Ryan Stock has begun his beautifulPB presidency with goals for pedestrian safety, beautification projects and increased community engagement at the forefront of his vision.
Stock grew up in San Diego as many locals do: spending summers in junior lifeguards camp, competitive rowing and kayaking and launching canoes off of Fiesta Island as an Eagle Scout. But more than sports and outdoors activities, these experiences set the stage for his future civic engagement.
“I was an Eagle Scout growing up, so I’m really familiar with (the concept of) ‘if you see a problem, pick up a shovel,’” Stock said.
The Pacific Beach resident of four years recently became president of beautifulPB. This nonprofit, grassroots organization is dedicated to creating a more sustainable and equitable neighborhood with certain advocacy topics in its wheelhouse, including safer streets, community mapping and environment conservation, among its community goals.
“I love that beautifulPB is this place where if you want to help your community, we can try to help you to step up to do that,” Stock said.
He ed beautifulPB because of its advocacy work for traffic safety and promoting walkable and bikeable streets.
“I have long noticed that my life is just better the less often I have to be in a car and the more often I have opportunities for chance encounters with people – run into friends and see people out and about doing things,” Stock said. “I really get that experience on the boardwalk. I didn’t get that experience at all when I lived in places that were completely car dominant.”
One of the ways beautifulPB does this work is through its PB Pathways. This is a network of streets that were identified as routes more suitable for active mobility and traffic calming measures. Phase one of this project started in 2015.
“It feels like this base level, this could be the start of something really amazing,” Stock said. “A modal shift. It just goes back to I’m happier and healthier when I’m out of a car.”
Prior to his presidency, Stock served as vice president for 10 months under the leadership of Katie Matchett. During that time, he got experience in the duties of president, becoming more comfortable with the breadth of responsibilities. He was then elected by the beautifulPB board to succeed Matchett.
As president, he’s the spokesperson for the organization, organizing the newsletter and monthly board meetings. His hope, he said, is to continue the beautifulPB mission, especially the PB Pathways. That would include navigating a positive implementation of Assembly Bill 413, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, which prohibits stopping or parking a vehicle within 20 feet of any crosswalk or 15 feet of any crosswalk where a curb extension is present.
But at the forefront of Stock’s stated goals as president is making civic and community engagement more accessible.
“My goals as president, at one level, are advocacy for safe and sustainable infrastructure and beautification projects such as murals — adding to the community character of the neighborhood,” Stock said. “But at another level, and a level above that, it’s providing that place for conversation. What I really want to do is democratize the conversation more.”
Stock said that often he sees a familiar group at community meetings. He would like to see attendance expand and diversify to be more representative of the community.
“These meetings are after work; they’re not accessible to everyone who has a busy schedule or kids,” Stock said. “However, we live in an age with amazing technology, AI and video form. My goal is to open up the circle of who’s in the conversation by democratizing and digitizing the meetings. That involves taking notes, having recordings, basically expanding who can be involved.”
His career as a senior program manager for Sony Interactive Entertainment translates into why this is one of his goals as president.
“As a program manager and just as a person, I try to over-correct for things I don’t like or am bad at,” Stock explained. “Taking notes is not my favorite thing to do as a program manager, so I got really good at doing it. I feel like I have the privilege of being fairly flexible and spend my weeknights going to these events, and I recognize that not everyone is able to do that. I’m trying to produce the kind of notes and information that I would want if I wasn’t in this position.”
Stock said he hopes, with greater information accessibility, it will help others in on these conversations.
“I’m trying to figure out where are the people who are at the margins?” Stock said. “Who would be interested in the conversation but doesn’t know how to get started or hasn’t been invited in? What type of things would help them cross that line?”
The president’s term is typically for two years. Stock said during his tenure, he plans to start these conversations that are important to the community and encourage the pursuit of common ground.
“Anyone who’s interested in the health of their community, we welcome everyone to the conversation,” Stock said. “It is important to have wider engagement. I do want to have people move past initial disagreements and see where we can find the things that we all collectively love about the place we live.”
The monthly beautifulPB board meetings are online, held on the second Monday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. For details and to sign up for the mailing list that includes meeting invitations, visit beautifulPB.com.
