I had not intended to run for this position; I’m busy trying to manage a city (Culver City, California – 900 employees and a $100 Million budget). But an old friend called and asked me to consider it.

I’m in my 30th year in this work, and I have been blessed by my career. I have had the honor – the sweet, true honor – of helping to lead four California cities (San Francisco, Lawndale, West Hollywood, Culver City) to better futures than they suspected they were going to reach. In turn my profession has  honored me: California APA Distinguished Leadership Award; elected twice as the head of the Los Angeles APA Section; National APA Ethics Committee; numerous state and national speaking engagements; California Planning Roundtable member.

Many of us may have met. I’m 13 years into teaching the basic Planning And Zoning Law Clinic for the University of California Extension system, mainly at UCLA and Berkeley. Hundreds of you have sat together with me as we tried to sort out what’s important about our collective work – as you continued your education and sharpened your  professional skills.

I’ll tell you what I’ve learned in all this: not much matters (in the end) except being totally ethical, completely professional, and passionate about what you do. That’s where AICP comes in. Its purpose is to help us be ethical. Its purpose is to insure that we know our profession, and then to keep us professional. Its purpose is to help us make a difference in our work.

And that’s where this gets serious. It’s just us. We’re in this together as planners, and if we can’t figure out how to help each other – if AICP can’t figure out how to help us in California and Nevada – then we are at risk.

If you want an APA/AICP insider – somebody who’s already established his position on every subtle issue AICP is facing – I’m not your candidate. I’m the planner whose career has been a gift to him and who wants to give some of that gift back.

And I want to do it where planning leadership meets ethics and professionalism: AICP.

I know I can make a difference; I’m used to that part. All I need now is your support.

Thanks for considering me.

 Contact Mark by email by clicking here.