Remix Pride Event: Queer Perspectives in Planning

Tamika L. Butler, Esq. is Founder + Principal of Tamika L. Butler consulting where I'm working at the intersection of transportation justice, equity, and organizational management. Prior to this, Tamika was Toole Design’s Director of Planning for California and the Director of Equity and Inclusion where her role included planning projects and doing the internal efforts to become a more diverse, inclusive workplace that employs people of all backgrounds.

Steph A Nelson has over ten years of experience as a transportation professional, including leading the evaluation of a major federal initiative to evaluate the effectiveness of demand responsive parking pricing (SFpark), leading the regional implementation of SB 375 for the Monterey Bay Area, and developing travel demand models that more thoroughly incorporate both active transportation modes as well as urban design interventions. Steph has worked at SFMTA for close to eight years and has held a variety of roles besides SFpark Principal Analyst, including the Data Analytics and Strategy Manager for the Sustainable Streets Division. Steph currently serves as the SFMTA GIS Developer and Administrator, working on initiatives such as the SF Streets Interactive Project Map and GIS infrastructure buildout. Prior to entering the field of transportation planning, Steph worked as a community organizer for educational justice, playing a key role in a successful federal pilot grassroots campaign that resulted in increased state funding to the most under-resourced schools throughout Pennsylvania, under the leadership of Marian Wright Edelman and other key figures. Shortly thereafter, Steph led an award winning district wide Project Safe Zone initiative with the Philadelphia School District to ensure safer schools for LGBTQ students, and was a facilitator of dozens of oppression reduction workshops throughout the Philadelphia region as a part of the National Coalition Building Institute. Steph holds masters degrees in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and Political Science from Lehigh University, and an undergraduate degree in Comparative Religion Studies and Asian Studies from Lehigh University. Steph is queer, white, and raised poor.

Heather Frambach (she/her) is a food systems practitioner with an eclectic background that includes community gardens and urban agriculture policy, farmers markets, community and campus organizing, farm-to-school and farm-to-institution efforts, and sustainable and ethical procurement. After attending the Community & Regional Planning program at UT Austin, she contributed the bulk of the food systems language in the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan and was a key figure in the City of Austin’s politically stormy update of its urban farm policy. She has since returned to her native Bay Area, where she was a formative leader of the sourcing teams at both Blue Apron and Imperfect Foods. She is currently engaged in regional market access planning for small farmers across Northern California on a USDA-funded project with Kitchen Table Advisors. Heather is a proudly queer mixed-ethnicity Mexican-American who lives in Oakland with her partner.

Janice Li was elected to the BART Board in November 2018 and represents the western half of San Francisco. In March 2020, she was also elected to serve on San Francisco's Democratic County Central Committee. She was born in Hong Kong and moved to the United States at a young age. She is the only known queer Asian woman in elected office in California and is the second youngest person currently elected to office in San Francisco. For the past 10+ years, she has worked in community-based nonprofits and for the past six years, she has served as the Advocacy Director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition where she leads campaign, policy and legislative work to promote the bicycle for everyday transportation. On the BART Board, she has fought for affordable fares, better land use policies to build affordable housing, police accountability, and more.

Rachel Zack is the Director of Policy at Remix. Her passion for empowering planners with access to insights for better decision-making stem from her many years of advising on cutting edge transportation problems, such as TNC regulation (Uber and Lyft), road usage pricing, congestion pricing, express lanes, and planning for autonomous vehicles. Before joining Remix, Rachel launched the Innovative Mobility arm of WSP where she led alternative transportation programs around the Bay Area and advised city and state agencies on strategic planning for new mobility. Her work in the field received the Caltrans Excellence in Transportation Award in WTS Innovative Transportation Solutions Award.