Giving Thanks at Remix: Transit Experts Share Reasons for Gratitude

Remix

With reasons for giving thanks both at work and at home, examples of gratitude can serve as inspiration for all of us during this holiday season.

As we turn our focus to Thanksgiving this week, the members of Remix's Advisory Council and Remix executives have plenty to be grateful for. With reasons for giving thanks both at work and at home, examples of gratitude can serve as inspiration for all of us during this holiday season.

We asked Remix’s advisors to share what they are thankful for, as well as their wishes for the year ahead. Here is what they shared:

What are you most grateful for? And what is your wish for the upcoming year?

Veronica O. Davis, Principal Planning Manager, Nspiregreen, LLC

  • I’m most grateful for: "My family and my health."
  • My wish for the upcoming year: "For cities to implement transportation plans that improve the lives of Black people."

Russ Brooks, Principal, Scale Consulting

  • I’m most grateful for: "Family, friends, my health, and an ever-growing progressive movement that continues to shine a light on the real problems affecting this country, and our communities, and fosters hope that we can address those challenges."
  • My wish for the upcoming year: "Equity, social justice, and the ability for everyone to be safe and healthy, work that benefits my community and sustains me, and a reinvigoration of the spirit of America that renews our focus on the principles this country aspires to...and, of course, $32 billion+ for transit!" 

Tina Quigley, retired CEO of RTC in southern Nevada

  • I’m most grateful for: "My village of friends and family. They keep me feeling connected and purposeful. Being at home so much has been lonely and empty for me at times. I am a social person. I get energy by sharing ideas and conversations with peers and friends. Technology helped in many ways to get us through it, but each of those rare times I get to spend with a small group of friends in person, I leave feeling energized and sincerely grateful." 
  • My wish for the upcoming year: "A vaccine! So all kids can get to go back to school in some format, even if just a few days a week. It has been hard to watch my kids (ages 17 and 20) lose their enthusiasm for the college experience and their optimism for the future."

Rachel Zack, Director of Policy, Remix

  • I’m most grateful for: "I am grateful for the citizens of Austin, Denver, San Antonio, Seattle, and the Bay Area who passed ballot measures to fund mass transit systems that will carry us towards a greener, more efficient, and more accessible future."
  • My wish for the upcoming year: "My hope is that we come together in the new year to support those who need the most, to keep people housed, fed, and supported emotionally while we get through these tough times, so recovery is shared by all."

Janet Attarian, Senior Mobility Strategist, SmithGroup

  • I’m most grateful for: "Patience. Patience is what allows us to listen to others and hear different opinions and perhaps find common ground. Patience is what enables us to achieve long term plans that can change the world, such as transit systems, the elimination of disease through vaccines, and reduced carbon emissions. Patience is what keeps me from pulling my hair out with my teenage daughter. Patience is what gives us democracy and the ability to wait for each vote to be counted."
  • My wish for the upcoming year: “Peace, prosperity, love, health... for me, my family, my neighbors, my country, the world. But right behind that is all the specific ways those things come about: a reduction in divisiveness, better understanding, a willingness to spread the wealth and care for others, an easily producible and dispersible vaccine for COVID-19, better education for everyone, equitable access to healthcare, good jobs, affordable housing and transportation, a carbon free economy, economic prosperity based on something more sustainable than endless growth, the end of human trafficking, the righting of wrongs, and the elimination of the real suffering going on in people’s lives.  Perhaps what I wish for the most is compassion and action, for me and for others.  If we can bring these two things together, I think we can change anything, address anything that comes our way, and learn to overcome anything...our fears, our hatreds, even our lack of control.”

Tamika Butler, Founder and Principal, Tamika L. Butler Consulting, LLC

  • I’m most grateful for: "My family and the fact that we're together, healthy, and mostly happy."
  • My wish for the upcoming year: "That it gets here already. And that when the calendar turns, people don't somehow magically forget that Black Lives Still Matter." 

Meera Joshi, Principal and New York General Manager, Sam Schwartz

  • I’m most grateful for: "Renewed focus on how much people matter, family, community, essential workers. Turns out we really do lean on and need each other and in amazing ways."
  • My wish for the upcoming year: "A people’s revolt against misinformation and non-facts."

Tiffany Chu, CEO & Co-founder, Remix

  • I’m most grateful for: "Having a strong and resilient team stick together and support one another throughout COVID." 
  • My wish for the upcoming year: "A stimulus package for transit agencies and local jurisdictions that prioritizes sustainable modes over highway expansions."

Timothy Papandreou, Founder, Emerging Transport Advisors

  • I’m most grateful for: "I'm grateful for my circle of family and friends to share our moments of joy, laughter, and happiness especially during these recent times."
  • My wish for the upcoming year: "I wish for a groundswell of empathy for all of us to lead with more heart and less ego, to see each other as people, to learn that we actually have more commonalities than differences and that together we can work to accomplish anything."


From all of us at Remix, we wish you and your loved ones a Happy Thanksgiving and better days ahead. Cheers!