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A publication of the American Planning Association, California Chapter, Northern Section

Creating great communities for all

Who’s where

By Haeseo (Hazel) Choi

Larissa Alchin is now an Assistant Planner with M-Group. Before joining the firm, she worked for the City of Sausalito as an assistant planner. Alchin also had been an intern at the City of Hercules and Sonoma State University’s Center for Sustainable Communities. She has a BA in environmental studies with a concentration in Planning from Sonoma State University.

 

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Sarah Allen, AICPhas been promoted to Assistant Planning Director at the City of Lafayette, where she has worked since 2007. She leads the General Plan and Housing Element Update for the city. Whether processing a subdivision, taking a multifamily residential project through the entitlement process, presenting a policy to City Council, or mentoring junior staff, Allen’s passion for planning comes through. She has a master of urban planning and real estate development from the University of Southern California and a BA in sociology from CSU Sacramento. In her free time, you can expect to see her globetrotting or backpacking. She recently completed the John Muir Trail in California’s Sierra Nevada.

Kelly Beggs has been promoted to Principal Planner and Planning Manager at Good City Company. She has more than 10 years experience in land use planning, environmental planning, GIS analysis, and public outreach. Beggs previously worked as an associate planner at Urban Planning Partners and as an environmental planner at Panorama Environmental. She holds a master’s in city and regional planning from Rutgers and a BA in English from Davidson College (North Carolina). 

 

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Ethan Bin­der­nagel, AICPhas ac­cepted the role of As­sis­tant City Man­ager / Com­munity De­velop­ment Director with the City of Pleasant Hill, ef­fec­tive August 16. He pre­vious­ly worked for the City of Wal­nut Creek for more than 13 years, most re­cent­ly as plan­ning manager. Binder­nagel was an aide to then-US Rep. Bernie Sanders (2000-2003) and a community planner in Greenbelt, MD, 2005-2006. He holds a master’s in community planning from the University of Maryland–College Park, a BA in public policy from the Uni­ver­sity of Chicago, and studied public policy analysis during a year at the Università di Bologna. Bindernagel lives in Lafayette with his wife and two children.  

Mike Camp­bell, AICP, is now at MIG in their San Jose Office as Di­­rec­tor of Envi­ron­mental Analy­sis. He has more than 30 years’ ex­­pe­ri­ence in local land use plan­ning, en­vi­ron­mental con­sult­ing, and storm­water manage­ment with public agencies and private industry. Camp­bell previously was a project manager at David J. Powers & Associates and a senior planner and stormwater compliance manager at HMH Engineers before that (2004-2016). He also had been the director of current planning with RBF Consulting for five years and planner and urban runoff coordinator at the City of San Jose for 11 years. He holds a BS in natural resource planning and interpretation from Humboldt State University. 

 Emily Carroll is now As­sis­tant Plan­ner with the City of Pleas­anton. She pre­viously worked for the City of Rich­mond, most re­cent­ly as Plan­ner II, 2018-2021, and she was a plan­ning tech­nician with the City of Lafayette before that. Carroll holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Smith College. When not in the office, you can find her trail running in Redwood Regional Park. She is the North Bay Regional Activity Coordinator (RAC) for APA California – Northern Section.

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Karen Chap­ple, Pro­fessor Emerita of City and Regional Plan­ning at UC Berkeley, has been named the new Director of the School of Cities at the Uni­versity of Toronto, where she is Pro­fessor of Geography and Plan­ning. She joined the Department of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley in 2001 and was most recently professor and chair of the department. Chapple remains a Faculty Research Affiliate at Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation. She holds a PhD from UC Berkeley, a master of science in city and regional planning from the Pratt Institute, and a bachelor of arts in urban studies (Phi Beta Kappa) from Columbia University. Her great-grandfather Henry Chapple graduated from the University of Toronto’s Trinity College with a medical degree in the mid-1880s. 

Emilio Fla­menco, AICP Can­di­date, is an As­sis­tant Plan­ner at Good City Company, and is currently contracted to the City of San Carlos Planning Division. Prior to joining Good City, Flamenco worked for Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco).  He has interned with the City of Brisbane, San Mateo County Transit District, and San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. Flamenco has a master’s in urban planning from Columbia University-GSAPP and a BA in history from UC Berkeley. In his free time, he enjoys long-distance running, backpacking, and traveling. 

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Jonathan Fox has been promoted to As­so­ci­ate Plan­ner at the City of Lafay­ette. Before join­ing the city in 2019, he was a plan­ning tech­nician at San Benito County. Fox holds a BA in urban studies and plan­ning from CSU Northridge. 

 

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Adam Garcia is now an Assistant Project Manager at David J. Powers & As­so­ci­ates. Pre­viously, he worked for M-Group as an environ­mental plan­ner, and before that he was plan­ning and re­search manager at Greenbelt Alliance for more than nine years and helped develop the Bay Area Greenprint. Garcia holds an MA in urban planning from UCLA and a BS in environmental studies from UC Santa Barbara.

 

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Jessica Gon­zalez has been pro­mo­ted to an As­sociate Planner at the City of Walnut Creek where she has worked since 2019 as an assistant planner. Gonzalez had also worked for the City of Concord’s Planning Division for four years and was a project manager at AEI Consultants (Walnut Creek) prior to her planning career. She holds a BS in environmental policy analysis and planning from UC Davis. 

 

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Ellen Green­berg, FAICP, an il­lus­tri­ous mul­ti­dis­ci­plin­ary plan­ner, retired July 15 as Cal­trans Deputy Director for Sus­tain­ability, a post she held in Sacra­mento for nearly five years. Green­berg was ap­pointed to her Cal­trans position in November 2016 following six years at Arup, where she held leadership roles in the firm’s San Francisco and London offices. As Greenberg ends full-time work, she looks forward to using her time and mental energy very differently. She holds an MCP, an MA in civil engineering and transportation, and a BA in geography (highest honors), all from UC Berkeley. Greenberg has written for Northern News. She is the author of Brexit: A planner’s view from London, July-August 2016, http://bit.ly/2a2SI9V, and John Blayney, FAICP, 1927-2013: An appreciation, October 2013, http://bit.ly/BlayneyNN, page 4.

Nicholas Hamilton has joined Good City Company as a Senior Planner. He most recently was a con­sul­tant to es­tab­lish multiple collaborative initiatives for the revitalization of disinvested communities across the U.S. at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2018-2021. Hamilton also had directed the legacy cities partnership and urban policy work of the American Assembly at Columbia University, 2012-2018. He holds a master’s in international affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a BA in architecture from UC Berkeley. He serves on the board of the Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization.

Andrew Hatt, who has been University Liaison to the APA Cali­fornia-North­ern Sec­tion Board for the past year, has left to at­tend grad­u­ate school at the Uni­versity of Washing­ton. He was a sustain­ability plan­ner at Rincon Consultants, where he coordinated with project managers on climate action plan measures, development, and public outreach efforts. Hatt holds a BA in environmental studies from the University of Michigan. 

 

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Izanie LoveNed, a Com­mu­ni­ty En­gage­ment In­tern with the San Francisco Plan­ning Depart­ment and a former North­ern Sec­tion Student Rep­resenta­tive from San Jose State University, has returned to the North­ern Section Board as Uni­versity Liaison. In 2019, she was a Research Fellow with APA’s Planning in the Black Com­munity Division, which ad­dresses plan­ning issues of significance to the Black com­munity. LoveNed holds a master’s in urban and regional planning from San Jose State University, a BS in community and regional development from UC Davis, and an AS in mathematics and science from City College of San Francisco. She lives in Antioch, where she enjoys crafting using her Cricut machine in her free time. 

Linda Meckel, who had been a senior planner with the San Francisco County Trans­porta­tion Authority, is now Senior Trans­porta­tion Plan­ner with WSP. She also worked at Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Tran­sit, 2011-2017, most re­cently as a senior plan­ner. Meckel holds a master’s in city plan­ning from the University of Pennsyl­vania and a BA in anthro­pology and biology from the University of Washington. Her many hob­bies include Squaw Valley Ski Patrol, Oakland Women’s Water Polo, and jewelry and other crafts. During the pandemic, she sewed many masks, including a transportation themed mask that was featured by a San Francisco Chronicle reporter on Twitter. 

Jane Riley, AICP, has been pro­moted from Princi­pal Plan­ner at 4LEAF, Inc., to Di­rector of Hous­ing Policy. Before join­ing 4LEAF, she worked for Sonoma County for 18 years, most recently as compre­hensive plan­ning manager. Riley holds a master’s in interdisciplinary studies (housing and community development) and a BA in environmental studies and planning, both from Sonoma State University. 

 

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Ralph Robinson is now an As­sis­tant Plan­ner with Good City Com­pany, work­ing prin­cipally in Atherton and Portola Valley. He pre­viously worked as a re­search as­so­ci­ate at the Mineta Trans­porta­tion Institute and as a project co­ordinator at Comm­UniverCity. He has a master’s in urban plan­ning, with a focus in trans­porta­tion and land use plan­ning, from San Jose State University and a bachelor’s in geography from the University of Richmond (Virginia). 

 

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Anne Wong, AICP, is now As­so­ci­ate Plan­ner with the City of San Le­andro. She previously worked for the City of Wal­nut Creek and the City of Dublin. Wong has master’s and bachelor’s in urban and regional plan­ning from UCLA. 

 

 

 

 

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