Pashek+MTR Reflections on 2025
Intern Experience: Ella Strzempek
We have been pleased to have not one but two interns at Pashek+MTR this year! A 2025 Penn State graduate with a degree in landscape architecture, intern Ella Strezempek has been a great help to our designers and planners over the past few months. We sat down with Ella to find out how her internship was going so far.
Kara: We try to have our interns work on a variety of projects and activities at Pashek +MTR. What kinds of things have you been involved in so far?
Ella: So far this summer, I have had the chance to work on a wide range of projects at Pashek + MTR, which has been one of the best parts of the internship. I recently graduated from Penn State with a degree in Landscape Architecture, and since there are so many different routes and niches within the field, getting to test them out here post-grad has been so helpful. One of the most rewarding projects I’ve worked on has been the Parks Master Plan for McCandless Township, working with Pashek+MTR’s Recreation Planner Heather Cuyler. I grew up in McCandless, so it means a lot to me to help plan for the same parks and neighborhoods that first got me interested in landscape architecture. I have gotten involved with public engagement and putting together concept maps, tapping into my creative side and my people side, further seeing how design ideas connect directly with the community. I have also spent time working on the North Park Latodami Nature Center project, which is basically right in my backyard. I have been hiking and exploring on this site since I was a kid, so it’s super exciting to be part of the team restoring and reimagining the site. The work ranges from marketing and branding to mapping and trail planning, and it has been great to collaborate with Allegheny County again after having worked for them in the past in various roles, including as a landscape architecture intern. Overall, it has been so valuable to work on projects that not only are interesting but also personally meaningful to me and my connection to the Pittsburgh area.
Kara: Has anything surprised you or been different than what you expected?
Ella: I was surprised by how quickly I got to jump into real projects that have a direct impact on communities. Coming straight from school, where projects are not always tied to real outcomes, it feels so different to see the work we are doing here actually move forward and make a difference.
Kara: What are the aspects of the job that you find most interesting and rewarding?
Ella: One of the aspects I find most interesting and rewarding is the community involvement side of work. It is incredible to see how people’s input directly shapes the projects we work on, from design ideas to the final layout of the space. Being able to talk to the community members, hear their experiences, and see their needs reflected in our plans really brings work to life. It is so fulfilling knowing that the space created will be used and enjoyed by people in their everyday lives.
Kara: Lastly, what do you see yourself doing five years from now?
Ella: Career wise, I see myself working for a firm where I can continue to grow as a landscape architect while contributing to meaningful community-centered projects. Personally, I hope to have continued to check off places from my travel bucket list, including Asia, and bring the inspiration I gain into my perspectives and approaches to work and life.
Intern Experience: Lola Hodgins
Over the past few months we have been pleased to have a new addition to our planning team, intern Lola Hodgins. A 2025 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Lola has taken on various roles during her time at Pashek + MTR. We sat down with Lola to find out how her internship was going so far.
Kara: We try to have our interns work on a variety of projects and activities at Pashek + MTR. What kinds of things have you been involved in so far?
Lola: As a Planning Intern, I have worked on a variety of projects, namely Implementable Comprehensive Plans for municipalities in both Southwestern P
ennsylvania and Western New York State. Since Planning is such an interdisciplinary field, I get to do many fun tasks (fun to me anyway!), such as designing branding and websites, research, using different ESRI tools, interviewing stakeholders, and more. Besides that, I have been helping with branding and mapping for various active and public transportation plans around Allegheny County. This has been especially exciting to me because in college, my friends and I had a group chat called “Future Transportation Planners of America.” Now, that is true!
Kara: Has anything surprised you or been different than what you expected?
Lola: One thing that surprised me was how writing style is a key part of our planning work. In our Implementable Comprehensive Plans framework, we try to convey the information in a way that tells a story and that is easy to digest, using plain language, not technical jargon. This is so that every person reading the Plan can understand it, not just planners or politicians. In college, I was taught technical writing for Fancy Official Planning Documents, so it has been different from what I expected in school, but much more fun.
Kara: What are the aspects of the job that you find most interesting and rewarding?
Lola: The part of my job that is the most rewarding is going to public meetings and engaging with people. I love meeting new people and making their voices heard. To me, that is the most essential part of equitable planning, and being able to do it on a regular basis is a huge privilege. I always leave events and one-on-one interviews knowing I made an impact on not only the plan we are working on, but the people themselves.
Kara: What do yo
u see yourself doing five years from now?
Lola: What I would most love to do five years from now is very similar to what I do now! I would love to be a consulting Community Planner. I find it so fun, interesting, and rewarding. It is what I’ve wanted to do since my first year of college, and I’m so grateful to have a taste of it now.
Pashek+MTR Diversity & Inclusion Statement
Pashek+MTR adopted the following Diversity & Inclusion policies in 2018.
Pashek + MTR Workforce Diversity Policy
Pashek+MTR, Ltd. is committed to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Our human capital is the most valuable asset we have. The collective sum of the individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, inventiveness, innovation, self-expression, unique capabilities and talent that our employees invest in their work represents a significant part of not only our culture, but our reputation and company’s achievement as well. As creative professionals, we draw inspiration and insights from exposure to a wide variety of ideas and lived experiences.
We embrace and encourage our employees’ differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make our employees unique.
Pashek + MTR Diversity and Inclusion Vision
Pashek+MTR, Ltd. is committed to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity and inclusion. We recognize that diversity is a driver of creativity and innovation in our practice that helps us serve our clients and communities better. By creating a diverse and inclusive workplace we can better attract and retain talented professionals, contributing to our company’s success.
Our diversity and inclusion vision:
- Pashek+MTR is an inclusive and welcoming environment.
- We are mindful of issues of inclusion, equity and representation in our design and planning work.
- We contribute to building a diverse and inclusive design profession.
Pashek+MTR to employ alternative work strategies to serve our clients
In accordance with guidance from Pennsylvania Governor Wolf we are implementing alternative work strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Our employees will be working remotely and are available as usual via e-mail and phone. We will conduct project meetings, presentations, team coordination, etc. remotely via webconference or other digital platforms. Site visits and in-person meetings are temporarily suspended.
Pashek+MTR is committed to providing the same level of service that you expect to receive from us while providing for the safety of our employees and our community during these changing times. We will continue to monitor the situation and adapt our operations as needed. If you have any questions, please contact John Buerkle at 412-321-6362 x102.
Jim speaks about the “Implementable Comprehensive Plan” at annual APA Conference in Chicago
Jim Pashek and Denny Puko (from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development) presented a new model for planning communities across the country. Their approach, the “Implementable Comprehensive Plan” focuses on outcomes, not the process alone and relies heavily on public involvement and matching planning recommendations to the capacity of the community. According to Puko, “history shows that plans with hundreds of recommendations simply don’t lead to positive change in our municipalities.”
Their new planning process includes five keys for an implementable plan:
- Focus the plan on relevant, real community issues
- Organize the plan the way local officials and citizens think
- Devise practical and workable recommendations
- Recruit partners and create capacity to implement the plan
- Get local ownership of the plan – commitment to implement it
The presentation was very well received with over 100 people attending the session at 7:30am on the last day of the conference. Thanks go to Bruce Betty, John Trant, and Allen Cohen for providing a western PA cheering section at the session in Chicago.
What Impacts Will the Oil and Gas Industry Have on Your Community?
How does a community proactively plan for the impacts of the oil and gas industry? This is one of the most important issues we are exploring with Crawford County while developing their Comprehensive Plan. Jim Pashek 
presented some interesting information to the Crawford County Oil and Gas Task Force on Friday, February 22nd. Here are a few fun facts that we discovered while conducting our research for the County’s plan:
- The truck traffic generated by a single drilling site is the weight equivalent of 14,400,000 standard cars using the roadway. Imagine the impact of 14 million cars on the small locally-maintained roads!
- Workers, typically young males that have been transplanted from Oklahoma or Texas, want to live within 13 miles of their worksite. Is there available housing/lodging in your community for these workers? If these workers displace existing residents, are there other housing options available to these residents?
- This is a 24-hour industry and 12-hour shifts are common. How might local businesses change their hours of operation or products to capitalize on the economic opportunities presented by the industry?
The impacts spread wider than these of course. There are environmental challenges and requests for information and permits at county and local government offices will undoubtedly increase. Pashek Associates and the County are both learning how the impacts of this industry can spread into many different facets of life in the County.
A New Model for Comprehensive Planning
Jim Pashek , Paul Gilbert, and other members at Pashek Associates have been developing, with representatives from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), a new model for community comprehensive planning.
The goal is to truly focus on the key issues of a community or region and to craft a clear, step by step response to those needs. An important component of this model is identifying the community’s capacity to implement the strategies. Gone are the spreadsheets with hundreds of recommendations, replaced with realistic strategies that can be done in response to issues the community really cares about.
To spread the word about this new model for planning the Western Section of American Planning Association of Pennsylvania sponsored two workshops, one in Latrobe and the other in Carnegie, PA. The sessions, led by Denny Puko (DCED) and Jim Pashek were very well received. DCED then sponsored similar workshops near Philadelphia, Scranton, State College, and Meadville.