APA Los Angeles eNews: June 2, 2021
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We are pleased to present the
APA Los Angeles Section Planning Award Winners for 2021!
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Demystifying CEQA and NEPA |
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Zoom Webinars
Register:
Cost: Free
CM Credits
Implementing CEQA and NEPA can be daunting. This online course series is geared towards planners and any planning-adjacent professionals who are looking for a practical overview of NEPA and CEQA. The course series will cover how and when CEQA and NEPA apply to planned project, and the similarities and differences between the two regulations.
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Intro to CEQA (Pt 1), May 19, 12-1 PM (watch the video)
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Intro to CEQA (Pt 2), June 2, 12-1 PM (details)
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Intro to NEPA, June 9, 12-1:30 PM (details)
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CEQA & NEPA: Similarities & Differences – A Comparative Look, June 16, 12-1:30 PM (details)
- Debbie Roberts, ENV SP, Senior Planner, STV
- Dakota Gross, ENV SP, Planner, STV
- Doreen Zhao, AICP, Planner, STV
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Give back to your profession, join our board! |
Join our APA Los Angeles Board of Directors. Click here to read more about the positions and how to apply.
Current board vacancies:
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Vice Director At-Large (Awards) (2 positions)
- Vice Director of Communication
- Commissioner Representative
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Join LABC for Their 15th Annual
Sustainability Summit on June 11th
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Join LABC on June 11th from 8am to 4pm, for the LABC’s 15th Annual Sustainability Summit, which is hosted virtually in partnership with USC President, Dr. Carol Folt, and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. This year’s summit will tackle issues including: the national agenda for clean energy and climate change, how the nation’s largest municipal utility is moving toward 100% renewable energy, ensuring equity in the transition to clean transportation, securing and investing in water conservation and resources, and preparing for the 2021 United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) and the Race to Zero.
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Contribute to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Planning through Student Scholarships |
Great Futures Start With Your Support. The California Planning Foundation (CPF) is committed to providing scholarships to outstanding California planning students. Financial assistance provides a pathway for students to help build communities where everyone has an equal opportunity to prosper.
CPF awarded $70,000 in scholarships to 44 outstanding California planning students at the 2021 APA California Virtual Conference. Now, more than ever, the planning profession needs a new generation of diverse, talented planners. And now, more than ever, access to a planning education can be out of reach for planning students.
You can help bridge the student financial gap and bring diversity to the profession by supporting the CPF Student Scholarship Program. CPF's goal is $20,000 in 2021 to continue to fund future scholarships. Meeting this goal by the end of the year will allow us to reach $40,000 through an anonymous matching donation!
Make a donation to the CPF scholarship fund, and together, we can continue to support our emerging planning leaders. No contribution is too small (or too large)! Your contribution is tax deductible to the fullest extent allowable under the law. From the CPF Board of Directors, thank you for your generous support.
To make a donation and learn more about CPF and this year's scholarship winners, please visit the CPF website.
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Legislative Update - First Major Policy Deadline Passed |
Over the past few weeks, APA California has shared positions on a number of important bills moving through the Legislature. After the bill introduction deadline in late February, over 300 bills of interest to planners were identified. Since then, the first major policy committee deadline has passed and some of these 300+ bills have been tabled for the year or amended into an entirely different topic. Other important bills continue to move and APA California is actively engaged in many. In fact, we’ve been working closely with legislative and committee staff on amendments and clarifications to some bills of concern that have enabled APA California to remove opposition as they continue to move through the Legislature. Click here for an update on bills we have recently highlighted and stay tuned for a broader update on both legislative and budget activities in the next month.
- Meets in the Spring
- Content-specific working groups discuss bills throughout the season
- Chapter e-blasts provide midseason updates on hot topics and positions
Find bills, positions, or letters HERE!
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UC San Diego Extension’s summer quarter CEQA Practice Certificate courses are open for enrollment! The CEQA Practice certificate is designed to offer professionals a unique opportunity to gain the knowledge and practical skills vital to their practice. Coursework will offer project-based work as a central focus of training in order for students to develop a portfolio of work that can be shared with potential employers or clients. APA Members receive a 10% discount using code: APA2021. We are offering the following online courses:
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Planetizen Courses is pleased to announce a new Planning Commissioner Training series, designed to offer immersive but accessible training on the essential skills and concepts for planning commissioners. Planetizen Courses has partnered with instructors from the Michigan State University (MSU) Extension to offer this online video version of MSU’s pioneering Citizen Planners Program, designed to offer training relevant to commissioners in every U.S. jurisdiction.
The Planning Commissioner Training series from Planetizen Courses offers ten courses on the essentials of citizen planning—everything from planning ethics, comprehensive plans, site plans, approval processes, planning law, zoning, and the essential role of the public in planning.
For a limited time, Planetizen Courses is offering a year-long subscription to the Planning Commissioner Training for $199 before pricing increases to $349. Go here for the Planning Commissioner Training course description and information about the instructors.
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City of Temple City
Submit by 6/10/21 at 4 PM
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Jobs
Listings expire at 3 months or deadline
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County of Ventura
Continuous/may close at any time
City of Torrance
Apply by 6/17/21
City of Fresno
Open until filled
Pacific Charter School Development / Los Angeles
Apply by 6/16/21
City of Irvine
Apply by 6/16/21
Art Rodriguez Associates / City of Arcadia, CA
Immediate Opening
City of El Segundo
Apply by 6/10/21
City of Petaluma
Open until filled
City of South Pasadena
Continuous
Civic Solutions, Inc.
Western Riverside and North Orange County
Open until Filled
Impact Sciences
California (Remote Working Optional)
Open until filled
Civic Solutions, Inc.
Southern California Region
Open until filled
TransLink Consulting
Fullerton, CA (currently remote)
Open until filled
LA Forward
Apply by 4/26/21 (Applications considered on a rolling basis)
City of Palmdale
Open until filled
City of Santa Ana
Open until filled
County of San Diego
RRM Design Group, San Juan Capistrano
Open until filled
RRM Design Group, San Juan Capistrano
Open until filled
RRM Design Group, San Juan Capistrano
Open until filled
Florida State University
Open until filled
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APA California Condemns Violence Against Asian-Americans
and Pacific Islanders
APA California condemns all acts of violence and hate against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, who are our members, neighbors, colleagues, friends, and family. We recognize the innumerable contributions that Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders have made to California's communities. They are and have been inseparable threads in the fabric of our state's economy, history, and culture.
As professional planners, the members of APA California have an ethical obligation to be conscious of the rights of others, and to seek social justice by working to expand choice and opportunity for all persons. While we plan for all community members, we recognize a special responsibility to plan for the needs of the historically disadvantaged, dispel falsehoods and stereotypes, and promote racial and economic integration. We urge the alteration of policies, institutions, and decisions that enforce systemic inequities.
APA California remains committed to creating great communities that provide security and opportunity for Asian- Americans and Pacific Islanders.
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A Message from APA California's Vice President for Diversity & Equity
I am heartened by the outpouring of solidarity and support expressed for the Black community by diverse groups and entities in the Planning profession in the wake of the brutal murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. I am also excited to see sparks of interest in understanding systemic racism within the white community. The Planning profession, at the very least, is complicit in perpetuating the structures of racism based on white supremacy. The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black communities is a direct result of many planning policy decisions that have had the effect of sequestering the Black community in redlined areas compromising their air and water quality, and providing unequal access to health and transportation services, to name a few. The APA California Board has developed a webpage devoted to Racial Justice and Social Equity Resources that includes list of works addressing issues of different types of inequities. This also includes the APA National Statement on Righting the Wrongs of Racial Inequality and the APA California Chapter President's Message.
As you read about and/or refresh your understanding of systemic racism and learn how we in our Planning profession have contributed to its structure, it is clear the time has come for action. As planners it is also our ongoing responsibility to our profession, and to the communities we serve, to follow the principles enshrined in National APA's document Planning for Equity Policy Guide. It is no longer enough to be an advocate standing silently on the sidelines. It is time to break the silence at dinner tables, at office tables, at managers' tables, in closed sessions with Council members, in schools and pretty much wherever your daily professional and personal life intersects with people.
You can act by increasing representation of planners so they better reflect the communities they represent, by training employees in implicit bias that impacts the decisions (professional and personnel) we make every day, and by sponsoring work and events geared towards making inclusive and just communities.
The structure of systemic racism that was created intentionally will require long, sustained and deliberate effort to dismantle and replace it with a system that takes the needs and the interests of marginalized communities into account. It is only when we address the calls of the most disenfranchised that we can be certain that the needs of all are being served.
I am confident that we will sustain this energy next year, the year after that, until the time when the APA California Board no longer needs a position called Vice President for Diversity and Equity.
Sincerely,
Miroo Desai
APA California
Vice President for Diversity and Equity
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APA Los Angeles' Statement on Racism and Responsibility
We at APA Los Angeles share the pain, anguish and anger concerning the killing of George Floyd, as well as the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and so many other Black people. We condemn and reject anti-black racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry, and racism, because it inflicts disproportionate violence against members of our communities and the communities we are dedicated to serve.
As planning professionals, we strive to develop and implement equitable outcomes for all communities, especially those that have unequal access to power and resources. Communities of color in Los Angeles County are disproportionately affected by factors that result in instability, poor health, and violence. For generations, these communities have been subjected to redlining, segregation, and institutionalized violence by institutions intended to serve their needs. The foundation for planning that supports and serves disenfranchised communities is a recognition of these historic and contemporary forms of discrimination and violence.
The first values listed in the 2019-2021 Strategic Plan for APA Los Angeles are Diversity & Inclusion. Fostering healthy and equitable communities based on principles that value Diversity & Inclusion requires being actively anti-racist in our personal and professional lives. We look forward to working with our members and allies across Los Angeles County to establish and maintain a holistic approach to Diversity & Inclusion that keeps an anti-racist commitment at its core and is focused on providing equitable planning outcomes for all communities within our region.
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APA Los Angeles
801 S Grand Ave, 11th floor
Los Angeles, CA 90017
APA California Sections
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