As managing director of land use and policy for San Francisco-based developer TMG, she’s able to do just that — developing mixed-use community-oriented projects across the Bay Area and shaping land-use and housing policy. But before she worked her way through the ranks at TMG, she was working as a planner for Marin County during a no-growth era.

It was not the best fit, Pinkston said. County-level rules made it difficult to solve the housing problems. She recalled a time she had to force a property owner to evict an artist from an illegal ADU in Bolinas — a moment that “gutted” her as a human being and made her rethink her career future, she says. She joined TMG in 1996 and never looked back.

The Cal grad is also rolling up her sleeves to help flip the negative narrative in Oakland, a city where TMG owns several office buildings, by joining the Northlake initiative that calls for cleaning up the streets and activating the city’s Downtown neighborhood.

What does the director of land use and policy at TMG do on a day-to-day basis? Lots of different things. Development is partly the buildings and the assets that we manage and build. But it’s also engaging with the communities where we work.

On a given day, I might be working on a lease or an office building. I might be talking to my lender about issues related to the financing of a project. I might be dealing with tenant improvements where we need to build something to accommodate a tenant. I might be working supervising budgets and property management staff to plan events for tenants that make them happy to be in the building. I might be going to a Chamber of Commerce board meeting or a Northlake meeting.

Is there a project or deal you were a part of in your career that you’re particularly proud of? You know the Joni Mitchell (lyric), “Paved paradise and put up a parking lot?” That was kind of the MO in the ’70s and ’80s. The original Emeryville (Public Market) project we developed was very much a child of that era. So we ended that, and we took a parking lot and turned it into a mixed-use neighborhood. It was the first LEED ND Platinum project in the country. We even beat the Olympic Stadium in China, because we had a whole view of the project. We talked about transportation. We talked about trash management, we talked about water — and created a really great opportunity to add 800 units of housing to the area where it’s badly needed, right next to shops and services that people like to have.

Is there a lesson you learned in your career that has stuck with you? Trust your judgment that if something isn’t working, you need to fix it. Especially for women professionals, don’t wait to be told what the answer is. You can figure it out and trust your judgment and go get it done. Then a corollary of that is, don’t ask permission. Don’t wait for someone to say it’s OK. Just get out there and go fix the problem. I think I keep relearning that lesson everytime I confront a problem. Then I think, well someone must be fixing this problem.

You joined the Northlake initiative in Oakland — a privately funded group working to clean up Oakland and improve its reputation. What made you want to be a part of it? The headlines about Oakland are pretty devastating — but the reality on the ground in Oakland isn’t as bad as the headlines would indicate. I think that Oakland needs some real attending to. I think that the struggles in the city right now with the mayor recall and the DA recall are indicative of a community that’s divided on how to approach these problems.

Has it always been on business owners to contribute to the vitality of the city? I think when we do our job well, we have a holistic view. Buildings don’t sit in isolation; they sit in a community.

Business people understand their assets, but we also understand the network around us and so we should be helpful, and support that network and not point fingers at City Hall and say “It’s their fault! They didn’t do a good job.”

Where do you see downtown Oakland in 10 years? I think Oakland is suffering right now from two things — the work-from-home phenomenon, and the shift in crime supported by the new digital world. Those two things have to shift for Downtown Oakland to be as vibrant as it was prepandemic. I think that Oakland’s going to refocus its efforts on improved law enforcement and crime reduction. Some of that has been happening under the city’s current leadership. I think that’s going to continue. I think the community is aligned behind more effective law enforcement.

I also think over time, people will realize that they need to see their work colleagues and will come back to the office. I don’t know if it will ever be the way it was — so I think there will have to be some office conversions. Oakland has great bones as a community. It has an airport, it has a port, it has ferries that connect it to other Bay Area communities. It has more BART stations than any city in the Bay Area. it has a huge housing market that is providing labor force accommodations for people who work all over the Bay Area. None of that’s going away.

ABOUT DENISE PINKSTON

1. Age: 63
2. Residence: Berkeley
3. Hometown: Detroit, Mich.
4. What you’re watching right now: "Slow Horses"
5. Pets: two dogs, Nessie and Zelda, with their own Instagram @Nessiethenewf

ABOUT TMG PARTNERS

1. Founded: 1984
2. HQ: San Francisco
3. Employees: Approx. 50
4. Did you know? TMG has developed a mix of uses totaling approximately 30 million square feet of office, research and development, multifamily residential, retail, and more than 400 acres of land, with a portfolio valuation totaling $5.5 billion.