Meet the Connectors!

 

Maria Guadalupe Ramirez

RSP Project Manager

Maria leads a coalition of Duwamish Valley organizations and residents to identify and act on strategies to address displacement, bridging the gap between development partners and local residents. The DV Affordable Housing Coalition has been a strong advocate for affordable housing, the preservation of existing, naturally occurring affordable housing and a new multi purpose building to house several Duwamish Valley CBO’s. Maria contributes project management experience from King County Community and Human services, acquiring new affordable housing funded with local, state and federal funds. Her leadership continues onwards to Reconnect South Park and realizing new community opportunities.

Cayce James

Seattle OPCD Project Manager

Cayce serves as a Strategic Advisor for the City of Seattle, overseeing the City's involvement in the Reconnect South Park project. They have been collaborating with the South Park community members and organizations on various environmental initiatives since 2018, and have supported the Reconnect South Park initiative from its inception. They are deeply committed to environmental and climate justice, and dedicated to ensuring that community needs and priorities play a central role in shaping project processes and outcomes. Cayce has worked on several neighborhood projects, bringing different government agencies together in partnership with community-based organizations to improve connectivity, access to green space, and environmental quality in South Park. They also lead the City's Outside Citywide initiative, which aims to increase equitable access to public space across Seattle.

Lauren Squires

Technical Assistance Team Project Manager

Lauren Squires (she|her) works at Nelson\Nygaard as a multimodal mobility planner and designer. She is leading the technical assistance team (TAT) of mobility planning, urban design, and equitable development consultants. The TAT works collaboratively with the RSP Coalition to support the development of the Reconnect South Park community vision plan. Lauren and the TAT are conducting and offering accessilbe, transparent technical analysis that will help the South Park community understand the potential impacts and benefits of changes to SR 99. Technical analysis focuses on advancing community priorities, including environmental and public health, anti-displacement and equitable development, and multimodal mobility and connectivity.

Nicolas Morin

PLA, ASLA | Director of Landscape Architecture

In practice for over 20 years, Nicolas (he/him) has a passion for supporting and orchestrating successful, community-based planning and design efforts. He strives to listen, identify common ground, and realize the needs of all stakeholders with meaningful, playful, and imaginative solutions. Nicolas is a native West Coaster who loves the opportunity to energize public landscapes by encouraging connections, vitality, liveliness, and new partnerships. Environmental Works Community Design Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community-based architectural firm. founded in 1970, we have provided feasibility/pre-development studies and complete design services for human services agencies, community facilities, affordable housing providers, and public art projects.

Rosa Lopez

Conectora comunitaria. Promatora

Trabajo en organizaciones con la Comunidad de Burien, White Center y el duwamish community, Trabajo a favor de la justicia llevando la informacion que nuestra comunidad necesita basada en la necesidad que hoy enfrentamos, el problema de vivienda, el acceso a recursos y a la salud es nùestra peoridad, he estado participando con REDACO por mas de 2 años compartiendo informacion sobre conoce tus derechos y ahora estoy participando con WAISN ayudando a las personas a llenar aplicaciones para que recivan fondos de acistencia del condado de king.

Bunthay Cheam

Community Organizer

Bunthay is a 1.5 generation Khmer refugee from Cambodia and has lived most of his life in South Park. He enjoys storytelling which he practices through journalism, poetry and theatre, including being the organizer for KhAAG

Kim Schwarzkopf

RSP Media Team & Filmmaker

Kim is a Filmmaker, Skateboarder, Mom, and Co-Leader of River City SkatePark (RCSP) located on the corner of Cloverdale and 99N. For two decades, she has been working towards a shared vision of a free and public SkatePark, inspired by local teens and caring neighbors. Kim is proud to be part of a core team that has been organizing, raising funds, throwing events and forging alliances with artists, non-profit organizations, businesses and skateboarders to help build a green, healthy and fun space for all to gather and enjoy. Kim loves connecting with others, sharing stories and learning about our local history and environment and thinks deeply about what it takes to have sustainable peace for all. River City Skateapark is a neighborhood treasure and there is nothing else like it in the world! It’s a free and public skatepark on private land with a unique design based on sacred geometry, we’ve planted trees, made space for a rain garden and a green wall and we have one of the city’a only free grafiti walls!

Sam Farrazino

Equinox StudioS

He is an artist, developer, constructor, community leader and a founder/board member for GCDA. Sam has successfully reclaimed the spirit and utility of old buildings and new, creating environments in which artists, artisans and arts organizations can thrive in their own work and collaborate to build communities with art as the heart and soul.

Brice Maryman

PLA,FASLA,LEED AP | Landscape Architect/Urban Designer

For two decades, Brice Maryman has designed, written about, and advocated for empathetic, publicly-accessible open spaces in the Puget Sound region and across the United States. He has managed several high-profile projects in the central Puget Sound region including the Pioneer Square East-West Streets Pedestrian Improvements, Van Lierop Park, and Beacon Mountain at Jefferson Park. Through his project work, he manages teams with humor and clarity prioritizing regular communication, identifying pathways around potential obstacles, and helping to define elegant solutions. In 2017, he was awarded a Landscape Architecture Foundation fellowship to explore the intersection of homelessness and public space. He currently serves on the board of Cascade Bicycle Club and is the incoming board president of Washington Bikes.

Robert Hanlon

PE, Env SP | Community Convener and Infrastructure Connector

West-coast born, rust-belt raised, part-time nomad centered in the Duwamish Valley, Robert brings diverse engineering experience working with public & private organizations. He began Utility² through volunteering with other NPO’s, organizing Infrastructure Week events and workshops to build public awareness of the urbanized environment and many processes within. His primary role working at King County Wastewater Treatment Division enables advocacy for community and environment in a portlio of projects. Robert considers Reconnect South Park a key enabler to realize environmental justice for residents on both sides of the Duwamish, bringing transformative Collaboratives for generations to come…Together, let’s #buildfortomorrow!

Cheyenne Ness

RSP Grant Writer & Youth Involvement Coordinador

Cheyenne works with Utility Squared to support career-development and increase diversity in the infrastructure workforce by leading educational workshops and community engaging events centered within the Duwamish Valley. She’s a Seattle-region native who currently acts as an Environmental Permit Coordinator for Washington State Department of Transportshion (WSDOT) and is pursuing a Masters degree from the University of Washington in Infrastructure Planning & Management. Her primary role in supporting reconnect south park is to procure funding for the development of programs curating fundamental youth involvement.

Dene Diaz

Community Connector

Dene Diaz is an artist of Dominican decent. Born in New York and currently living in Seattle. He understands that everyone has a story to tell and that all deserve to seen and heard.He enjoys co-creating with others through photo-journalism, videography and poetry.

Todos Dios (Dominican Republic): https://www.instagram.com/_c_h_e_z_/ Photography: https://www.instagram.com/_dene_7/

Julie Parrett

PLA ASLA, RSP Advisor

As both a practicing landscape architect and faculty member in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington, Julie’s work focuses on projects in the public urban realm that facilitate multiple uses and act as catalysts for social, environmental, and climate justice and resiliency. Building on community priorities, Julie has led multiple design studios based in South Park focused on improving public spaces and right-of-ways for residents and youth and connecting the community to the Duwamish River. Julie will be leading students in collaboration with Reconnect South Park and the technical team to help community members translate their hopes about SR-99 into design principles and visions for South Park. Julie was previously Design Director for the People’s Waterfront Coalition where she developed an award-winning vision for Seattle’s downtown waterfront (without the Alaskan Way Viaduct) as a dynamic water’s edge with parks, beaches, recreation paths, event spaces and an urban street integrated into a functional shore ecology, and mobility solutions that supports a sustainable, just, and livable city.