Deborah is a California State Registered Landscape Architect for the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works, Bureau of Sanitation, Watershed Protection Program.  Her stormwater project designs have been featured in the national Landscape Architecture Magazine (LAM), Stormwater Solutions Magazine, local public television (KCET), and have won national (CASQA and NACWA) recognition for design and technical innovation.

She began her public landscape career working for the State Mountains and Recreation Conservation Authority/Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy before transferring in 2001 to the City of Los Angeles to work for the Department of Recreation and Parks.  She moved to the Department of Public Works, Bureau of Engineering in 2003, and in 2007 she was promoted to her current position as lead landscape architect for the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, where she currently works with her engineering colleagues at the Watershed Protection Division towards their regulatory goals.

Her work has included design/drafting of some of the City’s first “Green Streets Standard Plans” issued to the public in 2010 by the City’s Engineer.  These plans allow contractors to construct pre-approved BMP’s that filter and or infiltrate runoff in the public right-of-way and avoid a full permit review.

Deborah is certified by the Regional Water Quality Control Board as a Qualified SWPPP Developer (QSD) and Qualified SWPPP Practitioner (QSP) under the state of California NPDES General Permit for construction activities. Her career is dedicated to the lessons of nature leading towards a state of self regulation and balance with urban infrastructure.  This philosophy, held by true collaborators and guided by civic leadership has led to  new and developing green infrastructure standards that will inform an upcoming LID greening ordinance for the public right-of-way.