SPINE Summer Edition by SPAM UVA

SPINE

Contents

02 Welcome Back

03 SPA Events

15 Internships

23 Alumni Spotlight

29 Survival Facts 01

Welcome Back Readers of SPINE, To those of you that are new to UVA, welcome to Grounds, and to those of you that are returning, welcome back! I hope you all had great summers, regardless of whether you spent them relaxing and enjoying trips, food, and time with friends, or whether you were busy with an internship or other matters. For my part, I have spent the summer nearby, in little old Scottsville, Virginia. This small town, twenty miles to the south down Rt 20, is the birthplace of Albemarle county, and just recently celebrated the 200th anniversary of their incorporation. Historically, the town of Scottsville has faced tremendous obstacles. From the town’s founding, there have been devastating floods when the James River jumped its banks and swamped the majority of the town’s businesses. However, in the 1980’s the mayor of Scottsville successfully lobbied the state and federal governments to work together to construct a protective levee system which has successfully prevented further flooding. The addition of the security provided by the levee put the town in a position it hadn’t been in for almost 150 years: desirability. Developers and investors proposed numerous projects in the three decades following the levee’s construction that would have brought new residents, businesses, and opportunities to Scottsville, but only a small number of these ever came into being. A combination of outdated zoning codes, an inflexible land-use map, and entrenched residents that were loath to see the small-town character of Scottsville change, came together to stymie these projects. The county of Albemarle has a nickname for the town: “NoGrowth’sville.” Something has changed in the town of late though. There is a new town administrator, a new mayor, and a new town council, with members who have an eye towards what the town has been and what it can be in the future. They have not renounced or forgotten the importance of protecting the town’s small time feel and its important, storied relationship with its environment. But in working on a comprehensive plan this past year, the town has found its citizenry full of ideas, visions, and excitement for the future. I sense that across the country, this is not an anomaly; that the public, planners, and representative leaders all feel a shift of the desirability in urban spaces of all types. For planners, this is potentially great news, for if Scottsville, Virginia is experiencing this, then where isn’t? With that in mind, please enjoy this issue of SPINE, in which you’ll find everything from student work to survival facts to stories from APA conferences; all the things needed to plan for the future of development in America! I wish you all a very successful and manageable, if challenging, semester and hope to see you all around Campbell Hall and Grounds. Sincerely, Thomas F. Morley SPINE Written by Ucha Abbah and Abigale Mullet

SPA EVENTS

Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival is a Chinese celebration that takes place on the fifteenth day of the first month in the Chinese calendar. This festival marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. As part of the tradition children go outside at night with lanterns and solve the riddles on them. Since the Architecture school has a large population of international Chinese students, we as the planning department wanted to use this event to honor them being with us. We all met at the Wesley Foundation for a wide assortment of dumplings and riddles. It was great to relax and learn about traditions that are diďŹ&#x20AC;erent from the ones practiced in the United States. While our pronunciations still needs a lot of work we are looking forward to the next opportunity to have fun and engage.

SPA EVENTS

Autocad Workshop

As the planning profession expands so do the tools we need to be able to use. As a department in a design school we thought it would be advantageous to expose planners to the opportunity to learn about 2D and 3D visualization software. Since AutoCad is a commonly used program we decided to host a series of workshops led by Ph.d candidate Zihao Zhang. Each workshop built upon the previous one in order to give planners and anyone else interested a stronger foundation once the workshops were over. We want planners to feel confident and prepared as they build portfolios and apply for jobs and internships. If you have any ideas for what the next workshop series should be, let us know!

Networking Opportunities Who you know is just as important as what you know, so the Student Planners Association coordinated two opportunities for planners to get up close and personal with professionals in the field. In January Andrew GastBray, Director of Planning for Albemarle County, came to speak with us about internships and gave us advice. He was candid about what our expectations should be and what potential employers might be looking for in an intern. In February our wonderful Student Representatives organized a professionals panel composed of current members of the Virginia Chapter of the American Planning Association. They ranged in levels of experience as well as size of jurisdictions. Planners were given the opportunity to ask questions about what their time has been like and what insight they can oďŹ&#x20AC;er. It was great to hear from panelists in a more intimate setting than a large conference room.

SPA EVENTS

National APA Conference Every year the American Planning Association hosts a conference as an opportunity for planning professionals and students to come together and discuss the field of planning and it’s many issues. This year the conference was held in New Orleans, which provided as an amazing example for various planning subdivisions. The women’s subdivision held a boat tour that a few of our planners went on. There was an opportunity for a transportation tour that gave first hand experience as planners moved between the various modes in the city. It tuckered out a few of our planners but they thoroughly enjoyed the experience. There were so many sessions to choose from every

opportunity. There were booths where companies were ready and willing to get to know potential employees. Planners from various schools became better acquainted with each other as they moved from session to session. Outside of the conference our group took it upon ourselves to organize a day of exploration. Half of our group went and took a tour of the bayou where they got to get out on the water and see some local animals. The other half of our group met up with our new friend Happy Johnson.

minute each day we were there. In one session over informal housing settlements in the Latinx community a planner who regulates ADU’s in Los Angeles became emotional as he told a story of a family he became close to. The conference was not only an opportunity to learn information, but it was also a great networking

Meet-up with Happy Our Student Representative, Marnissa Claflin, organized a meetup with Happy Johnson in his neck of the woods. The three of us made our way over to the lower ninth ward to learn about the projects he is working on. The community we walked through had two beautiful bodies of water on either side with grass that seemed to stretch on forever. Some of the homes in the area were on the ground and others were lifted a couple feet oďŹ&#x20AC; of the ground using wood. It was a quiet residential area with homes that were bright in color and modest in size. We met Happy at a wetland platform at what seemed to be a lake with some trees sticking out through the water. The body of water we were standing in front of, he explained, was at one point a lush and dense cypress swamp. The area was a source of food for local residents who took pride in going out and getting their own food. Right next to the area where we met there was a family going through

thick weeds and bushes to collect blueberries. Happy even mentioned that there had been a couple of wild hog sightings in the area recently. While we were on the platform he told us the story of the Bayou Bienvenue Wetland Triangle. The platform that we were on is managed by the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement & Development (CSED) and the National Wildlife Federation. The triangle is a byproduct of human interventions such as canals and levees being introduced and turning the area into a marsh. In an attempt to make New Orleans a stronger trading port the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet was developed. The outlet introduced salt water into the environment, which resulted in the loss of land, trees, and wetlands. Wetlands have the ability to serve as natural levees that reduce the impacts of storms. As a result of the changes to the wetland area when Hurricane Katrina hit it caused the community to experience intense flooding. The closing of the MRGO was a step towards restoration as it prevented

SPA EVENTS

additional salt water from coming into the area. The human engineered solution to the human engineered problem is only a temporary solution. Happy is the Chief Resilience oﬃcer of the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement & Development, this organization “focuses on coastal rehabilitation, greening the built environment and increasing food security by lifting up and strategically reinforcing community driven goals throughout our work of creating an economically, culturally and environmentally sustainable Lower Ninth Ward”. Happy mentioned projects being done by waste facilities with children using current conditions to educate children and get them thinking about what is going on around them. The work that Happy is involved in goes beyond a restoration project, it is about the future of an entire community. CSED has programs addressing coastal rehabilitation, food security, and the built environment. This organization already has a list of accomplishments under its belt and we are excited to see how it develops. If you are interested in keeping up with the development of this area check out sustainthenine.org”

Ucha Abbah, Katie Coleman, Marnissa Claflin

SPA EVENTS

Virginia APA Conference Every summer the APA Virginia Chapter holds their annual conference at a new location with the past town being Wintergreen. The Virginia Chapter has focused on resiliency, innovation, integration, and the future of communities over the last several conferences. “Planners play a pivotal role as agents of change in their communities. We serve our communities as: advocates, policy setters, designers, environmentalists, preservationist, engineer, data analysts and code enforcers. Planners, more so than other profession, have a mountain of influence over the planner for and realization of a community’s potential.” The conference not only hosted numerous professionals but as well over 26 students from UVA, Virginia Tech, and VCU. Student participation is emphasized for the connection of students and recent graduates with practicing planners and future employers. Additionally, students are the future of urban planning and are key to creating innovative ideas to Virginia’s

complexities. Hosting a conference for the state of Virginia provides planners, students, and academics to focus on local issues from small towns to the largest jurisdictions within the state. UVA 2nd year Master of Urban and Environmental Planning student Marnissa Claflin stated, “The APA Virginia Chapter Annual Conference featured a diverse mixture of breakout sessions, plenary talks, and mobile tours that enabled attendees to easily understand the broad spectrum of planning issues being addressed in Virginia. Networking opportunities before, between, and after each event granted excellent opportunities to connect with likeminded people and to learn from professionals with innovative strategies to common and pressing problems such as sea level rise. Because the conference was small, around 350 attendees, everyone was excited to chat and share their experiences and perspectives, an element that I have found is unique to smaller conferences. Thomas Morley, Tori Kanellopoulos, Marnissa Claflin, Dorothy Baker

Future conference dates have been posted including the summer of 2019 which will be hosted in Hampton, Virginia from July 21-24. Registration opens early Spring and students receive a discounted rate and other amenities.

Pictured Professor Andrew Mondschein (right)

INTERNSHIPS

Hughes Group Architects This summer I was fortunate enough to work for a local architecture and planning firm in Northern Virginia, Hughes Group Architects. This firm allowed me to use skills from both my undergraduate degree and master’s program. The firm focuses on working with communities around the country to create buildings and spaces that are pleasing and functional to everyone. This summer I worked on a variety of projects including the renovation and addition to my former high school campus. This project was not only exciting because it allowed me to work on my former school, but it gave me the opportunity to engage the community, teachers, and students to understand what would better enhance their learning environment. In this project I was able to draw from the knowledge I have learned in school about community engagement practices and sustainable design. By doing this internship I not only learned how to take what we are taught in school in practice but how to engage multiple stakeholders from a variety of different backgrounds. In my opinion, the most difficult thing about practice is learning how to accurately show ideas to a variety of different people. I had to express ideas through a variety of different ways including 3d models, computer modeling, written form, and other visuals.

This summer working at Hughes Group Architects I was given new challenges, opportunities everyday and I never knew what I was going to work on next. It has been inspiring to work with people who are so passionate about what they do and who strive to make a diﬀerence in our community.

University of New Hampshire Recreation Center

BC Workshop

I got the opportunity to learn about the city I have lived in my entire life in a completely new way. Being a Dallas native I thought I had the city pretty well

mapped out between stories from my family members and visiting friends who lived 30-45 minutes away, which in Texas is around the corner. I had never stopped to really pull back layers and make connections from one community to another. Since Dallas has so many neighborhoods that make it up, it is easy to become lost in the city. Over the summer

at buildingcommunityWORKSHOP I got to take on Dallas with a new set of eyes. I spent the bulk of the summer researching Freedmen’s Towns in Dallas and how urban development impacted those regions as well as how the Civil Rights Era influenced that history. The work I did is meant to provide a basis that informs a much larger project done by [bc] involving the oral histories of residents of these Towns. I was able to map out the various communities and looked at the overlap between the Dallas redlining map and where the actual communities were located. Some of the towns still remain and have become historic districts and others were leveled and turned into shopping centers or new communities entirely. During my time outside of the office I found myself stopping more often and trying to imagine that where I stood used to hold an entirely different significance. All of the spaces that I took for granted became hard to ignore. I went to school one street over from one, I went to concerts and got milkshakes in one, and to fly out of Dallas I still have to go through one. This is just one of the many projects going on in the office and I am so excited to see how the rest unfold. buildingcommunityWORKSHOP describes itself as a “Texas based nonprofit community design center seeking to improve the livability and viability of communities through the practice of thoughtful design and making”. BC has created a trifecta when

it comes to their mission, culture, and work. In the Dallas office I was able to see how meetings were run, the thought processes behind the work, set up of meetings and interviews, how they engage stakeholders, and how it all culminates into a final deliverable. Everyday working there was exciting and interesting, in the office lived a commitment to great work and a friendly spirit. Since the office is located in Downtown Dallas there is a wide variety of people moving past the office, this often results in an assortment of people coming into the office. Some people come in looking for a print shop and others come in because they have heard good things about bc and want to collaborate. As an office every time the door opened the person entering was always listened to and treated with respect. The employees always made time to troubleshoot even when pressing deadlines were looming overhead. There were several days where high school students interested in this work came and shadowed. Their engagement was not performative, but part of who they truly are as an office. During weekly staff meetings not only was I able to report the work that I was doing, but also I got to learn about all the moving parts in the Dallas office. Community Engagement extends beyond just simply being a buzzword for the staff there. There is a process and a lot of thoughtfulness that goes into every step. Every staff member is working on multiple projects working

INTERNSHIPS

Scottsville, VA through kinks and grappling with their work and its intended goals. I got to help set up and even interview a few Dallasites about their opinion on the Arts and Culture scene in Dallas. One of the events I attended was a panel discussion about ADA accessibility and parks. I got to, for a brief period, consider a series of challenges that my brain prior to this panel had no idea of. After the discussion I see parks and all of the infrastructure leading up to them with a more critical lense. My summer at bc workshop was filled with learning, challenges, inspiration and fun. I enjoyed learning about the people that I was working with and the pets that they had. Everyday at the oﬃce was diﬀerent as you never knew who was going to walk through the door and what they were going to bring with them. It was inspiring watching everyone be passionate about projects they were working on or just the happenings in the city of Dallas. Everyday our slack had local and national news articles in it. Being surrounded by people who are not only talented, but also passionate about the work that they do has been amazing.

This summer, I interned in Scottsville, Virginia, a small town twenty minutes south of Charlottesville. Scottsville is Albemarle county’s only town, and this status means that the town receives the same services as county residents and pays the same taxes. The town does however, have their own council, planning commission, board of architectural review, town administrator, and police force. These additional local government bodies also have their own zoning code and town ordinances that govern land uses and private actions. When I started at the beginning of the summer, my main task was to review drafts of the town’s comprehensive plan, and to identify where updates and clarity were needed. Soon after I began this process, I was also tasked with engaging with the community and writing up a list of community and council submitted amendments to the plan. This involved talking with community members after a joint heading to better understand what exact changes they may have been hoping for in the plan. I then had to write these as amendments for the planning commission’s consideration and each received a vote on its inclusion in the final version of the plan. At this same meeting, I was given a chance to give the town council and the planning commission some more information about the land use and zoning tools that they had at their disposal. The town as a whole is looking for ways that

House on Congo Street

Puerto Rico they can better guide development to be in keeping with the town’s character, aesthetic, and environment. So, this presentation was especially timely, and I spoke about the powers that the town had, and about tools like planned unit developments (PUDs), entrance corridors, and historic districts, as well as language that they could include in their comp plan that would more pointedly describe what types of development would be appropriate in the town’s diﬀerent zones. The other big job that I was able to complete while interning was a zoning text amendment (ZTA), meant to alter the allowed uses, and the language surrounding some existing uses, in a number of the zones in Scottsville. I met with property owners, the town lawyer, and members of the planning commission to craft the eventual new ordinance that has since become part of the town’s zoning code! My experience in Scottsville demonstrated to me the importance of small town planning, and the level of changes that can be accomplished in a smaller locality as opposed to say, a county or city. I feel that I was able to meaningfully contribute to the future of this lovely river town, and if you ever want to visit, or have more questions about the internship, let me know!

This summer I coordinated disaster response projects in Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico. I worked for World Changers, a faith-based organization that coordinates volunteers from around the country to work on construction projects. This was my fourth summer working for WC in Juana Díaz, and it proved to be a very diﬀerent experience than previous years. My role this year was more managerial in nature. I was responsible for a variety of things: cultivating community partnerships within the city, working with FEMA and other organizations to secure funding for our projects, communicating with volunteer groups from Puerto Rico and the States leading up to the projects, ensuring that our lodging facility was habitable (which was quite a challenge), and working with our local construction partners to select work sites. We had crews working on more than 50 work sites in the community over the course of the summer. Most of the sites were roofing jobs, although we had several were demolition/full construction sites as well. Returning to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria was a very eye-opening experience. The majority of our work sites were the homes of people who did not qualify for FEMA aid. Property ownership in Puerto Rico is more informal than in the States, meaning that many people do not technically own their homes and therefore do not qualify for federal aid. Many nonprofit/ private organizations are working to

INTERNSHIPS

roofing jobs, although we had several were demolition/full construction sites as well. Returning to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria was a very eye-opening experience. The majority of our work sites were the homes of people who did not qualify for FEMA aid. Property ownership in Puerto Rico is more informal than in the States, meaning that many people do not technically own their homes and therefore do not qualify for federal aid. Many nonprofit/private organizations are working to help these “informal homeowners,” but there is still a significant amount of work to be done. Overall, my experience this summer was difficult but rewarding. The hardest part for me was hearing from my friends in Juana Díaz about their experiences during the months following Maria and seeing firsthand the damage to their homes. It’s one thing to hear about those experiences over the phone or to see them on social media or the news, but it’s something quite different to look your friend in the eye as they tell you about the months after the hurricane that they refer to as “the survival times.” Some of my friends have been out of work since last September, and most of them still don’t know what the next few months will hold for them. They, like so many other Puerto Ricans, are trying to decide whether they will leave the island for a (hopefully) better situation in the States, or if they will stay with their families in the communities they love. While these conversations were some of the most difficult moments of

inspirational. My friends in Puerto Rico are far from hopeless; on the contrary, they are some of the most hope-filled people I know. They have not let the circumstances of the past year steal their enthusiasm for life. What I witnessed in the Juana DĂaz community embodied perfectly the spirit of the islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s postMaria mantra: ÂĄPuerto Rico se levanta! It was a privilege to spend my summer there.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Albemarle County My name is Tori Kanellopoulos, and I am a Planner with Albemarle County. I’ve been working at the County since graduating in May with a MUEP from UVA. My previous experience in Planning includes: interning with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, doing research in economic development for Suzanne Moomaw and interning with IEN. I’ve attempted to write a summary of the projects and tasks I have at the County, what has been most fun and challenging so far, and how school prepared (or did not prepare) me for this job. It has been a great start so far, especially because my coworkers have been helpful and friendly and willing to answer my questions all day. There are many career options for Planners in both the private and public sectors. Hopefully this will provide some insight into local government planning. I’ve found that taking a variety of classes was helpful for being a local government planner. My oﬃcial focus is on Housing, which is the same as my MUEP concentration. In practice, though, I am involved in a variety of planning subjects, including transportation, environmental and economic development. Since most subjects in planning are interrelated, it is essential to know the main topics, especially those that are covered by most Comprehensive Plans. My internship and research experience in Housing, as well as my concentration, were part of the reason I was hired for this position. While I was expected to have

some expertise in Housing, I was also expected to know the basics of the other main sectors in Planning. Personally, I found Law/Land/The Environment, Housing and Community Development, Real Estate Development, Planning and Government, Economic Development, Transportation and Design, and PLACs that had a neighborhood/small area plan focus to be the most useful classes to prepare me for my position. Especially when interviewing, it’s really helpful to have a list of class projects ready to talk about. My work has been mainly split between long-range planning projects and development review. The two longrange projects I am focused on are Southwood and Rio29. Southwood is a neighborhood in the Southern Development Area in the County, where 1,500 residents live in 341 mobile homes. Habitat for Humanity purchased Southwood in 2007, and since then has put millions of dollars into deferred maintenance and infrastructure needs. Habitat is now rezoning three parcels adjacent to Southwood. These green sites are intended to become the first phase of the redeveloped community, allowing for redevelopment without displacement. The rezoning is for a Neighborhood Model District, which promotes traditional neighborhood development, walkability, mixed uses and housing variety. The County provided Habitat with a grant and with additional Staﬀ support to move the rezoning and overall project forward. Habitat and Planning Staﬀ have been engaging

residents with surveys, charrettes and workshops. This has been a very interesting project to be involved in, since it combines Housing, community engagement and development review. It has also been a good lesson in how many factors there are to consider. The project needs to engage the community and reflect their needs and desires, while meeting our ordinances, and meeting the expectations and requirements of the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors. The Rio29 Small Area Plan was well underway when I started at Albemarle, and has also been a great long-range planning project to be involved in. The Small Area Plan is part of the Master Plan for the Places29 Development Area. Master Plans are part of the Comprehensive Plan, meaning that the Rio29 Small Area Plan will need to be adopted into the Comprehensive Plan by the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors. This project has been mainly focused on transportation, economic development and community engagement. It’s been especially exciting to try out a new format for these types of documents, using InDesign. The two UVA interns have done an excellent job using their design skills to create a readable and engaging document and accompanying posters. Planning departments, at least in localities with larger staﬀs, are moving toward better designs and more accessible documents, so InDesign and other graphic skills will likely be useful.

At community meetings, I’ve definitely had questions I was not at all prepared for, including around perceived issues of homelessness and safety. School can only prepare you so much for community engagement. I recommend doing some background reading on interviews and public engagement, and be aware that some members of the community will be nervous about what is being proposed. They will be concerned about a variety of issues, such as safety, traffic and if their taxes will be raised. Try to do as much research about your project as possible before events, but also know it is ok to say that you do not know the answer to a question. You can direct the community member to a more senior staff member, or let them know that you can follow up. It is far better to get back to someone later than to make up an answer. The area of my job that I was least prepared for (by school) is development review. This includes reviewing boundary line adjustments, easement plats, subdivisions, site plans, Special Use Permits (SP’s) and Rezonings (ZMA’s). Although we did not cover development review or legislative review in school, the technical writing skills we learned have been useful for development review. Writing a staff report is a critical skill. I recommend reading staff report examples while still in school, to get an idea of what technical writing looks like and the factors that are considered in development review. For example, factors for SP’s include consistency with the Comprehensive Plan, compatibility

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

with adjacent uses, fiscal and community impacts and compliance with the Zoning Ordinance. At Albemarle, we use checklists for development review, with each type of application (subdivision, site plan, etc.) having a diﬀerent checklist with diﬀerent requirements. While reviewing, we also use the relevant section of local ordinances (e.g. Chapter 14 Subdivisions) and the Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 18, with over 30 sections, so you need to determine which sections apply). We also use the Comprehensive Plan and the Master Plans (for the Development Areas), as needed. As the Planner, you are the Review Coordinator. You need to determine who the plats/ plans need to be distributed to for review. This could include VDOT, Fire/ Rescue, Architectural Review Board, Zoning, Albemarle County Service Authority, Inspections and Engineering. You then collect the comments from each reviewer, combine them with your own comments, and send them to the applicant. The applicant corrects their plat/plan and keeps resubmitting until all reviewers are satisfied. For SP’s, ZMA’s, and other legislative review, there will need to be community meetings, and hearings with the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors. When you get to these hearings, you will be very glad you had to do so many PPT’s in school! Presentations to the PC and BOS need to be concise, clear and unbiased.

which would be the November after graduation. Having studied for a couple of months so far, it seems easier to take the exam shortly out of school, since a lot of the topics on the exam are covered in school. I attended the APA VA conference this summer, which covered all of the credits I needed for AICP. If you are looking for a career that involves a diverse array of tasks and talking to many people throughout the day (both at work and in the community), I highly recommend local government planning. I have heard from Planners at other localities (especially in Northern VA) that the larger the planning department, the more specialized the work is for each planner. While Albemarle does have a medium-sized planning staﬀ and does have specialization, it is still small enough that there are plenty of opportunities for variety. I am constantly learning and seeing new types of applications and new ways to approach long-range planning. It’s a collaborative environment, where people bring their questions and plats/ plans to meetings to get group feedback and figure out how to move forward. Enjoy school and the flexible schedule that comes with it, and start thinking about the type of planning you may want to go into after graduation. Talk to current planners in a variety of roles, intern or job shadow if possible, and see what seems the best fit.

I also recommend signing up to take the AICP exam as soon as possible,

Albemarle County Planning Oï¬&#x192;ce

SURVIVAL FACTS

So you have made it through the walls of text and here you are, congratulations. It takes real dedication to get through this thing. Since you got this far we decided to give you some survival facts. While this won’t get you through life, it might get you through the A school. The black and white printer on the first floor is always not okay We know, you woke up with exactly 10 minutes to print and staple your essay. Unfortunately for you the printer, like the students, has a lot going on and just needs space. There is always food No, we do not mean Lunch or SALAD. We understand your email can be a tumultuous place between lost pens and water bottles but do not make the mistake of ignoring everything sent to you. There is always food here. There are hot desks upstairs that you can use Get some backbone and go up there. Seriously, go. On the weekends the doors by the Naug lock …and people will not always get up to open them for you. So unless you like reenacting scenes from the Notebook or every other 80’s film, it’s best to use a door that you can swipe your ID at. Sometimes the stapler in the planning lounge is gone Is this where we shout honor code? HONOR CODE, it’s still probably not there. Well, you have been warned. Hit save from time to time If you are a planner you might not be familiar with computer programs. Save yourself and your blood pressure the trouble and just hit save. Save is your friend. Relax Get to know people outside of planning. Spend time exploring all UVA has to oﬀer, you can even call it tactical urbanism if it makes you feel better. Welp, that’s it for us. Enjoy these photos of recent alumni. See you next issue!