunnel derailments the MBTA has seen on the Red Line in recent history. During those harrowing minutes with very few updates and even less detail about what was going on ahead, I tried to imagine the bigger picture to keep myself from smashing the emergency intercom button in the car. I found myself doing the very same thing on a commute weeks later as I discovered down-turned fliers advising about a Red Line bus substitution happening less than a week from the day they showed up.

I haven't stopped trying to figure out that big picture. Now I strive to paint that big picture for others because it's this very painting that shows us the mistakes and lessons we - the public, the riders, the legislators, the operators, the citizens - must be full aware of before misguided decisions leave us trapped in perpetual traffic.