Our Team
Garlynn Woodsong
Garlynn is an urban planner, real estate developer, and geographer with more than 20 years of experience in regional planning, urban analytics, natural and working land carbon accounting, transit-oriented development, housing policy and funding, zoning code audits, real estate development, and the use of GIS technology (including cutting edge scenario planning tools) for urban planning and decision making support. He helps clients make the connection between planning, development pro formas, regulatory codes, and multidisciplinary outcomes ranging from municipal fiscal health, public health, economic development, development feasibility, implementation strategies, to greenhouse gas emissions, and strategic planning for equitable outcomes.
Previously, Garlynn started and ran a new company focused on developing middle housing in Portland, OR, including the first new adaptive re-use fourplex in the city under current codes. Prior to that, he served as a Project Manager for Calthorpe Associates, overseeing projects including Vision California, Southern California SCS Scenarios, and the Honolulu TOD Study, and was instrumental in the development and deployment of the RapidFire and UrbanFootprint urban and regional scenario planning and modeling tools.
Before Calthorpe Associates, he spent eight years with the MPO of the San Francisco Bay Area, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) in Oakland, CA, working on a variety of projects, including: the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Study (with the Center for Neighborhood Technology, the Center for Transit Oriented Development, and Strategic Economics); the Lifeline Transportation Study; and the Environmental Justice (EJ) analysis of the 2001 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). At the Portland Bureau of Transportation, he focused on the intersection of local transportation planning and the use of Geographic Information Systems. During his time with TriMet, he worked on community affairs, historical transit studies, and station area planning for the Westside Light Rail Project.
Florentine Christian, MA
Florentine is a nationally recognized ADU expert, speaking and impacting conversations about infill housing at events for planning departments, real estate boards and governmental agencies such as the CA Housing Finance Agency and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. She is a licensed instructor for the national ADU Academy, designating ADU specialists. She has served on a number of committees at the Casita Coalition to further small housing legislation, building code, professional industry standards, public information, and lending opportunities.
Florentine is the founder of Sidekick Homes, a Los Angeles based ADU design-build firm. In addition to employing her skills in systems and organizational development in the establishment and growth of a high functioning firm specializing in infill development amidst the pandemic, Florentine has been committed to educating the general public, advocating for equitable financing, and promoting the development of future builders and small housing project developers.
Sidekick Homes was selected to work with consulting group Woodsong & Associates on projects awarded by the Southern California Association of Governments and funded by state REAP grants administered by CA Housing & Community Development to further ADU development within the region.
Previously Florentine worked as a Team Leader at Keller Williams Palos Verdes, providing business development coaching to the more than 200 real estate professionals. She also had the distinct honor of leading the LEED certification efforts for three class A high-rise buildings at Westwood Gateway when she worked in property management for the Office Division of the Irvine Company. And in her service as Regional Organizational Development Manager at Wild Oats Markets, she mentored Store Directors, established training curriculum and employed a regional train-the-trainer program that became a model for the company.
One of her most fulfilling professional accomplishments was in leading a participatory program analysis of non-profit Africa Bridge’s sustainable economic development model for improving the lives of orphans and most vulnerable children in rural villages of Tanzania. The resulting report was presented to the Minister of Health and President of Tanzania.
Florentine holds a masters degree in Organizational Systems with specialization in Leadership of Sustainable Systems and certificate in Building a Sustainable World from Saybrook University. When she is not engaged in furthering housing and economic development, Florentine enjoys playing urban farmer in her backyard garden with her four-legged companions, Zuri and Mister.