Friday, November 1, 2013

Breakdown with Commuting

This week, I missed my shuttle connection because of the backed up metro during rush hour, which means I had to wait for another 45 min to get home. A long commute of an hour just got extended by another 45 min.

I am sharing my experience of that day because I am resolved to speak up to make a difference in the quality of my commute and that of others.

On most days riding the metro to work and back is somewhat digestible, today it is frankly annoying. We stopped more than a dozen times between Navy Yard and East Falls Church. I have an upset stomach and I just want to get home, but my trip time got almost doubled. I already paid $40 this morning to take a cab to be in DC at 8 am so I can’t take a cab again to get home.

Ideally, I'd live close to work so that I maximize the quality of my life. For that, housing needs to be affordable, and land use and zoning accommodate uses like a mosque. Until then, I will continue commuting and regularly experience frustration, stress, and apprehension to get to work and home on time.

What would work is a reliable transit service that will help me better schedule time for other important commitments, such as spiritual growth, time with family and friends, exercise, community activities, and continuing education and development.


Since Washington, DC is taking on improving its transportation system, I highly recommend that its transit policy includes upgrading regional travel. The majority of the labor force commutes from MD and Northern Virginia to the District. I believe that enhancing regional travel will greatly impact commuters' well being and truly make DC a premiere destination for work.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Deadline Extended! - Environmental Engineer with 1-5 years of experience!

Nspiregreen LLC is a sustainability firm located in Washington, DC that provides consulting in the following service areas: environmental solutions, transportation planning and public involvement and outreach for civil infrastructure projects. 

Position: Environmental Engineer with 1-5 years of experience
Location: District of Columbia Residents Preferred 

Roles and Responsibilities:
Nspiregreen is seeking an Environmental Engineer to focus on the District of Columbia’s Stormwater Management Plan (Consolidated Total Maximum Daily Load Implementation Plan). This position will consist of full time technical support with some stakeholder coordination. At the conclusion of this project, the Environmental Engineer may also work on other technical storm water, solid waste management and planning projects within Nspiregreen. 

This position requires the candidate to perform well in a fast paced team oriented environment. Our planners and engineers work closely together to develop sound approaches for addressing our clients’ problems. Responsibilities include data management and analysis, development of inputs for models, and interpretation and presentation of results.

Nspiregreen emphasizes collaborative learning, advanced training, and professional leadership, providing team members with the tools and work environment needed to chart their career paths. Opportunities abound for increased responsibilities and professional growth.

The engineer will provide support for a variety of interesting and innovative projects in Nspiregreen’s service areas, which includes but is not limited to:
    • Environmental consulting on storm water, solid waste, construction and environmental planning projects
    • Public Outreach for civil infrastructure projects
Essential Functions:

·      Experience working with multidisciplinary engineering teams and contractors/construction managers is ideal. 
  • Discussing requirements/ deliverables with the client and other professionals
  • Assessing the environmental impact and risks connected to projects
  • Preparing bids for tenders, and reporting to clients, public agencies and planning bodies
  • Managing, directing and monitoring progress during each phase of a project
Experience or familiarities with the following are a plus:
  •      Watershed assessments
  •      Geographic Information Systems
  •      Watershed restoration planning and design
  •      Stormwater management, planning, and design
  •      Green infrastructure and stormwater control measure design
  •      Work with multidisciplinary engineering teams

Minimum Qualifications:
  • BS, MS or MSE in Civil or Environmental Engineering, or related discipline from an accredited university program is required. DC Residents preferred.
  • 1-5 years relevant work experience is preferred. Training/experience in data management and analysis, modeling, restoration, or other area is desirable. 
  • EIT or PE desired but not required.
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills are essential, as are strong analytical and computational abilities.
·      The ability to multi-task and work as part of a team is also required. Software requirements: MS Office, GIS, Wordpress, Social Media programs (Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, etc),. General knowledge of the District of Columbia is preferred.


Please send the following to nspireus@nspiregreen.com: Resume and Cover letter. References – Please provide contact information (name, organization, email, and phone number) for three (3) references. Incomplete applications will not be considered. This deadline has been extended to 5:00pm, September 13, 2013. 


Compensation: Nspiregreen offers competitive salaries and excellent benefits to qualified employees including: medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance coverage; paid holidays and vacations; the opportunity to telework each week and other perks for company and individual performance. Nspiregreen is an equal opportunity employer.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

We're Hiring - Position: Planner I with 0-3 years of experience

WE ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTING RESUMES FOR THIS POSITION

Position: Planner I with 0-3 years of experience 
Location: DC residents preferred 

Responsibilities: Nspiregreen is seeking a Planner I to focus on the planning and implementation of the North-South Corridor as part of the DC Streetcar Program. The position will be half-time planning support and half-time public involvement support focused on transit. This position may also work on other urban planning projects, such as development forecasting, and transportation corridor planning.

Planning duties may include data collection and analysis for planning projects, report writing, quantitative analysis related to corridor studies and other transit/transportation planning duties, understanding and developing fiscal policy, understanding and developing legislative analysis, and a wide range of writing projects. Ability to transform data into visual presentations and GIS mapping will also be requested. This position requires the candidate to perform well in a fast paced team oriented environment.

Public involvement duties may include assisting with public outreach strategies and techniques, planning and staffing community meetings and special events, writing and coordinating public information/outreach materials/community messaging, assisting with graphics and document design, and assisting with social media.

This position will require attendance at weekday evening and weekend meetings.

Keywords: Transit Planner, transit, streetcar, rail, planning, transportation, public involvement, community, public meetings, social media

Requirements: Bachelors degree, MS preferred. 0+ years experience in transportation planning, civil engineering, or related field. Strong written and oral communications skills are required. The ability to multi-task and work as part of a team is also required. Software requirements: MS Office, GIS, Wordpress, Social Media programs (Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, etc), Photoshop, InDesign. General knowledge of the District of Columbia is preferred.

Please send the following to nspireus@nspiregreen.com: Resume and Cover letter References – Please provide contact information (name, organization, email, and phone number) for three (3) references. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Compensation: Nspiregreen offers competitive salaries and excellent benefits to qualified employees including: medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance coverage; paid holidays and vacations; the opportunity to telework each week and other perks for company and individual performance. Nspiregreen is an equal opportunity employer.