Our Planning careers are pivoted on building communities, both physically and socially. But what about building literary communities?

The premise of the CPBC is simple. Every three months, APA-NJ and APA-NYM will choose a different book for membership to read. The CPBC will begin in April, starting with One Less Car: The Bicycling and the Politics of Automobility. The Chapters will introduce a second book in July and a third book in October. On the third month of these quarterly cycles, the Chapters will organize an in-person meet-up to discuss the featured book at length. These meet-ups will be submitted for CM Credits. Between the time of introduction and meeting-up, CPBC members are encouraged to participate in an online forum to share their ideas in real-time.

If you would like to join the CPBC and/or have any questions, please send me an email to Christopher Brown, APA-NJ Professional Development Officer at pdo@njplanning.org. Invites to the online forum will be sent personally via email.

Our first CPBC meet-up dates and locations in both New Jersey and New York will be announced in the coming weeks at www.njplanning.org and www.nyplanning.org.

Happy Reading!

The Review Course is expected to cover general exam topics including the State Plan, environmental regulations, affordable housing, Planning Board and Board of Adjustment activities, MLUL, regional planning entities, and other material relative to the PP Exam. Additionally, all students will receive a complimentary copy of the 2010 Complete Guide to Planning in New Jersey.

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED

Questions?  Contact Amy Sarrinikolaou atasarrini@hotmail.com

Election to the College of Fellows is one of the highest honors that the American Institute of Certified Planners bestows upon a member. Mr. Cotter and Ms. Lawlor will be inducted into the College of Fellows at the 2012 National Planning Conference to be held in Los Angeles, CA on April 15, 2012.

Robert (“Bob”) Cotter has guided the growth and development of Jersey City for over 30 years. He has been the Director of City Planning for 25 years. His contributions to the community and the profession have made a significant difference in shaping the urbanism of the State, the fabric of Jersey City and the quality of life and lifestyle choices available within it. Over his distinguished career Mr. Cotter has demonstrated measurable achievements in:

• Exceptional and sustained leadership, resulting in a definable change for Jersey City and its residents.
• Overseeing projects that have re-built neighborhoods and affected people’s lives in positive ways.
• Professional notoriety for his innovation and excellence in creating redevelopment plans and consensus for their adoption.
• Across the state his plans serve as case studies for professional planners and planning students alike.
• Sharing his experience with planning colleagues throughout New Jersey as a volunteer for APA-NJ and as a guest speaker and panelist for educational and professional planning and development forums here and abroad.

His presence is felt throughout New Jersey, as a leader in redevelopment and also as an advocate for open space and sustainable land use practices. He fought to make Jersey City and the region more accessible through upgrades and expansion of mass transit and campaigned relentlessly for increased open space and recreational opportunities. He continues to champion sound planning and development practices for the City of Jersey City and throughout the State of New Jersey.

Debbie Alaimo Lawlor is known for her leadership qualities and expertise related to regional and environmental planning, large scale project facilitation, community engagement, redevelopment, and sustainability. She has been recognized on numerous occasions for her service to the community and the planning profession.

Debbie has done monumental work for over 25 years planning to create a balance between economic development and environmentally protected and enhanced land in the Meadowlands region of New Jersey. She has worn many hats at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission including Land Use Planner, Chief Planner, Chief of Economic Growth and Sustainability, NJMC Business Accelerator Director of Administration, and most recently Chief of Sustainability managing the daily operations of the Meadowlands Conservation Trust and the Commission’s Office of Sustainability.

Debbie’s leadership has also been recognized in her hometown of Wayne, New Jersey. She served the Packanack Lake Community Association for 9 years on the Boards of Governors and Directors, including as President. As a volunteer, Debbie was in charge of overseeing the major reconstruction of the lake’s high hazard dam.

For over a decade, Debbie has been involved in APA leadership from the state, to division, to national level. She has been generous of her time on boards and committees, creating new programs, presenting at conferences, and authoring planning documents. Debbie created the APA-NJ Walking Tour Program (WTP). She served as a regional planning expert on a team that prepared the scope for a visioning plan for San Diego County in 2009. She was recently part of the committee updating the APA Policy Guide on Planning for Sustainability. In 2010, Debbie was elected an AICP Commissioner. She currently chairs the national Exam Committee which is responsible for updating the comprehensive AICP exam and creating the Advanced Specialty Exams.

Debbie’s leadership and service to our profession have resonated at the all levels. As a role model, she continues to expound the benefits of good planning every chance she gets – whether discussing a plan with the public or in an educational setting with students.

To learn more about the FAICP-Elect Class of 2012 visit:  http://www.planning.org/faicp/

Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP a champion of social justice and diversity from Rutgers University, will receive the American Planning Association’s 2012 National Planning Achievement Award for Advancing Diversity & Social Change in Honor of Paul Davidoff.

For more than 15 years Vazquez has been influencing planners to be more culturally competent as well as encouraging Latinos to enter the planning profession. The Davidoff award honors a project, group, or individual for promoting diversity or demonstrating a sustained social commitment to advocacy within the planning field.

“As a leader, educator and author, Leo Vazquez has positively influenced hundreds of planners, helping them to analyze and plan diverse and dynamic communities,” said Marie L. York, FAICP, APA Board Director and 2012 Awards Jury Co-Chair. “He is a champion of diversity, and inspires and energizes everyone he meets.”

“Leo’s strong leadership and vision for APA’s Latinos and Planning Division was instrumental in bringing in experts, leaders and passionate planners together to create the Dialogo series and in turn the Division itself. He led the Division with his humbleness and patience, bringing out the best in others for leadership and engagement in Division activities. He continues to serve as a great mentor to me and to the Division,” said Vicky Carrasco, Chair of APA’s Latinos and Planning Division.

Vazquez directs Arts Build Communities, a center for creative placemaking, based at Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Policy. He also developed three other major initiatives there, including Bloustein Online Continuing Education Program, Professional Development Institute and The Leading. All the initiatives he has developed incorporated elements of diversity and collaborative leadership practices. His book Leading from the Middle: Strategic Thinking for Planning and Community Development Professionals aims to build culturally competent leadership skills. He also is coeditor of the forthcoming Dialogos: Placemaking in Latino Communities and was the principal author of Lagging Behind, a comprehensive quantitative study of ethnic diversity in the planning profession.

Within APA, Vazquez was instrumental in the founding of the Latinos and Planning Division, which focuses exclusively on urban planning challenges facing Latino communities in the United States. He is co-founder of the Planners for Ethnic and Cultural Diversity Committee for APA’s New York Metro Chapter, which led to other state chapters developing diversity committees.

Vazquez is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and a licensed New Jersey Professional Planner. He is also on the board of the Center for Non-Profits, a statewide advocacy and technical assistance organization for nonprofit organizations in New Jersey.

Vazquez will receive the Advancing Diversity & Social Change Award in Honor of Paul Davidoff at a special awards luncheon held during APA’s National Planning Conference in Los Angeles on April 16, 2012. His work also will be featured in an upcoming issue of Planning magazine, APA’s flagship publication.

Click here to see all the award winners

Beginning February 10 through March 30, instructors will present during 2 hour webinars each Friday morning between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. EST. The webinars will cover the following topics:

February 10 – Exam Overview
February 10 – Spatial Analysis of Planning Practice
February 17 – Functional Areas of Planning Practice
February 24- Public Participation and Social Justice
March 2- Plan Making and Implementation
March 9 – Research and Quantitative Methods
March 16- Planning Law
March 23- AICP Code of Ethics
March 30 – Planning History and Theory

Up to 1000 participants from chapters participating in the webinar cooperative (please consult with your chapter’s Professional Development Officer to learn if your chapter is a member of the co-op) will be able to register for the course for free. Most presentation materials and webcasts will be available after the meeting. Recorded webcasts and referenced materials will be posted to the Utah APA chapter website at http://www.utah-apa.org/webcast-archive under a new title referencing the 2012 AICP Exam Review Series. Limited materials are proprietary to the instructor and will only be available during the live webinar.

Register for a session now by clicking a date below. You should also be able to register via a link to the Utah state chapter website soon via http://www.utah-apa.org/webcasts

Please remember to register for each webinar in the series:

Fri, Feb 10, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST

Fri, Feb 17, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST

Fri, Feb 24, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST

Fri, Mar 2, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST

Fri, Mar 9, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST

Fri, Mar 16, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT

Fri, Mar 23, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT

Fri, Mar 30, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT

Once registered you will receive an email confirming your registration with information you need to join the webinar. System Requirements are as follows:

PC-based attendees Macintosh®-based attendees

Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

Questions?

If you have immediate questions about the 2012 AICP Exam Review webinar series, please contact Lauren Blackburn, Vice President for Professional Development for the North Carolina chapter of the American Planning Association. You may reach Lauren by email at lblackburn@ci.davidson.nc.us. If you have questions about the webinar cooperative in general, please contact Chris Brown, Professional Development Officer for the New Jersey chapter of the American Planning Association. Chris is the Continuing Education Planning Webcast Series Coordinator for the cooperative and may be reached at christopher.alex.brown@gmail.com.

Planning for the State Legislative Session

On Thursday, January 5 at 2 p.m. (Eastern), APA will host a free webinar for members about “Planning for the State Legislative Session.” The one-hour webinar is the latest in APA’s Communications Boot Camp — a 12-week program to help members and their allies become effective messengers and advocates for planning.

In 2011, many state legislative sessions included sweeping new challenges to planning. From budget battles to roll-backs of local planning authority, legislative attacks on planning were commonplace. APA’s first webinar of the new year will take a close look at strategies for success in 2012 state legislative battles and offer ideas for shaping and influencing the debates.

Listen in and learn how to build a state legislative strategy, prepare for the legislative session, target legislators, develop effective legislative advocacy materials, and best engage with state legislators in support of good planning. You will leave the webinar with specific recommendations from legislative advocacy experts on how to win at the state capitol. Space is limited, so register now

Register for the January 5 webinar

Listen to past webinars and download free how-to guides on a variety of communications topics on the Communications Boot Camp webpage.

“The Commission has developed a Tenured Faculty Membership Program that will accept a university’s grant of tenure as an alternative to the Comprehensive Planning Examination as a demonstration of the knowledge and skills required for the AICP credential. Academic tenure is granted only after a faculty member completes a rigorous multi-part, multi-level review process that requires extensive written materials that document the applicant’s accomplishments. “

In response, Charles Latini, on behalf of the APA-NJ Executive Committee, sent the following text to the Chapter President’s Council urging them to reject this proposal on November 22, 2011.

Download the Text:  APA-NJ Comments on AICP Certification for Tenured Faculty

Dear Chapter President’s Council Members: 

I am writing you today to request that your Chapter take a position with the New Jersey Chapter in opposing the proposal by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) Commission that would waive the written computerized examination for tenured faculty members in planning programs accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board. The proposal would allow such faculty members to become AICP members without demonstrating knowledge of competence in planning, even though others would still have to take the examination if they wanted the benefits of our esteemed certification. 

The proposal was first disclosed to AICP members in the November 2011 Interact—AICP, with a deadline of December 1, 2011, for feedback‐ http://www.planning.org/interact/aicp/2011/nov.htm .There is no announcement on the AICP homepage or anywhere on the American Planning Association website. While brought to your attention at the leadership meeting in Washington, notice to the membership was less than ideal ‐ in‐fact, it was objectionable. I ask that you consider this matter appropriately and respond as you see fit, however without taking the AICP examination, this proposal is less than ideal. 

AICP argues, without evidence, that the tenure process in universities is equivalent to taking the examination. This, of course, is simply not the case. There is great disparity between producing research publications for journals (many of which have nothing to do with planning), one of the major criteria for tenure, and demonstrating knowledge of planning practice. Tenure practices at universities vary widely throughout the country with the final decisions on tenure not that of planning faculty, but rather a university president or board of trustees, which is a lot different from AICP’s procedure. Further, these tenured faculty members would not have to demonstrate they know anything about the AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and planning law, both of which the examination tests for, and the certification maintenance program administered by AICP gives high priority to. 

This proposal should be abandoned out of respect to the hard‐working planners who have dutifully followed the rules, received their education (at great cost) and experience, and have taken and passed the certification examination (and for the planning faculty who legitimately did likewise). 

Our Executive Board stresses that the AICP examination is about highlighting competency in the practice of planning. If one is to carry the AICP credential, the examination is not something that should be waived, nor marginalized. I ask that you consider this matter appropriately and respond as you see fit; however, without a requirement that tenured planning faculty take the AICP examination, this proposal is less than ideal. It is akin to the “citizen planner” argument that APA frequently makes, in which it is often stated that lay persons without formal proper credentials are not planners – and we agree. 

We urge you to write the AICP Commissioner individually in addition to the form on the AICP website (follow the link above) to insure your voices are heard directly. Thank you for your attention to this important matter. 

To date, several other Chapters throughout the country have joined New Jersey in voicing concerns over this proposal including: Utah, California, Alabama, Illinois, Idaho, Indiana and Ohio.

Re-posted from: http://blogs.planning.org/policy/2011/11/04/planners-its-time-to-show-your-value/ 

The Development Plan (a.k.a., Strategic Plan) adopted by APA Board of Directors this year charts a new direction for the organization and the profession. One of the key strategies in the plan directs APA to demonstrate the value of planners and planning by means of a coordinated communications and outreach and strategy. The Communications Boot Camp launched today and running through January is a direct outcome of that strategy.

Why is this important today?

The days of visionaries and communicators like Daniel Burnham, Edward Logue, and Edmund Bacon are long behind us. But more and more, planners are beginning to realize the important role they play in these uncertain economic times. After decades of focusing on the planning process and administering zoning codes, planners are beginning to wake up to a greater role to sustain the economic health and prosperity of their communities.

Planners are the guardians of our common future because they have a special concern for long term consequences of present actions. That characteristic is rare, but it is a fundamental principle of our code of ethics. Planning is the profession that protects the public interest – the public’s health, safety, and general welfare.

How do we show our value?

One way is for planners to understand the future trends and emerging issues in their community so they can communicate them to their elected officials, businesses and residents. Have you checked the health of your community lately? What are the population trends? What are the emerging issues? What are the implications of those trends? Do you have a plan to address them? Does the public know?

While to many, these questions seem elementary, you would be surprised how many planners, residents, and elected officials don’t even ask the questions.

In Raleigh, North Carolina, where I work, we decided to undertake a land capacity analysis. This request was unsolicited, but we felt we had a professional obligation to understand the future supply and demand of the city. What did we find?

Raleigh is projected to grow by 120,000 households and 170,000 jobs by 2030, but there were only 20,000 acres of land for new development. What were the implications? We did not have enough land to accommodate growth at the current low-density pattern of development. We would run out of land to develop in 20 years. The cost to taxpayers to pay and maintain the infrastructure was staggering. We also projected that by 2030, one in five residents would be over the age of 65. What were the implications? Thousands of seniors over the age of 65 who could longer drive would have poor transit access and could potentially be isolated.

The planning department raised these issues and took them to the elected officials and public. How did they respond? They asked that the city prepare a comprehensive plan to manage growth, prosperity, and equity for present and future residents.

Raleigh is not alone. According to the Center for Neighborhood Technology and Transportation for America, 90 percent of Atlanta Metro seniors will have poor transit access by 2015. Planners in the metro region are now stepping up and lead the nation in planning and innovation for lifelong communities where seniors can age in place.

Planners are identifying emerging trends and showing their value.