This is The Black Urbanist Weekly with Kristen Jeffers, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen E. Jeffers, an internationally-known urban planner, fiber designer, and contributing editor. Think of this as an editorial page column, but directly in your email.
If you’re new here, we have six sections: Story of the Week; The Principle Corner; By the Way; On the Shelf, On the Playlist, and Before You Go. Scroll down to get descriptions of each section. Plus, you can read all archives right here, on my homepage. Now, let’s get to our storytime.
Story of the Week: Transit Magic and Transit Power
We lived too close to the school for me to use it, but it used our street nonetheless.
They were built by more than people named Thomas, but they were built not far from a Thomasville.
It, was the yellow school bus.
It, watching from our front window around the age of four or five, was the beginning of my love affair for transit. It also began my transit dreaming.
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You know I love time traveling in this newsletter these days and here we are in 2014 with me in disbelief that I’m sitting on a dais. But I was, and it was mid-afternoon and I’d just been the lone vote on a union contract that I voted against for vibes (do not recommend, please read all of your materials even if you’re on the smallest local or state committee) as one of my first and few actions of being on the Greensboro Transit Authority.
First and few, because I was on my way to Kansas City just a few moments later, but I was also shook as I’d grown up knowing the staff liaison to GTA as one of the nice younger adult men at our church Ebenezer Baptist rising up the ranks of leadership and singing in the choir next to my dad. I realized much later one of my Dad’s first cousins was a regular GTA rider and regularly outspoken at the meetings.
It was one thing to idolize the idea of public transit, but in Greensboro, I still got in my car 95% of the time, and I wasn’t dependent on our deficient system. But, at that point, at age 27, I was on this powerful board, and I was shook because I wanted to have all the answers and didn’t.
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But I wasn’t powerless forever. But even that shook me up, because I knew I’d have folk’s life and safety in my hands and the power was overwhelming.
I was asked by the Kansas City Streetcar Authority, just months away from opening their region-changing line, to assist them, in my role as communications and membership manager at BikeWalkKC, to create some bike/ped safety materials. In addition to taking the work of the phenomenal communications team at the streetcar and adapting it to a rack card that could go out to bike shops and other community partners, I also helped test loading and unloading bikes onto the streetcar just a few weeks before it opened.
My work was enough to get me a VIP pass and ride on the special streetcar bar crawl the day it opened to the public with the directors of the agency. The next morning, I happened to be in the front row of the public opening. I wasn’t supposed to be on the first revenue train, but somehow, I was in the right eye line for then KCMO Mayor Sly James to point to me as if I was a random Kansas Citian in need of a golden ticket from the stage of that public opening.
I laughed with some of the other dignitaries who knew what was up, while also thinking that one of my colleagues, maybe not me, should have been on here anyway. But that wasn’t the first time in Kansas City that I was able to get on a major platform, on behalf of my company, ahead of my two executive directors. There were other radio interviews, TV interviews, and a little bit of side work from having run The Black Urbanist for at this time five years.
I felt undeserving. I kept writing though, even when my opinion was not unpopular, but uncomfortable, like when I asked for a new airport.
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I took all that insecurity with me when I quit abruptly and came to DC. I channeled it into one of my first articles for GGWash, on the (potential) loss of an entrance to Potomac Yard.
I’m still working on this report in which I’ve theorized the need for as many entrances as possible at all Metro stations, that’s been sitting on the shelf because I get scared sometimes when I dream things and do things that are powerful and uncomfortable.
But just like there’s an airport in Kansas City today that’s better that opened up just a few weeks ago, I walked off the train at Potomac Yard today and looked at not just one, but three entrance options.
I parked in front of the Barnes and Noble, right next to my Michael’s down the strip from the Target and Best Buy that are closer to the first of the three entrances.
I seem to attract the kinds of folks that love Barnes and Noble, no matter who and how I date, and Les is no question. In fact, she’s been a card-carying B&N member for a very long time and we just upgraded to premium after our train trip today.
As we would go to Barnes and Noble during all the phases of the pandemic, we’ve been watching this station go up with excitement.
She took Lyft this morning to make it to the ribbon cutting and I watched from home as I edited this morning’s GGWash Breakfast Links, as I do as a contract contributing editor, under my own consulting banner Kristen Jeffers Media.
As I got in our car and drove over to that B&N after finishing posting our editorial slate for the day, I was wishing that the proposed Metro lines near our apartment were off the drawing board as well. I drove past the Wilson Bridge Trail, wishing I’d had more stamina to also participate in Bike to Work Day.
But, I got to B&N, helped Les refuel (she’s still recovering, but very active), and then we set off to ride the train from Potomac Yard.
It was amazing.
I took lots of photos and video of the both of us and I’ll be sharing those over the next few days, but I picked one of my favorites to lead with today.
Thanks again for listening to all my stories. There’s only more to come, because if today is any indication, some of my transit stories are magic. And yes, I’m just as hype as Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson today, because I never stopped believing in this transit dream.
The Principle Corner
In this section, we step away from the literary expression that opens this newsletter and into the “practical”.
Today is a full circle day because for the third time, I’ve been able to ride a public transit line or go to a brand new transit station on its opening day. That’s been the core of my work since I wrote my very first series of posts about having easy access to public transportation back in 2009.
But, I want to remind us that some folks having access to quality public transportation is not enough. The WMATA Metro station that opened today is in a state that needs to increase its funding allotment not just for this particular station, but for the lines that connect to it (this link is paywalled, but in it WMATA GM Randy Clarke calls for states and localities to step up when funding transit).
Thankfully, the City of Alexandria was not only visionary enough continue pushing through this plan despite numerous setbacks over the course of 40 years, it continues to innovate, despite diversity setbacks.
I want every child to have the joy of riding the yellow school bus or a subway or metro train or bus and go exactly where they want to go, without fear.
And as an adult, I’m living for this day of being able to ride a train, right by something I use in my car all the time, along with shaping policy, advocacy, and how we tell the story of transit, but on my own terms.
Now, onward to masking up again and heading to opening night at the Washington Mystics, with a DC Black Queer Women’s meetup.
By the Way
Here’s where I share other articles/videos that were noteworthy for me this week in this section. Apologies in advance for things behind a paywall. Some things I subscribe to and others I grab just before the wall comes down on me. I will start marking these articles and describing them.
I will forever amplify any stories that tell the truth about dollar stores and their stripping of value from neighborhoods of people who need lifting up the most. Plus, if they can give this stuff away for nearly free, imagine what we could do if we did so equitably (and scroll down to the Before You Go for some mutual aid ideas).
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I will be making it to the Sheep to Shawl competition next year, along with the entire Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Excited to see this on NPR!
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Honoring the (semi)retirement of Black disabled movement elder Anita Cameron. As I lean even more into disability justice, I thank her for being there even when the intersections seemed to crash right on her and I honor her for taking this next step to practice self-care.
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Happy Bike to Work Day, even to those of you who biked across your living room to your work-from-home space!
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Finally, as we honor not just the revolutionaries that were all born today, but our Asian-American and Pacific Islander native siblings and colleagues, I want to lift up the article of all the Asian Connies that came from watching Connie Chung. I included her in my pantheon of women of color coming on TV and showing me that being a professional writer and journalist was real. I am also touched that she knows this and honors the legacy that she’s left. Let us all proceed in solidarity as we march toward justice and liberation!
On the Shelf, On the Playlist
My weekly recommendations of books, music, podcasts, and other pop culture
We’re still reading Viral Justice this week, and I finished chapter one and had to marinate on it. This might be a slow read just so I can process and savor it. Hence why I’m down to once-a-month book recs and we might need to do once a quarter.
Music-wise you may have seen on Les’s page that we masked up and took a huge leap of faith to sit in the ADA section and watch Anita Baker perform the entire scheduled show, on time, in Baltimore, on key, with an encore. We’ve also been watching the new Afeni and Tupac Shakur documentary Dear Mama and if you enjoyed me teaching that lesson back in the active version of my Black Queer Feminist Urbanist school, you’ll love this doc. Also, I am still working on getting the school back up and running, but I’ll not put a date on that, just know my heart is there.
Before You Go
This is our last section, where I have classified advertisements for others along with nudges to donate to crowdfunding and social justice campaigns but I also advertise things that I’m doing that are for sale or for hire. Rates start at $75 a week for a four-week commitment and $150 for just one week. Learn more and get started with your ad! First, another position open with UC San Diego Labor Center, which has updated their salary requirements and due dates for advertising this position.
POSITION OVERVIEW
Position title: Program Director – UC San Diego Labor Center
Salary range: A reasonable salary range estimate for this position is $86,000 – $106,000. Off-scale salaries, i.e., a salary that is higher than the published system-wide salary at the designated rank and step, are offered when necessary to meet competitive conditions. The posted UC academic salary scales
(https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/compensation/2022-23-academic-salary-scales.html
set the minimum pay determined by rank and/or step at appointment. See the salary scale titled, Academic Administrator Series – Fiscal Year for the salary range https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel- programs/_files/2022-23/july-2022-salary-scales/t34.pdf.
APPLICATION WINDOW
Open date: May 11, 2023
Next review date: Friday, May 26, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.
Final date: Thursday, Aug 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.
Apply now: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF03619/apply
POSITION DESCRIPTION
The UC San Diego Labor Center (https://laborcenter.ucsd.edu/) invites applications for a Program Director. The center is administratively housed within the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (https://usp.ucsd.edu/).
The UC San Diego Labor Center strengthens and expands the labor movement through advanced research, education, and strategic partnerships with workers, labor organizations, policymakers, tribal organizations, and the broader San Diego region. We place the well-being of workers, their families, and their communities at the forefront of our curricula, community engagement, public programs, and publications. We focus attention on the unique socio-economic circumstances of the border region, including large binational and refugee communities and Indigenous nations in the region. Our research offers innovative policy perspectives on work and workers while our worker-centered approach advances the goals of fair working conditions, living wages, and climate, gender, and racial justice.
We seek a program director to lead the founding and growth of the center. With funding through the University of California Worker Rights Policy Initiative (WRPI), the center aims, in the next three years, to: build our capacity for research, policy analysis, education, and public-facing programming; support unions and community organizations to conduct their work more strategically by developing curricula and providing
technical assistance; and develop the next generation of labor and community organizers, researchers, and leaders among undergraduate and graduate students by connecting them with labor and community organizations, and training and involving them in community-engaged action research. We work closely with the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council.
The program director is the senior, full-time person building and leading the center in collaboration with a faculty director and managing its dynamic and growing portfolio of research, training, programming, and community collaboration. The program director is responsible for the independent development and coordination of all aspects of center operations, which includes the following core areas:
Strategic Leadership
Working with the center’s Faculty Leadership Council and the Labor and Community Advisory Board, the program director provides strategic leadership in planning and implementing all research and programming at the center. Represent the center at annual conferences, community-sponsored events, and working groups.
Research and Education Programming
Working with the Faculty Director, as well as the Labor and Community Advisory Board, the program director will help develop and guide the center’s research, policy analysis, graduate and undergraduate instruction, and public-facing programming. This includes overseeing and initiating, if qualified, research projects in collaboration with community partners, as well as teaching courses and workshops related to labor studies and community-based methods.
Fundraising
Planning, developing, and initiating strategies for generating resources and/or revenues, including fundraising, donor relations, and grant and contract proposals.
Public Relations
Interfacing with the broader community (including the California Labor Federation, San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, unions, worker centers, and community organizations), local and state government
officials, foundations, and other community partners. Overseeing all aspects of the center's communications, including web presence, report review, and external relations.
Event Development and Coordination
Overseeing all center-organized and affiliated events.
Research Administration and Financial Management
Overseeing and further developing the organizational structure for the center’s financial and business operations, including the generation, management, and reporting of center budgets and oversight of contracts and grants.
Center Management
Responsible for personnel and program management at the center, including planning and implementing strategic initiatives, supervising and mentoring staff, and ensuring HR needs are met.
Unit:
QUALIFICATIONS
Basic qualifications (Required at Time of Application)
1) Bachelor’s degree or higher (or an equivalent foreign degree) in social science, humanities, public
administration, or related fields; AND 2) minimum of ten years' experience, with increasing levels of
responsibility, in research, program development, organizing, and/or administration.
CAMPUS INFORMATION
The University of California, San Diego is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing
inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, covered veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.
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Mutual aid will continue to be a big part of this newsletter.
For those of you who can and I know it’s tough out here for a lot of us, like our colleague who could still use our support with her partner’s chronic health challenges and of course, Les’s as she recovers at home from her endometriosis surgery, but an extra $20-$50 in these accounts is takeout money, gas/transit money, a doctor’s appointment, whatever they want, which is more than they had before.
I’m adding a link for Project N95 to help folks who still want to use personal protective equipment, but are running into financial hardship now that things like tests and high-quality masks are full price and major institutions have decided to move on. I’m also adding a link for the Entertainment Community Fund and for those in WGA to have relief while they take necessary action to get the funding they deserve for being one of the few industries that can’t be erased (at least for now).
And yes, my yarn-related fundraisers are still going strong, as they too see the value in community uplift and mutual aid. We are directly supporting LolaBean Yarn Co. and Dye Hard Yarns in addition to the spring fundraiser of Knit the Rainbow, a group that works to ensure that knitwear is donated to LGBTQIA+ youth, and raises awareness of queer/trans folks in the yarn and fiber space, is still ongoing.
This is how we as planners and makers can practice solidarity and uplift community groups. If not these campaigns, please find some that are closest to you. I also assume that you do have the financial means to do so as planners, but I know things can be tough for us. But solidarity is free and that starts with speaking up and sharing when you can.
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If you want me to show up on your panel, keynote, or podcast, book a complimentary consultation call. I still have open availability for 2023 and 2024.
If you want to send me money for quick expenses or like a tip jar, you can Venmo me or buy me a Ko-fi. If you become a Patreon, you can do that on a set monthly basis, along with a special thank you note each week! The GoFundMe is still alive if you want to make large donations quickly and you can subscribe on Substack but know that nothing in this newsletter is going behind a paywall, this is considered a love offering. I will be making some Patreon changes and adding a true incentive to Substack.
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I have created a special landing page, www.theblackurbanist.com/books, that’s not only a home for my upcoming volume, A Black Urbanist Journey to a Queer Feminist Future, but all those books in the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist canon. Use this link to purchase from my Bookshop, especially if it’s coming up as an error for you. I’m still trying to figure out why that is and how I can fix it in the future.
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And if you need one more reminder to support my textile and fiber work, head over to www.kristpattern.com.
Until next time,
Kristen