After five intense months searching for a new job, I’m excited and nervous to share that I’m returning to work in the public sector as a full-time, temporary Urban Planner I at the City of Alexandria, VA. I previously worked in the public sector as a Parks Planning Intern at Oregon Metro (MPO for Portland region), Planning Intern at the Town of Davidson, NC, and Planning Intern at Charlotte DOT. The temporary Alexandria job starts tomorrow, February 23 and ends on June 29, 2018, so I’m still searching for a permanent job. While I’m stressed about still having to search for a permanent job, I’m excited and nervous to be working a full-time planning job again.
As an Urban Planner I at the City of Alexandria, I’ll help lead the planning, execution, and follow-up for a five-day intensive community planning charrette for the Route 1 South Housing Affordability Strategy. You can learn more about this project here. The charrette is Monday, February 26-Friday, March 2 from 7am-9pm, so I’ll be working 70 hours (includes breaks) during my first full week! The below video explains what will be discussed at the charrette.
While I’m aware of housing affordability issues, I didn’t take a housing policy course at UNC Charlotte or Portland State University because I was focused on transportation planning courses. I’m excited and nervous to expand my knowledge and work experience to housing policy. Since active transportation projects often cause housing to be more expensive and I still want to be an active transportation planner, I’m looking forward to learning new tools I can use as an active transportation planner to help resolve housing affordability issues.