APA California Planning Awards 2020

The California Chapter of the American Planning Association presented the following awards at its annual conference in Fresno last week

CP&DR’s Josh Stephens spoke with California APA President Julia Lave Johnston about the pandemic’s impact on the planning profession.

The California Chapter of the  American Planning Association announced its 2019 planning awards at its conference in Santa Barbara.

Carolina Martinez, in conjunction with Paradise Creek Partnership, received one of five 2019 Excellence Awards from the American Planning Association >>read more

The following awards were presented at this week’s conference of the American Planning Association, California Chapter, in Sacramento. >>read more

Lisa Hershey, executive director of Housing California, will participate in the "Big Conversation" on homelessness at the Calfornia APA Conference the morning of Monday, Sept. 13.

Update: Yesterday the leadership of the California Chapter of the American Planning Association decided to oppose the current draft of Assembly Bill 904, which seeks to lower parking minimums in transit-oriented areas. Here is the APA's letter (.doc) to bill sponsor Nancy Skinner.  

Yesterday the American Planning Association proudly released the results of a recent poll entitled Planning in America: Perceptions and Priorities, which it commissioned indicating that Americans are overwhelmingly supportive of community planning. Given the state of national politics, it's no wonder that Americans are reserving their passions for local issues. Boss Tweed and Mayor Quimby are looking like angels by comparison. 

Yesterday, at Day Three of the APA's National Planning Conference, a panel of planning directors and other city officials from Southern California cities offered their take on a range of issues – good and bad – that cities in the region are facing. The panel was designed for a non-California audience, and the panelists' take on statewide trends was telling.  

A few highlights: 

Smart growthers tout transit-oriented development more often than any other strategy. Yet with the exception of a few few showpiece developments, TOD has yet to catch fire in practice. This year, the American Planning Association recognized one such development in the hopes that, finally, the trend will catch on. 

P.J. O'Rourke once referred to the United States government as a "vast, rampant cuttlefish," writhing and squirting ink all over the place to no useful effect. I think D.C.'s tubluence has far exceeded even that metaphor, but taking its place lately are California's municipal general plans.

The California APA presented 30 awards in 16 categories on October 3.