Transforming Pacoima

I worked with a team of UCLA students to envision new urban design and economic development strategies for Pacoima, a neighborhood located in the East Valley region of Los Angeles.

Pacoima: a Closer Look at Demographics and Food Access

One of the issues in Pacoima is environmental justice and food access. Using GIS as an analysis tool, I identify possible sites for nutrition education programs and farmers' markets. The idea is to work with farmers and grocery stores to sell produce at cost to low-income families and youth, at select after-school program sites.

In order to find an appropriate location for the Farm Fresh Program it is important to review and analyze the following information:

1) Demographics for Pacoima, especially low income, minority, youth who are the target participants for the Farm Fresh Program;

2) The schools in the area, since the since the selected Farm Fresh location will be at an after-school program site; and

3) Existing supermarkets to determine if there is a need for farmers' markets in Pacoima

User Groups: Douglas Park, Santa Monica

In Winter 2008 I took a Site Planning course and wrote a 35 page Site Analysis of a 10 block area of Santa Monica along Wilshire Blvd. The report includes a lynch analysis, maps of perceived and actual zoning, architectural typologies, historic landmarks, a Sanborn map as well as suggested design interventions. The following images of user activities and movement patterns are from the section on Douglas Park. (Click on image to enlarge). Click here: (http://abreports.blogspot.com/) to view the complete Douglas Park chapter. Please email me if you would like a PDF of the entire Site Analysis document.

Arts Education in Richmond: Creating Cities Project

From 2003-2005 I worked for The Richmond Art Center, in Richmond California, and ran an arts education program in the West Contra Costa Unified School District. Additionally, I taught art as an Artist-in-Residence at several of the schools. I designed a curriculum that integrated arts learning with themes of identity, culture, and community. For one of the projects, a class of 4th graders at Grant Elementary created a model city. Each student made a house, apartment, or commercial building from paper. Together they placed the buildings in a grid and added trees, streets, traffic signs, and other elements of their choosing. They discussed what they liked and disliked about Richmond and used these ideas to collectively create a set of rules and concepts for their model town.

Community History and Social Change in South Berkeley

In 2005 I worked with Dona Graves, a public artist and historian, on her research project Community + History: Francis Albrier and Social Change in South Berkeley. The project celebrated the contributions of Francis Albrier, the granddaughter of a former slave who moved to Berkeley in 1920 and, for over sixty years, was a civil rights activist. Dona created an interpretive plaque for the Berkeley Public Art program, and organized a community celebration and memory gathering event. Additionally, Dona and I cowrote and taught curriculum about social change and neighborhood history to middle school students at Longfellow School.

The City of Berkeley highlighted the project on it's website

Main St. Santa Monica

The following project is from an urban design class I took in Fall 2007. I presented suggested design changes for a one block section of Main Street in Santa Monica; I used hand drawing skills, AutoCAD, Illustrator and Photoshop. (Click on an image to enlarge).

Landscape Drawings

The following drawings are of a residential neighborhood in Oakland, a strip mall in Santa Fe and Main Street in Santa Monica. I used pen, pencil, and watercolor to create the different pieces. (Click on an image to enlarge).