| # | Name | Comments |
|---|
| 351 | Bryan Stumpf | |
| 352 | David Early | |
| 353 | Dave Kay | The CM approval process should be more fair and affordable. |
| 354 | Don Farmer, AICP | I am adding my name to this petition to protest the inequities of the CM program for both the members of APA/AICP and the providers of training programs. The costs of both individual certification and provider course certification are onerous and the benefits are dubious. I am a supporter of both certification and maintaining professional education currency. I am also a licensed professional in another field which requires annual education, however that is a requirement for a license to practice and not a mere certification. It is also less costly to maintain my professional license including coursework and annual license fee than it is to remain a member of APA/AICP. Let's restore reason and sanity to the CM program. |
| 355 | MICHAEL DEVUONO | |
| 356 | Brian Tingley | |
| 357 | J. Kirk Eby | |
| 358 | Mark F. Miller | |
| 359 | Karen Gavrilovic | |
| 360 | Anonymous | Abolish CM fees or we'll put AICP commissioners out to pasture. |
| 361 | Anonymous | |
| 362 | Anonymous | Abolish CM fees or we'll put AICP commissioners out to pasture. |
| 363 | Anonymous | |
| 364 | Anonymous | I agree broadly with the petition and underscore the fact the cost are prohibitively expensive and unfairly biased.
I would go further and argue the fees and current standards and practices are discriminatory, reflect negatively on the professional organization and are meant principally to be a revenue stream for the APA/AICP organization, management and staff.
APA/AICP should be a forum for providing continuing education opportunities that are affordable, broadly available and generally provided at little to no cost, through on line internet based services provided by the professional organization, its members and other professionals. There are many ways to be sure the programs offered can be interactive, informative and credible in part judged by the participants of the training opportunity.
Professionals APA/AICP should authorize with little to no fee would include educational organizations, governmental organizations and officials and other professions that provide planning related services and practices.
Those practices and services would include law, regulatory practices, and professional services that have an ethical and professional responsibility to provide services that are fair reasonable, in the interest of the public, the membership and future generations of students and citizens interested in furthering the causes and purpose of planning both as a profession and responsible action of citizens, professionals, public servants and other interest groups and related practitioners.
The EPA and CLU organizations are examples of organizations that offer free web based on-line training opportunities that in many of their programs discuss land use planning and regulations related to past practices, existing and future land use activities and decisions that are the foundation of successful plan implementation. The courses offer investigation and remediation practices, planning principles, technical procedures and related planning practices and skills that provide a benefit and opportunity to learn about current and changing regulations and practices to address existing and emerging issues from brownfield redevelopment, watershed protection and implementation of planning and development practices to further the goals espoused by the planning profession. Attendance in these courses is measured in the thousands, all of which are offered for free and are interactive and broadly available.
I have had the opportunity to participate as a student and obtain information that supports my continuing education requirement as a state licensed professional geoscientist and learn practices that are beneficial to me professionally as a practicing professional planner. This course work however is without value to me as an AICP member based on existing APA/AICP criteria.
Should some group want to make a significant profit (e.g. 15-20% more than the cost to develop and provide the training) then there may be justification for a surcharge for accreditation by APA/AICP, otherwise there is no justification for the fees currently being assessed by the APA/AICP organization. |
| 365 | Anonymous | |
| 366 | Christopher Izzo | |
| 367 | Anonymous | |
| 368 | Daniel Tasman AICP | I work for an agency that is reluctant to find any continuing education, much less professional certification, so program cost is critical. No doubt like some others, my salary is _far_ below the national average for a planner with my experience and title/responsibilities, and I can't afford to pay for continuing education or national conferences out of my own pocket. There is a very real possibility that many planners, myself included, will lose their AICP certification; not due to an ethics violation, but because they just can't afford it. |
| 369 | Heath Eddy | |
| 370 | Zachary Dahl | The CM program in it's current state is unfair, overpriced and a blatant attempt to ensure high attendance at conventions and other APA functions. I am seriously questioning the value of being AICP in light of the annual fees I have been paying and the fact that I will have to pay even more in training courses that I may be forced to take. I look at other professions, such as engineers and architects, and see a much lower annual fee and much higher value for being certified. If AICP does not quickly reform it's CM system and due/fee structure, it will soon become an irrelevant certification system that will see drastic drops in its membership. |
| 371 | Emily Breidenbach | |
| 372 | Frank W. Rives | I am an APA member but not an AICP member. One concern I have with the current CM program is whether in the future I will be able to maintain my AICP status. I live in a rural county in the West. The current system of certification maintenance would make it difficult for me to find courses or programs, given my relative isolation geographically and financially from the large population centers. I will not seek AICP certification until I am assured CM is possible for me and other planners in my situation. APA poorly serves planners in the West and rural areas and this is just another example. |
| 373 | Nicholas Z Ratkai | I am not AICP and will wait until this program is fixed before I take the exam. |
| 374 | Jeffrey J. Tumidanski | I feel I am stuck in the same boat. Add to the lack of classes offered in my immediate area, and that being a specialist in Transportation I can't go to my manager and expect him to approve traininig in zoning or wastewater management unless I can show some definitive link to how this will improve things for our partner agencies.
Hardly anything offered for certification meets my rather difficult (at times) schedule.
Add to this that Rutgers offers free transportation training for professionals (courtesy of large DOT grants) but I have yet to find a class that gives certification credits. |
| 375 | Matthew Torpey | Because of lack of local CM opportunities and my inability to attend the national conference, I will not support AICP. In fact, I am letting my APA membership lapse as of this month. |
| 376 | Matthew Torpey | Because of lack of local CM opportunities and my inability to attend the national conference, I will not support AICP. In fact, I am letting my APA membership lapse as of this month. |
| 377 | Jill Fisher | AICP needs to recognize there are specializations within the field of planning (mine is historic preservation). This requires that meaningful continuing education and certification must make credits available to other non-profit groups that offer specialized knowledge that APA does not at a much lower and more reasonable rate. When I first saw the program outlined, my first thought was that it had to do more with fundraising than legitimate professional development. It seems to be playing out this way. |
| 378 | Anonymous | It is my hope that APA takes heed of the above recommendations combined with the knowledge that planners and their related professional cousins earn far less than the average licensed professional. |
| 379 | Richard J Cermak, AICP | |
| 380 | David Fields | |
| 381 | Erika Johnson | I think that many of these issues should have been anticipated and resolved before the CM program was steamrolled out in time for the 2007 conference. |
| 382 | Malayne DeMars | |
| 383 | John Donovan, AICP | |
| 384 | Nancy T Skinner, AICP | I heartly concur with this petition. I might have other comments/suggestions to make, but I absolutely agree that the AICP CM program as currently operated is untenable to many current AICP members. I believe that the development of the current ACIP CM requirement was not well thought out. I also believe that it is too onerous and expensive and will ultimately led to a decline in ACIP participation, unless something is changed. |
| 385 | Anonymous | We need an on-going certification program, however, I agree with the petitions overall assessment.
In addition I would suggest the credit program has started out to large (32 credits). The goal should be quality continuing education and not quantity. I have heard many planners note that many non-certified presentation would be more informative, but that they must go to “certified” events, even if they are of marginal value to their specific field.
Lets scale back, re-evaluate, and build a quality based program. |
| 386 | Anonymous | We need an on-going certification program, however, I agree with the writer’s assessment.
In addition I would suggest that the credit program has started out to large (32 credits). The goal should be quality continuing education and not quantity. I have heard many planners note that many non-certified presentation would be more informative, but that they must go to “certified” events, even if they are of marginal value to their specific field.
Lets scale back, re-evaluate, and build a quality based program. |
| 387 | Anonymous | |
| 388 | Andrew Overbeck | |
| 389 | MICHAEL STEPNER | the program must be inexpensive and not overly complex. the goal is to encourage continuing education. the AIA program is a good model to build on. the aicp program unfortunatel appears to be more of a revenue generator than an educational facilitator. |
| 390 | David N. Kinsey, FAICP | |
| 391 | Anonymous | |
| 392 | Douglas Robbins | Why can't we look to other groups like AIA? Do we have to reinvent the frickin wheel? Come on guys. |
| 393 | Dan Schultz | Stop all the mass mailings and you would save the money needed for this program. In addition, you could save a tree. |
| 394 | Gregory Yanito, AICP | |
| 395 | Maja Hadlock | |
| 396 | Dan Gifford AICP | I cannot afford to attend every national conference. It looks like that is the only way to earn enough hours out here in the middle of the Midwest.
I am going to try to hang on through the first reporting period in hope that something changes. If not, I will be dropping both memberships. |
| 397 | Walter E. Reeves, Jr., AICP | While I believe continuing education is an excellent idea in theory the current AICP policy is onerous at best and a blatant money grab at worst. As currently constituted it will drive AICP membership down, or turn the credential into a "revolving door" of practitioners passing the test, getting the two-year extension, then dropping the credential, probably corresponding to the time they seek their first director/manager/administrator level positions. Once achieving that level the credential provides little or no cachet as AICP/APA have done nothing to make it necessary to practice. |
| 398 | Faith Okuma | I also am considering dropping my AICP accreditation this year. I live on Hawaii. The local chapter of APA provides wonderful great local educational event . Unfortunately, the lenght of time and the cost of fees to achieve CM accreditation hours is not practical and leaves local planner with few options on gaining certified hours. I hope that APA / AICP will move to an AIA type formate for certifiying courses before it loses many more planners. |
| 399 | Anonymous | I believe more research should be done to assess the impacts across the board. |
| 400 | Diane L. Zahm, AICP | University faculty are put in a very unfair position, in addition to the constraints imposed on all AICP members. I am not allowed to count the considerable time I spend keeping up on advances in planning so I can bring the newest and best to my university students as part of a course. This work is not considered relevant to certification maintenance and does not count; however if I want to pay a fee, sit in a room and let someone "feed" me the same information, then it's valid. |