A Message From the Chapter President - Fall 2018
It’s hard to believe that the holidays are upon us and 2018 has nearly come to a close. I’d like to thank members of our Executive Committee and all of our volunteers for their hard work over the past year. We’re an all-volunteer organization and rely on the generosity of members to dedicate time and effort to support the Chapter. Welcome to our new Chapter Treasurer, Jeff Seastrom, who will be taking over for Michael Shibata, and congratulations to Matt Gonser who was re-elected to another term as Director-at-large. I hope that you all have a safe and happy holiday season!
APA Planning Home
We’re all aware that housing affordability and
availability is an issue of concern in Hawaii.
What you may not be aware is the extent to which housing affordability
challenges have spread to communities across the country. To help address housing challenges, earlier
this year APA launched “Planning Home”,
an organization wide initiative aimed to reshape the way planning is used to
address the housing affordability crisis.
A key aspect of APA’s Planning
Home agenda is that collaboration among legislators, developers, residents,
advocates, and planners is necessary to address our housing challenges. When you have a moment, visit the Planning Home website at planning.org/home
to learn more about this initiative. I’ll
be working with our Executive Committee to see how we may be able to implement
the initiative locally.
Chapter Reports
As part of APA National’s new chapter
performance reporting requirements, we’ll soon be distributing a chapter annual
report and financial report to members highlighting the chapter’s activities,
accomplishments, and financial status. I
think you’ll see that the chapter’s officers and committees were quite busy over
the year not just maintaining, but enhancing services to members. You’ll also see that that the financial state
of the chapter is healthy. Over the
course of several years, we’ve managed to accrue a reserve and we’re
considering ways to equitably redistribute funds to members. This past year we subsidized rates for the
chapter’s annual meeting and planning director’s forum as a means of
redistributing funds, and we’ll be looking at similar ways to give back to the
membership in the coming year.
5-Year Chapter Development Plan
At its December meeting , the Executive Committee voted to adopt a Development Plan that will guide the chapter’s activities over the next five years. Our chapter has typically adopted annual work plans, and this development plan establishes long-term goals for member services, efficient operation of the chapter, and recognition of the planning profession. The plan will be posted on our website for reference by members. Special thanks to Ralph Portmore and George Atta for leading this effort.