Moms Who Keep Us Moving

It’s Mother’s Day weekend, and we are honoring moms by showcasing some of the fabulous mothers of the SFMTA. We have scores of moms on staff who keep San Francisco and the agency moving. This special episode features seven of them.

Director of Transportation Julie Kirschbaum, Deputy Chief of Staff Kamini Lall, Parking Control Officers Lachanee Ricard and Kynattah Hill, Multimodal Planning Manager Jean Long and Muni Operators Juliann Robinson and Shawnta Bolanos join us to talk about their work, their children and what Mother’s Day means to them.

Transcript

MELISSA CULROSS, HOST: It’s Mother’s Day weekend, and we’re celebrating. 

BOHDI, AGE FOUR: My mommy works at Muni.

MELISSA: Welcome to Taken with Transportation, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s official podcast. I’m your host, Melissa Culross, and in this special episode, we are showcasing a few of the many hard-working and dedicated moms at the agency. Now, we’re aware that this holiday can be difficult for some people. My own mother passed away last year. So, please know that our celebration is for everyone. Whether you are a mom to other humans or a mom to fur babies … whatever kind of relationship you may have with your mom … and whether or not your mom is still with us … if you are a human, especially a human interested in or passionate about transportation, this episode is for you. 

KAMINI LALL, SFMTA DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: Hi, I’m Kamini Lall, and I’m the deputy chief of staff at SFMTA. I have two children. Bohdi is turning five in July, and Avi just turned two in January. They refer to everything as “Mommy Buses” and Mommy Trains.” We’re a transit family. They love going on the bus more than they like taking our car to school, for example, or taking the train and just riding the train around. That’s what we do for activities sometimes ‘cause we’re very close to the N Judah, and they know that Mommy works for Muni. And they’re … I think they’re really proud of me.

TRAIN ANNOUNCEMENT: N Judah to Ocean Beach

MELISSA: And how does Lall feel about this holiday?

KAMINI: Mother’s Day to me is just another day to celebrate these two incredible small humans that I’m somehow responsible for. I think it’s also just a reminder of how much people give you in life, whether it’s a mother or a caregiver or somebody else that has a positive role in your life and just trying to shape the people in the next generation, also. I’ve become really philosophical since I’m a mother. I want to create safe spaces for my children in my role, and that really drives me to do even more at work. For example, I want my children to be able to ride their bicycles on the street and learn how to ride a bike on our street safely. Those are really important things to me and drive a lot of what I do and support the work that we’re doing here and all of the good work that everyone at the agency is trying to do.

JULIANN ROBINSON, MUNI OPERATOR: Hi, I’m Juliann Robinson, a transit operator at SFMTA. I’ve been at the agency for 23 years now. I have two kids: a boy and a girl, Etnitra Robinson and Eddie Robinson. And Etnitra is 31, and Eddie is 33 years old.
 
 MELISSA: So, they were kids when you started here, and then they grew up with mom keeping the city moving.
 
 JULIANN: Yeah, they kinda got adopted into Muni. They know what I do, and they accept it. Like, sometimes I’d have to work on holidays, but they accept it because that means bigger vacations for us, you know. So, they’re happy, and they’re very supportive when it comes to it. And being an operator means a lot. We play a big role at SFMTA.

LACHANEE RICARD, PARKING CONTROL OPERATOR: Hello, my name is Lachanee Ricard, and I’m a parking control officer for SFMTA. I have two boys. My oldest is named Jalen, and he’s 13. And I have a five-going-on-six-year-old. His name is Jaire. Mother’s Day means a couple things. Uh, number one, it’s a day of remembrance. My mother is no longer with me. So, it’s a day I can sit back and reflect on the things that, you know, the memories that we shared. I try not to focus on the fact that she’s not here but to just remember the times that we had together. Secondly, it’s a, um, day of relaxation. I feel like as mothers, we’re always on the go, we’re always doing something when it comes to our kids. So, we finally can get a day where it’s solely about us. And, um, thirdly, it’s a day I take pride in. I feel like being a mother is one of my greatest achievements, um, in life, and I have these two young men that are looking up to me, and I wanna raise 

JEAN LONG, SFMTA MULTIMODAL PLANNING MANAGER: I’m Jean Long. I’m the multimodal planning manager at SFMTA.

MELISSA: Long works with traffic engineers, transportation planners and the community to make sure our streets are designed in a way that allows everyone to get around safely, no matter what transportation option they choose.

JEAN: I have one rambunctious preschooler, and his name is Milo. Milo knows what transportation is because we watch a lot of YouTube videos in Cantonese. We’re a bilingual family, and so he knows, like what that entails, like all the trains, all the buses, and how to get people from point A to point B. You know, parents make the best choices they can for their kids, and sometimes it is driving around the city to take them to school or after, or other activities. But what if they don’t have to? What if you can get to those places with … by walking or taking the train or biking along, you know, uh, safe routes to school, you know? Like having those options available to families is what motivates many of us at MTA, so we don’t have to choose the car as the only way to get around. And I feel very fortunate. I live in a walkable neighborhood. We can walk down the street to, like, the convenience store to buy a donut. And so, those things are kind of, so fun for me, and that I can share that experience with my kid. That, you know, cars are a necessity in today’s modern world, but let’s open up these other options so that we don’t have to jump to that as the only thing we can do. 

KYNATTAH HILL, PARKING CONTROL OFFICER: Hi, I’m Kynattah Hill. I am a parking control officer for the past 17 years. I’ve been with the agency for 17 years. My daughter, Nia, she’s four years old. Very busy time, but we have a great time. The work I do, I will randomly always get a “thank you.” And that just fills me up and reminds me that even though, hey, I just passed somebody who didn’t like that I gave someone a ticket, I know that I’m out there being of service. And the first and most priority thing to me is safety. Knowing that I have a four-year-old, I teach her. You know, spelling “stop.” We’re doing that every time we stop at an intersection. 

MELISSA: So, what does Mother’s Day mean to you?

KYNATTAH: That’s a loaded question, but it’s a beautiful, like, question. I know for sure it’s a day of relaxation. It’s a day to give thanks for your work and appreciate other mothers who you see are working hard and doing the work of taking care of their children and doing the best that they can. 

SHAWNTA BOLANOS, MUNI OPERATOR: My name is Shawnte Bolanos, and I’m an operator here at San Francisco Muni Potrero Division. 

BUS ANNOUNCEMENT: 22 Fillmore to UCSF Mission Bay

SHAWNTA: I have nine children. My younger children enjoy the fact that they can get on the bus for free, which they could anyway, but they like to, you know, be able to see it from a different point of view. 

MELISSA: So, what is a typical Mother’s Day like for Bolanos? Well, she says there is no typical Mother's Day.

SHAWNTA: Sometimes it’s just a day of peace. I may be alone, and the children are out. Other years, I may decide to focus on my grandmother and my mom and giving them honor and thanks for everything that they’ve done for me to help me become a better mother. 

MELISSA: We also ask Bolanos how she thinks her work supports other mothers and entire families.

SHAWNTA: It makes it easier for people to get their children to and from school or daycare. It makes it easier for people to get to and from work, doctor’s appointments, grocery shopping. Even when we think we’re not contributing to our passengers’ lives, we really are a part of their lives. So, we are very essential. I’ll say that.

MELISSA: And finally, we have one more mother to showcase.

JULIE KIRSCHBAUM, DIRECTOR OF TRANSPORTATION: I’m Julie Kirschbaum, the director of the SFMTA. I’ve been at the SFMTA for 18 years. Most recently, I spent the last six years as the agency’s transit director. I’ve been the SFMTA director for four months. So, since January. And I have two kids. Uh, my daughter is 14, and, uh, my son is 11. My daughter rides all over the city on Muni on her own, and my little guy, uh, takes it to all his after-school activities with support. My son was, like, the first time he saw me on TV, he was super excited. He, uh, calls me “the chief of the buses,” uh, which is, is really sweet. And, uh, I think they know that the work that we do is connected to the city that we live in. So, they’re big fans.

MELISSA: Kirshbaum is San Francisco’s first female permanent director of transportation. Prior to her, women only had served in the position on an interim basis. So, we ask her what that means to her.

JULIE-2: I do think being a mom and being a woman leader has influenced how I approach my job. I think I connect with a lot of the staff here, you know, through the lens of being a parent. We have a lot of incredible SFMTA employees that are raising families. You know, some on their own. You know, some, you know, with a village. But one of the decisions that I made early into the role as Transit Director was that I was gonna talk about being a parent, which initially felt like a weird choice. But what I realized is that it gave other people permission to also kind of bring their full selves to work, which is what, what we want for, for this agency. 

MELISSA: Thank you for joining us on Taken with Transportation. We’re a production of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and you can find the latest episodes at SFMTA.com-slash-Podcast, as well as Apple, Spotify, our YouTube channel or wherever you listen. I’m Melissa Culross. Be well, travel well and Happy Mother’s Day. Whatever that means to you.