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2010 APA/AICP Election Winners

Vote totals not available as of April 14, 2010. We will post vote totals once we obtain them.

On Monday, August 10, 2009, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote approved an historic $62.5 million settlement agreement in U.S. ex rel. Anti-Discrimination Center v. Westchester County. The ground-breaking litigation is the first to employ the federal False Claims Act (FCA) to enforce a County's obligation to "affirmatively further fair housing." The landmark settlement combines FCA remedies with those traditionally used in housing desegregation litigation. With close oversight by a federal monitor, Westchester will be required to appropriate and spend nearly $52 million in County funds to develop at least 750 affordable housing units in Westchester neighborhoods with very small African-American and Latino populations.

HOT FLASH! In mid–November 2009 HUD rejected Hurricane Katrina Recovery Plans from the State of Texas due to the absence of a required fair housing element that met minimal standards. HUD is rightfully withholding $1.8 billion in funds.

This settlement could help revolutionize planning in America. The vast majority of the planning community has steadfastly refused to address the racial and socioeconomic segregation that the CDBG program was created to end. It’s even been a tumultuous battle to get the APA Board of Directors to support racial and socioeconomic integration. You’ll find little in APA publications and nothing in its continuing education program about the role planning has played in forcing racial segregation on communities or what planning can do to promote racial integration. (For a comprehensive examination of the causes of racial segregation and how to combat them, click here for the PDF file.) If HUD continues to be serious about following the law, the 1,200 local and state governments that receive CDBG funds will, for the first time, have to incorporate fair housing concerns into their planning process, policies, and practices. This settlement could have a greater impact on planning practice than the U.S. Supreme Court‘s Kelo decision on eminent domain.

The Anti-Discrimination Center (ADC) filed its complaint, under seal, in April 2006, alleging that Westchester had, over a period of six years, received $52 million in HUD and other government funds under false pretenses. ADC alleged that during this period, Westchester falsely certified that it had complied with its obligation under the federal Fair Housing Act to affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH) in order to obtain the funds. Specifically, ADC alleged that the County failed to consider race-based impediments to fair housing choice; failed to identify and take steps to overcome impediments; and failed to meet its obligation to maintain records concerning its efforts. Under the Bush Administration, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) initially declined to intervene in the litigation, and the complaint was unsealed and served on Westchester in January 2007. Judge Cote denied the County's motion to dismiss in a published ruling on July 13, 2007. 495 F.Supp.2d 375 (S.D.N.Y. 2007)]. In that ruling, Judge Cote found that an interpretation of “affirmatively further fair housing” that excludes consideration of race would be an “absurd result.”

Model Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice

Relator’s attorney Michael Allen has recommended the Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice for the City of Naperville, Illinois, 2007 to HUD as a model AI.

“Because I believe the Naperville AI establishes a ‘gold standard,’ reinventing and reinvigorating this important community planning process, I have encouraged HUD to use it as a model for other communities.” — Michael Allen

Download a copy of the AI by clicking here and following the links.

After extensive discovery, in February of this year, Judge Cote granted partial summary judgment for ADC, 2009 WL 455269 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 24, 2009)], holding that the County had made false certifications on seven annual AFFH certifications and on more than a thousand implied certifications of compliance when it requested a drawdown of HUD funds. Judge Cote found that the AFFH certification was not a mere boilerplate formality, but rather was a substantive requirement, rooted in the history and purpose of the fair housing laws and regulations, requiring the County to conduct an analysis of impediments, take appropriate actions in response, and to document its analysis and actions.

Last April, following the summary judgment decision, the Obama Administration took a new look at the case and decided to intervene to help get the parties to settle the case. In addition to the $52 million in funds that the County must spend to develop new affordable housing in white municipalities of the County, the agreement requires the County to pay $7.5 million as a relator's share under the FCA to the ADC, and $2.5 million in attorney's fees.

“This case represents a victory for the residents of Westchester and for the entire fair housing movement,” said Michael Allen of Relman & Dane. “Not only must Westchester adopt a policy committing the County to eliminating de facto residential segregation, but we have helped to breathe new life into the obligation to ‘affirmatively further fair housing,’ which will apply to more than 1,200 state and local governments that receive federal housing funds. With HUD proposing new regulations this fall, private fair housing advocates will have strong tools to enforce the promises of the Fair Housing Act and to fulfill Dr. King's dream of promoting integration.”

Relman & Dane represented ADC along with co-counsel Craig Gurian, the Executive Director of ADC who conceptualized and briefed ADC’s successful motion for partial summary judgment. The Relman & Dane legal team was led by Michael Allen, John Relman, Steve Dane, Reed Colfax and Tom Keary.

APA/AICP continued its painful and hurtful new way of announcing election results at its annual meeting at the national conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, April 30, 2008.

The only vote counts we have are for Region 4 AICP where Lee Brown won with 294 votes to petitioner Charles Wunder’s 234 and Dale Powers’ 194 votes. Wunder was the only candidate in the election who opposes Certification Maintenance, although his position statement did not explicitly state his opposition. APA/AICP continues to make it very hard to get actual vote counts, which is typical of the lack of transparency in the way APA/AICP works these days.

And for what’s wrong about CM from the AICP members’ standpoint, click here and see the links to the left.

AICP Commission Amending Bylaws to Prevent Repeal of
Certification Maintenance by Next Commission?

The AICP Commission approved “mandatory continuing education” under the guise of “Certification Maintenance” at its April 13, 2007 meeting in Philadelphia, despite massive opposition to the certification maintenance requirement the AICP Commission proposed and the Commission’s own survey showing that 27% of AICP members would quit AICP if CM is adopted. Members are ticked off and next year could very well could elect 4 Commissioners pledged to repealing Certification Maintenance — half of the 8–member Commission.

Why is the Commission amending the bylaws? Apparently there’s a strong belief among the AICP Commissioners that certification maintenance must stay in place for a few years in order to properly gauge its value to the Institute. That’s a fair motive. No complaint about that. But bylaw amendments aren’t needed to keep CM in place for a few years no matter what. And what about the practical effect?

These bylaws aren’t needed! If that’s the only reason the Commission is considering these bylaws, then they should be rejected because they aren’t needed. The CM program is in place for a couple of years whether or not the bylaw amendments are adopted. Even if anti–CM members were to sweep the 2008 election, that would give them just half of the Commission — not enough to repeal CM by a simple majority vote. So it would still take until mid–2010 for enough anti-CM members to be elected to the Commission to repeal CM — even without the bylaw amendments!

What is the perhaps unintended effect of the bylaw amendment? Opponents of CM would have to win 6 of 8 seats in the next two AICP elections to build the supermajority needed to repeal CM because it takes a 2/3 vote of the Commission to amend the bylaws. We think that the Commissioners are unaware that the effect of these bylaw amendments will be to prevent democracy from working in AICP by making it nearly impossible to achieve an AICP Commission with enough members to repeal the bylaw amendments and terminate the ill–conceived Certification Maintenance requirements. Even though the Commissioners supporting the bylaw amendments may not intend to produce this result, this is the practical consequence of the proposed bylaw amendments. Click here to see the amendments below.

We had until May 26,2006 to tell the Commissioners to heal this organization by rejecting these bylaw amendments. CM is in place for the next four years even if supporters of voluntary continuing education were to be elected to all four Commissioner seats in 2008. The bylaw amendments are unnecessary. To those who favor voluntary continuing education, these amendments are like rubbing salt into an open wound.

There's no good reason to amend the bylaws when CM hasn’t even been tested. This would be like amending the U.S. Constitution when only a statute need be adopted. Amending the bylaws now would undermine the electoral process in AICP and deny members their democratic voice.

Don’ quit AICP — it’s worth saving. It’s been an honorable and valuable institute usually governed with sound, rational reasoning based on facts. But if those of us who favor voluntary continuing education and who recognize CM for the black hole it is were to quit, AICP could never recover. It will continue its downhill slide in which it ignores sound planning practices in its own governance and turns into an onerous, oppressive organization like so many other professional associations. It can change, but only if you get active and recognize that genuine reform is possible through the electoral process just like in the real world.

No AICP member can be expelled for failure to complete the CM requirements for four years (assuming we’re reading the complicated rules correctly). So the bylaws could be amended before anybody could be expelled — but only if there is an opponent to CM in every Commission contest in both of the next two elections (this is just an observation; I cannot get involved in the election myself). In the 2006 election, no candidate came out against mandatory continuing education — with no choice, it’s no surprise that the proponents of mandatory continuing education took over the Commission in an election with an extremely low voter turnout. (Losing AICP President–Elect candidate Alan Canter favored voluntary continuing education, but he did not mention this position in his position statement or elsewhere.)

We are deeply saddened by the actions the Commission took. Members will be required to take 32 hours of AICP–approved mandatory continuing education over a two–year period in order to remain an AICP member. Nowhere in the Commission’s actions is there any indication of how the Commission realistically plans to pay to administer this requirement. The massive dues increases that will likely be required to pay for administering this requirement, coupled with the cost of the mandatory courses, will likely raise the cost of being an AICP member to over $1,000 a year.

Get full details of the Commission’s action by clicking here to view the PDF file the Commission released that details the requirements and plans to amend the bylaws to prevent repeal.

Motion:
That the AICP Commission approve the publication of the following proposed amendment to the AICP Bylaws, to institute the maintenance of AICP certification through a minimum standard of continuing education (language to be inserted is underlined):
AICP Bylaws — Section 2.34 — Membership: Certification Maintenance. Members shall be required to abide by continuing education requirements as established by the Commission through the standards of Certification Maintenance.

Motion:
That the AICP Commission approve the publication of the following proposed amendment to the AICP Bylaws (language to be inserted is underlined):
AICP Bylaws — Section 2.35 — Membership: Certification Maintenance Standards. Certified planners are required to take professional development courses throughout their careers in a program of Certification Maintenance (CM). The reporting period for Certification Maintenance will be established by the Commission and will be in the range of every one to three years. The annual average number of credits required will be established by the Commission and will be in the range of twelve to twenty-four credits.

See the “Argument Against Certification Maintenance” for ideas you can use to make the case against these bylaw amendments in addition to them being a very anti–democratic set of amendments.

It took three years, but Norm Krumholz’ efforts to get AICP to conduct a symposium on Planning and Social Responsibility finally bore fruit last November.

Norman Krumholz, FAICP, reports on the results of AICP’s Symposium on Planning and Social Responsibility in the current issue of Practicing Planner. These excerpts from his comments and introduction are reprinted with his permission.
Of greatest importance to us are the following recommendations that Norm proffers:

“APA and AICP should: (1) Seek to incorporate social impact analysis into the core of planning practice. The AICP Code of Professional Conduct and Responsibility should require AICP members to include the identification of social impacts on housing cost, racial and economic segregation, mobility, etc., in all aspects of planning and zoning. Failure to do this would constitute a violation of the code.”

Efforts to actually add this to the new AICP Code were voted down by the AICP Commission when it adopted the new Code in 2005. Hopefully this symposium will revive the issue and lead to its addition to the Code. The one big “gottcha” is the need for a provision to protect planners who face the threat of losing their jobs because they comply with this amendment to the Code if it were to be adopted.

“Practicing planners should: (A) Incorporate social responsibility analysis as part of all plans, environmental impact statements and zoning proposals. Place special emphasis on reducing racial isolation and inequality.”

Click here to see excerpts from Norm’s comments and introduction to the report. The entire report and papers are available to AICP members in the Spring 2007 issue of Practicing Planner, posted on APA¹s website.

For decades many planners have concluded that the profession needs to incorporate social responsibility into the planning process. We have several thorough discussions of this topic here — just click on the three links marked with an asterisk on the left–hand side of this page.

This isn’t a “liberal’s” planning issue — planners of all political persuasions should be supporting the incorporation of social impact analysis into all planning activities since the impact of planning decisions on people’s lives rests at the heart of planning practice. Maybe some planners don’t want to explicitly identify the impacts of their planning decisions because that might reveal some very undesirable impacts. Who knows? This practice simply fits within the long–held APA adage, “The better informed decision makers are, presumably the better decisions they will make.”

One of planning’s brightest lights died at age 68 on December 15, 2006, after a 18–bout with pancreatic cancer. It’s unbelievably hard to write this, but Don Krueckeberg, FAICP, with whom we had the honor and pleasure of serving on the AICP Commission, taught urban planning and policy at Rutgers University nearly 40 years. But his knowledge of planning extended far beyond the academic world and deep into practical planning practice.

My greatest regret is getting to know Don only when we both ran for the AICP Commission in 2000. Frank Popper recommended Don as a candidate — one of the best recommendations ever. After being elected in a landslide, Don served with integrity, honesty, and great insight. He had an innate ability to cut through the B.S. and get to the heart of any issue. He did an incredible job as chair of AICP’s Exam Committee, guiding its major rewrite and computerization of the entire exam. While he was particularly proud of the new continuing education program established at Rutgers, he strongly opposed mandatory continuing education like that proposed above, in part because he understood that adults rarely learn when forced take continuing education courses. Like Joe Flynn, Jr. (see story below), Don was a truthsayer and dear friend. He will be dearly missed. For more details on Don’s wonderful life and accomplishments, click here. — Daniel Lauber, AICP

Since early 2002 we knew this day would come. On October 9, 2006, our dear friend, professional colleague, truthsayer, and frequent editor and contributor to this newsletter, Joseph Flynn, Jr, FIACP, PCP, succumbed to complications from inoperable lung cancer at age 64 after a courageous 4 1/2 year battle.

Joe was a remarkable planner and individual. Pictured here in a Sept. 2005 photo with his wife Dixie (without whom he could never have survived as long as he did) and an unidentified friend with a wooden personality, Joe lived a professional life that reflected his great moral courage and dedication to sound planning principles.

More than once, Joe risked his job to do the right thing, including his position as Director of Planning for the City of Detroit (which honored him with “Spirit of Detroit Award” a year later). Joe’s career illustrated the wide variety of positions professional planners could hold (as long as there’s no state licensing to limit our job options). In addition to heading several planning departments, Joe served as a city administrator and as general manager of a property owners association. Joe served on the APA Board and AICP Commission from 1985 to 1988 and was Vice–President of AICP from 1986 to 1988. Joe was Missouri Chapter President 1987 to 1991. In 2005, Joe and Charles Wunder received the AICP President’s Award as representatives of all the courageous planners in the planning trenches who seek to do the right thing everyday.

Joe applied his planning skills to the communities in which he lived. He served as a planning commissioner and on the Development Advisory Board for Blue Springs, MO this entire millennium; and was elected by the public as chair of its Charter Commission in 1993. He chaired the Planning Commission in Jackson County, MO in the early 1990s.

Unlike so many others, Joe did not hide his alcoholism. Dixie told me that Joe was determined to make it to this autumn so he could celebrate his 32nd year of sobriety and say he lived most of his life sober. I’d have to say his was a complete and total triumph over the condition. In the 20+ years I had the privilege of knowing him, Joe never exhibited any of the inhibiting personality characteristics typical of people in recovery (and doing so much zoning work for recovery communities, you better believe I’ve seen those characteristics time and again).

For all of us who had the pleasure and distinct privilege of serving with, working with, or just knowing Joe, I thank him for welcoming us into his life. And for all of us, I thank his wife Dixie (whom Joe inspired to go to planning school in her 40s), for enriching his life and caring for him through his illness. You, too, Dixie are an inspiration to us all. It’s not likely that we’ll the likes of Joe Flynn, Jr. again. — Daniel Lauber, AICP

Our colleague, good friend, and co–founder of Inside APA, the predecessor to APAWatchDog, Fred Bair, Jr., died February 14, 2005 in Auburndale, Florida, at age 89. With his best buddy and colleague, the late Robert Leary, Bair brought sound planning practices to communities throughout the South — and the rest of the nation — well before anybody ever imagined calling them “Smart Growth.”

Fred was anointed a “Planning Landmark” by AICP at the APA National Conference in April 2006. Rarely has somebody been so deserving of this posthumous honor.

He is “part of a disappearing breed of generalist planners,” I wrote in 2000 when I nominated Fred for APA’s Distinguished Leadership by a Planner Award. “Few planners have influenced the practice of planning to the degree that Fred Bair has,” said Dennis Andrew Gordon, AICP, chair of the 2000 APA awards jury which conveyed the award to Fred. “His pioneering work helped to define the rational, progressive, humane side of planning that so many members of our profession aspire to implement.”

Much of today's planning theory and practice is based on Fred’s 40 years of professional practice with the Florida Development Commission, and then as an independent consultant at his own firm, Bair & Abernathy. His three editions of The Text of a Model Zoning Ordinance guided several decades of planners as they introduced modern zoning to their communities. For 30 years, Fred served as a reporter and editorial board member for Zoning Digest and its successor, Land Use Law and Zoning Digest, where his commentaries helped advance sound zoning practices before a national audience. Indeed, most of today's zoning for mobile and manufactured homes, recreational equipment storage, trailer and truck rentals, and signage, and other issues, is based in Fred’s work in these areas.

You can read the full details of Fred's remarkable career at APA’s official website. For a more concise discussion of Fred’s influence, click here and see why Fred was honored with APA’s Distinguished Leadership Award in 2000. For a one–page summary of his career, click here.

A personal note. I first got to know Fred only by phone long ago when I worked in ASPO’s Planning Advisory Service. He was the person you called when everybody was stumped trying to answer a PAS inquiry. He always steered you to the right solution. After being elected to the ASPO Board of Directors, I convinced a very reluctant Fred to run the next year. Naturally he was elected. Serving with Fred was a sheer joy. And getting to know him and becoming actual friends was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Little did I know then that we had both received sociology degrees from the University of Chicago, although 35 years apart. I strongly suspect that’s why we both recognized the close connection between the two professions and the need to keep planning practice focused on its impacts on people. I guess he was a mentor long before the term became a cliche.

Fred was so far ahead of his time it was scary. Grab a copy of Planning Cities: Selected Writings on Principles and Practice by Frederick H. Bair, Jr. that ASPO published in 1970. You’ll find his writings from the 1950s that called for planning to support racial and socio–economic integration (“Planning for protection against difference”), his insightful criticisms of zoning practice that still hold water today, and the heartbreaking article “… and a little child shall lead them” that moves me as much today as when I first read it 35 years ago.

The last time I saw Fred, he was calling himself the “Six Million Dollar Man” with all the artificial joints he had acquired in his later years. I am eternally grateful that APA finally saw fit to recognize his incredible contributions to the profession and humanity with its award in 2000 — and I am incredibly grateful that I had the honor and pleasure to call Fred “friend.” Our deepest condolences to his widow Margaret and his family. We’ll not see his like again. — Daniel Lauber, AICP

It’s with stunned sadness that we have to report that our old friend Sam Cullers died after a rough bout with cancer on September 28, 2005. Politically conservative as he had become, Sam was consistently a sheer delight to speak and correspond with and always a true professional and a gentleman in the best sense of the word.

I was privileged to be able to appoint Sam to several key APA and AICP committees when I served as APA and later AICP President. He always brought a fresh perspective and insights that broadened the understanding of issues by all around him. I’m only grateful to have had the honor of speaking with him so often the last 10 years and enjoying his frequent politically–tinged emails. Like Fred Bair, Jr., Sam will be sorely missed. Our most sincere condolences to his widow Geraldine and his four children.
— Daniel Lauber, AICP

Samuel J. Cullers, who passed away on September 28, 2005, was born in Chicago, IL, and attended Tilden Technical High School, then Roosevelt College and Fisk University, Nashville, TN. With the support of a John Hay Whitney fellowship, he entered the graduate program in city and regional planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was the first African-American graduate. While at MIT, he was active in the New England Chapter of the American Institute of Planners (now APA). He has continued to be active in Association affairs throughout the years and formerly was a member of the Board, then First Vice President, and most recently continued to serve as a member of AICP Exam Specifications Committee and of APA Community Planning Team for Greensboro, NC.

His professional career had been outstanding in terms of variety and accomplishment. Starting as Deputy Director of Redevelopment in Hartford, CT, he then went overseas as Senior Planner and subsequently Chief of Party for the Bangkok, Thailand, City Planning Project team. This was followed by an assignment as City Planning Advisor to the Ministry of Interior of Thailand. He then returned to Chicago as Director of the Community Renewal Program. He then was recruited to bring U.S. techniques to Canada and direct an Urban Renewal Study for the Metropolitan Toronto Planning Board for three years. At completion of this project he became Chief of Urban Planning for the State of Calif. State Office of Planning. After serving as Acting Director of the office, he was offered the position of Vice President, Planning and Environmental Affairs for Engineering Science, Inc. In 1972 he resigned to open the firm of Samuel J. Cullers & Assoc.

Other professional activities have included Jury of Awards, CalChapter, APA Director, Sacramento Valley Section, Task Force of ALI Code, APA, Board of Directors, Council of State Planning Agencies, among others. He was elected to Lambda Alpha International, Honorary Land Economics Society, and was the founder of the Sacramento Chapter and served as International Vice President, West.

Numerous community activities have included board membership and chairing such entities as the Red Cross, United Way, YMCA, Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, the Urban League, NAACP, Symphony Board, and others. He has served as a Visiting Executive, International Executive Service Corps, to assist with economic development in Ozd, Hungary.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Geraldine Lewis Cullers, his sons Jim and Mark, and his daughters Jackie, and Adrienne.

APAWatchDog.org named
Cyburbia’s “Planning Site of the Day”
March 6, 2007

2010 APA/AICP Election Winners

Former Assistant Secretary of HUD Quits AICP Due to Certification Maintenance

APAWatchDog.org namedCyburbia’s “Planning Site of the Day”March 6, 2007

2010 APA/AICP Election Winners

Former Assistant Secretary of HUD Quits AICP Due to Certification Maintenance

APAWatchDog.org named
Cyburbia’s “Planning Site of the Day”
March 6, 2007