About me

I am an author (RIGHT OF WAY, 2020) urban planner and writer, who has been focused primarily on transportation and urban affairs for the last decade plus. I am one of the country’s best-known experts on traffic safety.

In addition, I am a married mom, and a nearly life long Ohio resident who resides in the city of Cleveland and is raising her kids there. I’m really enjoying this phase of my life, having middle-grade kids and spend a lot of time thinking about family related stuff, but not in a super ideological way (like I’m not trying to evangelize a specific family type, fwiw.)

I write about politics a little bit. And just to be upfront, I am left-leaning reformer, who is a little bit disillusioned with Democrats in recent years. I’m a little skeptical of super ideological types. I’m basically a pragmatist.

Background

I have written for newspapers, magazines, blogs, and even prestige media outlets. I also wrote a book Right of Way: Race, Class and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America, which was published in 2020 by Island Press. Since then, I have also done a speaking tour on the topic that has taken me all over the U.S. and even to Europe. I do a lot of speaking with the media about this topic. If you’d heard about how big SUVs and pickups are killing pedestrians, chances are, there’s a good chance my work was mentioned or was a factor in the coverage.

Right now I am working with an agent on a second book, but it’s too soon to talk about too much publicly. I also continue to work in the urban planning space.

What I cover

My background is in transportation and urban design and urbanism and that still informs a lot of my work. Love of place has always been something that has motivated me personally and professionally.

But I don’t want to be forced to focus on that exclusively. Increasingly, I am interested in parenting and education topics as well. Sometimes I like to write about something totally random like pop culture.