APA New York Metro Chapter: Committees

Aviation Committee
Mark Zannoni, AICP Chair

Mission: To provide a forum for aviation professionals, students and other interested parties to discuss landside and airside aviation planning issues impacting New York City and the region; to further the knowledge base of members in the vast field of aviation; and to issue occasional white papers on current issues facing a healthy aviation industry in New York.

Awards Committee
Ellen P. Ryan, Michael W. Bradley, Co-chairs

Mission: to confer Metro Chapter Annual Awards for excellence in the practice of planning in the New York Metro area.

Economic Development
Tom Jost, Chair

Mission:This Economic Development Committee will assess the relationship between planning and economic development in the New York City metropolitan area. We will initiate a dialogue between the development community and regional and local planning interests.

Define the relationship between Planning and Economic Development
- Understand the broader economic impacts of local planning decisions
Identify ways in which planning can best enhance economic development in NYC region
- Study how planning decisions affect job retention and job creation
- Identify which findings from prior planning and economic development should support new public policy
Quantify the direct and indirect impacts of economic development activities
- Determine how public funding and incentives can best be applied to promote economic development.

Environmental Planning
Robert M. White, AICP and Stephen Whitehouse, Co-chairs

Mission: To promote planning as a tool to improve the environment by:

Discussing projects, policies and issues vital to the metropolitan region
Serving as a public resource on environmental planning issues
Providing professional exchange on best practices in environmental planning

Planners for Ethnic and Cultural Diversity Committee
Sarah Whitham, Interim Chair

Mission: Planners for Ethnic and Cultural Diversity is an educational and networking committee within the APA Metro Chapter. Among its goals are to: Increase diversity within the planning profession; Provide opportunities for planners of different backgrounds to network and share ideas; and Collaborate with groups on existing projects that need planning insights.

The Diversity Committee's regular meetings are usually held on the second Wednesday of the month at 22 Reade Street in Lower Manhattan. Please check this website for monthly confirmations or updates to the schedule.

Lagging Behind: Ethnic Diversity in the Planning Profession in the APA New York Metro Chapter Area -- Findings and Recommendations
A new APA New York Metro Chapter study of the planning profession in the New York metropolitan area shows the profession has a long way to go to reflect the communities it serves. It shows that the profession appears to be slowly growing more diverse since 1990, but not at the same pace or in the same way as the region. An APA Chapter Presidents Council Award to the New York Metro Chapter in 2000 made the study possible.
View the full report

Housing And Neighborhood Revitalization Committee
Gary Brown & Carol Van Guilder, Co-Chair

Mission: to study, evaluate and present solutions to housing and neighborhood revitalization issues throughout the New York metropolitan area

School Relations Committee
Tracy Sayegh ,Chair

Mission: to foster an ongoing relationship between students at New York City's planning schools and the American Planning Association, both local and national. Toward that end, the Committee acts as a liaison between students and the APA and coordinates events such as the annual Student Presentations.

Transportation Committee
David Fields, AICP & Janet K. Jenkins, AICP, Co-Chair

Mission: to provide a forum for transportation professionals, students and other interested parties to discuss transportation planning issues. To increase fellowship among committee members through the exchange of information and ideas. To further transportation planners' knowledge of the transportation infrastructure, operating authorities and private players in the metro area. Meetings are usually held the fourth Thursday of each month.

Urban Design Committee
Rex Curry & TBD, Co-Chairs

Mission: to educate communities and public officials on the nature and purpose of urban design in defining the physical form of the urban landscape through the creation of public places and spaces. To inform the public on the relevance of zoning recommendations on the shape of the physical environment and the process by which they are affected. To respond to planning and policy initiatives while in the formative stage.

Waterfront Committee
Bonnie Harken and Robert W. Balder, Co-chairs

Mission: to provide a forum to address waterfront planning and development issues as they relate to the New York Metro area

Zoning Committee
Carol Rosenthal & Zachary Bernstein, Co- Chairs

Mission: to promote knowledge and understanding of zoning issues, the New York City Zoning Resolution, and the relationship of those regulations to planning issues. To formulate informal responses to proposed New York City zoning initiatives in their formative stages, and to prepare, from a planning as well as a technical perspective, draft position statements with regard to proposed zoning amendments on which the City Planning Commission will vote.