Welcome to another episode of the Better Planners Podcast! This time Mary is joined by four other planners who also happen to be our podcast volunteers! They bring stories and advice from all across Oregon with various backgrounds and expertise. In particular, we focus on the good, bad, ugly, and funny parts of working in urban and rural planning. We also provide some good advice for new planners or folks in planning grad school or people who are looking into planning as a career. We hope this episode brings fun, relevant, and informative stories to new and old planners alike. 

Article mentioned by Alexa as part of her funny story: https://vtdigger.org/2019/06/23/westfords-middle-finger-there-to-stay/

 Enjoy! 

Want to be a part of the podcast? Send in an email!
The team behind the upcoming Better Planners podcast wants to hear from you about the real life issues you handle as a planner. What are the honest, gritty, wicked problems you find yourself managing?

To share your experiences, email [email protected]
Your message might end up in one of the upcoming podcast episodes. You can be as anonymous or as identifiable as you want.

Where to find us:
Website: https://oregon.planning.org/community/betterplannerspodcast/
Instagram: @betterplanners

In this episode, Mary and Shelley interview planner and artist: Miguel Vazquez! He is a FAICP planner who likes to mix the worlds of art and planning together. We discuss how to think like an artist to become a better planner and why that is important. We also discuss various projects he's been involved in where art was used to assist in planning activities.

Miguel is also heavily involved in the Latinos in Planning Division of the American Planning Association (APA) and the California Chapter of the APA.

In the episode, Miguel discusses an activity around dancing and movement as part of that year's annual conference for California APA. You can watch the outcome of that here: https://youtu.be/IogrB6cyGfc?si=yW0p-thoMY25PVPR

Want to be a part of the podcast? Send in an email!
The team behind the upcoming Better Planners podcast wants to hear from you about the real life issues you handle as a planner. What are the honest, gritty, wicked problems you find yourself managing?

To share your experiences, email [email protected]
Your message might end up in one of the upcoming podcast episodes. You can be as anonymous or as identifiable as you want.

Where to find us:
Website: https://oregon.planning.org/community/betterplannerspodcast/
Instagram: @betterplanners

The Better Planners Podcast is back for 2025! In this episode, Shelley and Mary interview James Rojas and John Kamp to talk about their new book, Dream Play Build: Hands On Community Engagement for Enduring Places and Spaces.

They talk extensively on their process with using hands-on community engagement methods to create an equal playing field for everyone to get involved in community planning work.

Find their book at Island Press.
Find James Rojas at PlaceIt.org.
Find John Kamp at Prairieform.com. 

Want to be a part of the podcast? Send in an email!
The team behind the upcoming Better Planners podcast wants to hear from you about the real life issues you handle as a planner. What are the honest, gritty, wicked problems you find yourself managing?

To share your experiences, email [email protected]
Your message might end up in one of the upcoming podcast episodes. You can be as anonymous or as identifiable as you want.

Where to find us:
Website: https://oregon.planning.org/community/betterplannerspodcast/
Instagram: @betterplanners

Welcome to another installment of a pocket park episode! In this one, Mary and Shelley discuss all things high speed rail, including the new federal funding to study a potential high speed rail line in the Pacific Northwest. What are the exciting opportunities, but also what are the pitfalls? Is it worth it to be able to go from Portland to Seattle in 1 hour, but it'll take years to fund? What about the existing Amtrak line? We talk all about it in this episode.

What is a pocket park episode? It's a shorter episode on highly relevant, planning related topics that are happening in the public realm in real time.

Episode Resources:

• WSDOT Ultra High Speed Rail Study https://wsdot.wa.gov/construction-planning/search-studies/ultra-high-speed-rail-study
• President Biden Announces $8.2 Billion in New Grants for High-Speed Rail and Pipeline of Projects Nationwide https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/president-biden-announces-82-billion-new-grants-high-speed-rail-and-pipeline-projects
• FY22 Corridor Identification and Development Program Selections https://railroads.dot.gov/elibrary/fy22-CID-program-selections
• High-speed rail projects get a $6B infusion of federal infrastructure money https://www.opb.org/article/2023/12/08/high-speed-rail-projects-get-a-6-billion-infusion-of-federal-infrastructure-money/
• Lawmakers introduce bill that would require ultra-high-speed rail project to extend to Eugene https://www.opb.org/article/2023/02/25/cascadia-bullet-train-pacific-northwest-transportation-portland-seattle-eugene-politics/
• Rail Advocates Still Pushing For Northwest Bullet Train Despite Anti-tax Mood https://www.opb.org/news/article/bullet-train-portland-seattle-vancouver-car-tab/
• Cascadia bullet train stuck at the station as feds dole out big bucks for rail https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2023/12/08/cascadia-bullet-train-stuck-at-the-station-as-feds-dole-out-big-bucks-for-rail/.
• What I learned from taking a train across the US (VOX) [Video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=von_IMi97-w

Want to be a part of the podcast? Send in an email!
The team behind the upcoming Better Planners podcast wants to hear from you about the real life issues you handle as a planner. What are the honest, gritty, wicked problems you find yourself managing?

To share your experiences, email [email protected]
Your message might end up in one of the upcoming podcast episodes. You can be as anonymous or as identifiable as you want.

Where to find us:
Website: https://oregon.planning.org/community/betterplannerspodcast/
Instagram: @betterplanners

Shelley and Mary have a second pocket park episode for you all! This one is a shorter episode on a very interesting topic: Offshore Wind Energy. Is there going to be one along the Oregon coast? We talk about how this federal project got to this point, where it is today, and the controversies surrounding the project. Will there be environmental issues, public engagement concerns, tribal nations engagement, and more. 

What is a pocket park episode? It's a shorter episode on highly relevant, planning related topics that are happening in the public realm in real time. 

Want to be a part of the podcast? Send in an email!
The team behind the upcoming Better Planners podcast wants to hear from you about the real life issues you handle as a planner. What are the honest, gritty, wicked problems you find yourself managing?

To share your experiences, email [email protected]
Your message might end up in one of the upcoming podcast episodes. You can be as anonymous or as identifiable as you want.

Where to find us:
Website: https://oregon.planning.org/community/betterplannerspodcast/
Instagram: @betterplanners

We have a longer episode for you all this time, but it's a good one! In this episode we discuss the state of housing: how did we get here, what does the future hold, and we interview a few interesting projects happening in Oregon as they try find innovative ways to provide housing in their communities. 

Want to be a part of the podcast? Send in an email!
The team behind the upcoming Better Planners podcast wants to hear from you about the real life issues you handle as a planner. What are the honest, gritty, wicked problems you find yourself managing?

To share your experiences, email [email protected]
Your message might end up in one of the upcoming podcast episodes. You can be as anonymous or as identifiable as you want.

Where to find us:
Website: https://oregon.planning.org/community/betterplannerspodcast/
Instagram: @betterplanners

Shelley, Mary, and special guest Kristy Kilbourne, are back with a great episode discussing various issues that come up in the Planning Department or Planning Office and those workplace dynamics at play. 

This episode actually came from a listener's voicemail who was seeking advice on issues in their own workplace. We discuss topics around poor leadership, the slow movement of government or bureaucracy, finding resources, and burnout. 

To learn more about Kristy and her work, go to yourplanningcareer.com or her instagram at @passionateplanning. 

Want to be a part of the podcast? Send in an email!
The team behind the upcoming Better Planners podcast wants to hear from you about the real life issues you handle as a planner. What are the honest, gritty, wicked problems you find yourself managing?

To share your experiences, email [email protected]
Your message might end up in one of the upcoming podcast episodes. You can be as anonymous or as identifiable as you want.

Where to find us:
Website: https://oregon.planning.org/community/betterplannerspodcast/
Instagram: @betterplanners

Shelley and Mary are back for another fascinating discussion around urban planning and neurodiversity. In this episode they interview Dr. Gala Korniyenko, who received her PhD at The Ohio State University. Her research explores the nexus of urban design, neuroscience, and the planning process. More specifically, she focuses on urban planning and autism. 

Sources:

• "Autism Planning and Design Guidelines 1.0", APA PAS Memo: https://www.planning.org/publications/document/9153208/
• "When Every Day is Sensory Overload", Planning Magazine: https://www.planning.org/planning/2018/oct/sensoryoverload/
• "Learn, Play, Thrive—Design Guidelines and Toolkit of Therapeutic Gardens for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder", 2020 ASLA Student Awards: https://www.asla.org/2020studentawards/1647.html
• "ASPECTT* The Design Index", Architecture for Autism: https://www.autism.archi
• "When We Design for Autism, We Design for Everyone", Metropolis: https://metropolismag.com/viewpoints/when-we-design-for-autism-we-design-for-everyone/ 
• "Neurodiversity in Planning - Autism Friendly Environments", Royal Town Planning Institute (webinar): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO3X1P4zYmc
• "Hiring Neurodiverse People to Enhance Planning Teams", APA Planning Blog: https://www.planning.org/blog/9226561/hiring-neurodiverse-people-to-enhance-planning-teams/
• Air Travel and Autism: https://thearc.org/our-initiatives/travel/
• "Weston Recognized as an Autism Friendly Community", Western, Florida: https://www.westonfl.org/Home/Components/News/News/1003/18?arch=1&npage=2

Want to be a part of the podcast? Send in an email!
The team behind the upcoming Better Planners podcast wants to hear from you about the real life issues you handle as a planner. What are the honest, gritty, wicked problems you find yourself managing?

To share your experiences, email [email protected]
Your message might end up in one of the upcoming podcast episodes. You can be as anonymous or as identifiable as you want.

Where to find us:
Website: https://oregon.planning.org/community/betterplannerspodcast/
Instagram: @betterplanners

Welcome to the first Pocket Park Episode! These episodes are shorter and focus on current events, stories, studies, etc, that are happening right now in the world. 

In this episode, Shelley and Mary, focus on a case in Brookings, Oregon that revolves around the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). Will it have lasting impacts on religious institutions and land use across the United States? How can planners avoid situations where they get in hot water around the RLUIPA? What would constitute a time when the RLUIPA would be relevant? We get into it all! 

Sources from the episode:

• "Justice Department Files Statement of Interest in Religious Land Use Case Involving Oregon Church That Feeds People Who are Homeless or Hungry", US Dept. of Justice, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-files-statement-interest-religious-land-use-case-involving-oregon-church
• "The Quiet Religious-Freedom Fight that is Remaking America" The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/rluipa/543504/
• "Update on the Justice Department's Enforcement of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act: 2010-2016", US Dept. of Justice, https://www.justice.gov/d9/07-22-16_rluipa_report.pdf
• "RLUIPA Compliance Tips" APA Planning Magazine, https://www.planning.org/login/?next=/planning/2018/jan/legallessons/
• "What Constitutes a 'Substantial Burden' under RLUIPA?" Zoning Practice, https://www.planning.org/publications/document/9006935/

Want to be a part of the podcast? Send in an email!
The team behind the upcoming Better Planners podcast wants to hear from you about the real life issues you handle as a planner. What are the honest, gritty, wicked problems you find yourself managing?

To share your experiences, email [email protected]
Your message might end up in one of the upcoming podcast episodes. You can be as anonymous or as identifiable as you want.

Where to find us:
Website: https://oregon.planning.org/community/betterplannerspodcast/
Instagram: @betterplanners

Welcome back to Better Planners podcast in 2024! We're starting the year off with a big one on state housing policy in Oregon, what to expect for the 2024 legislative session, and how planners and other allied professions can participate in the public process at the state level. We talk a lot about variances, urban growth boundaries, infrastructure funding, and much more!

While this episode does focus a lot on Oregon and our state policies, we hope this inspires you to become more engaged in your state legislative sessions and policies. Thanks for listening!

Want to be a part of the podcast? Send in an email!
The team behind the upcoming Better Planners podcast wants to hear from you about the real life issues you handle as a planner. What are the honest, gritty, wicked problems you find yourself managing?

To share your experiences, email [email protected]
Your message might end up in one of the upcoming podcast episodes. You can be as anonymous or as identifiable as you want.

Where to find us:
Website: https://oregon.planning.org/community/betterplannerspodcast/
Instagram: @betterplanners