| SPEAKERS
AND PANELISTS INCLUDE:
PUBLIC SECTOR:
Cecelia Estolano - Executive
Director of the LA CRA, Alumni, UCLA Department of Urban
Planning
Gail Goldberg -City of Los Angeles Planning
Director
Ed Reyes, Los Angeles Councilman, District 1,
Alumni, UCLA Department of Urban Planning
Roger Moliere, Director of Real Estate Development,
MTA
Diego Cardoso, Executive Officer, Transportation
and Development Implementation, Metro,
Alumni,
UCLA Department of Urban Planning
PRIVATE
SECTOR:
John Given, Principal, CIM Group
Tony Salazar, Principal, McCormack Baron Salazar
Katherine Perez, Vice President of Development,
Forest City Enterprises, Alumni Council Member, UCLA Department
of Urban Planning
Bob Rodino, Ph.D., Principal, Great Urban Places,
Alumni Council Member, UCLA Department of Urban Planning
Stanley R. Hoffman, President, Stanley R.
Hoffman Associates, Inc., Alumni Council Member, UCLA Department
of Urban Planning
Bill Witte, President, The Related Companies
of California
NON-PROFIT
SECTOR:
Ann Sewill, Community Foundation Land Trust,
Alumni, UCLA Department of Urban Planning
Paul Zimmerman, Executive Director,
Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing
ACADEMIA:
Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Ph.D., Chair,
UCLA Dept. of Urban Planning
Neal Richman, Director, UCLA Center for Neighborhood
Knowledge,
Alumni Council Member, UCLA Department of Urban Planning
[back to top]
BIOS:
Diego
Cardoso, Executive Officer, Transportation and Development
Implementation, Metro, Alumni,
UCLA Department of Urban Planning
Mr. Cardoso has 18 years of experience in land use planning, housing/redevelopment
and transportation planning. Diego's professional career includes
work with Non-profit housing agency, the City of Los Angeles City
Council and the MTA. Mr. Cardoso attended graduate school at the
University of Stockholm, Sweden and Institute of Political Science,
Paris.
Mr. Cardoso is an Urban Planner graduate from UCLA. From 1993-1998.
Mr. Cardoso
served in the City of Los Angeles Housing Authority Board of Commissioners.
Recently Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appointed Mr. Cardoso to the
City of Los Angeles Planning Commission Mr. Cardoso currently
works for MTA as Executive Officer of the Transportation Planning
and Development Department For the last three years Diego has
directed the planning and design of the Eastside Light Rail project
and the drafting and implementation of the first Pedestrian Program
for the MTA Transportation Long Range Plan. Mr. Cardoso is also
an experienced urban photographer with several publications. Most
recently, one of his photographs was selected for a permanent
exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of National History in Washington
DC. Mr. Cardoso is also a painter and woodworker, and several
of his works combine these media. A significant portion of the
acrylics illustrates urban environments in Boyle Heights and Downtown
Los Angeles. His most recent work also includes a series of metal
pieces. His work can be viewed at: www.cardosoart.com.
[back to top]
Cecelia Estolano - Executive Director
of the LA CRA, Alumni, UCLA Department of Urban Planning
Cecilia V. Estolano joined the Community Redevelopment Agency
of the City of Los Angeles as CEO on May 8, 2006.
Prior to that she was counsel in the Los Angeles office of Gibson,
Dunn & Crutcher. Her practice focused on land use, zoning, redevelopment,
municipal law, the California Environmental Quality Act and environmental
permitting and regulatory issues.
Ms. Estolano is a graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law and holds
an M.A. in Urban Planning from UCLA. She received her undergraduate
degree in Social Studies with honors from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges.
[back to top]
John
Given, Principal, CIM Group
Mr. Given,
through his role as principal, investment and development, is
responsible for the structuring and planning of development activities
of CIM Group and is a member of the companies Investment and Asset
Management Committees. For more than 25 years, Given has worked
on building partnerships between public development agencies and
private real estate development companies engaged in the public
sector.
Given's previous experience includes city planner for Greeley,
Colo., and he served the Community Redevelopment Agency and the
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority.
Given received
a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Planning from the University
of Washington and a Masters degree in Regional Planning from Harvard
University. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute,
the International Council of Shopping Centers and the American
Institute of Certified Planners. He has also served as a founding
board member of the Business Improvement District for the Hollywood
Entertainment District Property Owners’ Association and chairman
of the City of Santa Monica Housing Commission.
[back to top]
Gail Goldberg -City of Los Angeles Planning
Director
S. Gail Goldberg was appointed Director of Los Angeles City Planning
Department in February 2006. As director, Ms. Goldberg is responsible
for organizing and directing the policies and planning activities
of the City’s Planning Department. Those activities include the
development, maintenance and implementation of all elements of
the City’s General Plan as well as a range of other special zoning
plans. Additional responsibilities include plan implementation
measures, subdivisions and other controls.
Prior to joining the Los Angeles Planning Department, Ms Goldberg
worked for 17 years in the Planning Department of the City of
San Diego, the last 5 years serving as Planning Director. Her
responsibilities included all long range city-wide and community
planning. Other responsibilities included Facilities Financing,
Transportation Planning, the Multiple Species Conservation Program
(MSCP), and special projects. She oversaw a planning process to
update the city’s 20-year-old General Plan. The initial result
was the adoption of a strategic framework plan that articulated
a 20-year vision for the City and a long-term strategy for achieving
that vision known as the “City of Villages” plan.
Ms. Goldberg is a native Californian and holds a degree in Urban
Studies and Planning from the University of California San Diego.
She is an Urban Land Institute Trustee, as well as Past Chair
of the San Diego/Tijuana ULI District Council; Immediate Past
President of the San Diego Chapter of the Lambda Alpha Honorary
Land Economics Society; a member of the American Institute of
Certified Planners; and a member of the California Planners Roundtable.
Ms. Goldberg has also served on the Statewide Coordinating Committee
for the Urban Land Institute’s California Smart Growth Initiative;
as a board member of the American Planning Association; and as
co-chair of the State American Planning Association 2002 Conference.
[back to top]
Stanley R. Hoffman, President, Stanley
R. Hoffman Associates, Inc., Alumni Council Member, UCLA Department
of Urban Planning
Stan Hoffman is Principal of Stanley R. Hoffman Associates, Inc.
He established his firm in 1981 and focuses on fiscal and financial
analysis, economic and demographic studies, land use projections,
real estate market research and computerbased financial modeling.
Stan has worked on projects ranging from wind turbine energy in
the San Gorgonio Pass to Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in
Western Riverside County for the Western Riverside County of Governments
(WRCOG).
He is an alumnus of UCLA, earning his BA in Engineering in 1966
and was a member of the first urban planning class (GSAUP) in
1969, and received his MA degree in Urban Planning in 1972. He
has been an active member of the UCLA urban planning alumni organization
and has been involved in organizing and participating in all the
Leon Hoffman Urban Technology conferences since 1995.
He is a current member of California Planning Roundtable (CPR),
a group of 32 planners statewide who focus on important planning
and environmental issues facing California. He is also past president
and former member of the California Planning Foundation (CPF)
a statewide foundation affiliated with the APA that raises funds
for scholarships for students in graduate planning programs in
California. In 2005, Stan received the Distinguished Leadership,
Professional Planner Award from the California Chapter of the
American Planning Association.
[back to top]
Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Ph.D., Chair,
UCLA Dept. of Urban Planning
Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris is Professor and Chair of the UCLA
Department of Urban Planning. She holds BA and MA degrees in Architecture
and Planning and a PhD in Planning with specialization in Urban
Design.
Her research focuses on the public environment of the city, its
physical representation, aesthetics, meaning and impact on residents.
She teaches courses in urban design, public space, and history
of the American city. Her research includes documentation of the
socio-physical changes that have occurred in the public realm
as a result of privatization, revitalization of inner city areas,
cultural determinants of design, environmental attributes of transit
crime and their implications for design and policy, and transit
oriented development.
She has served as a consultant to the Transportation Research
Board, Federal Highway Administration, Roger Wood Johnson Foundation,
Southern California Association of Governments, South Bay Cities
Council of Government, Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative, the
Greek government, and many municipal governments on issues of
urban design, open space development, land use and transportation.
She has published over seventy journal articles and book chapters
and is the co-author of the book Urban Design Downtown: Poetics
and Politics of Form (UC Press: 1998), and is the co-editor of
the book Jobs and Economic Development in Minority Communities
(Temple University Press: 2006).
Roger Moliere, Director of Real Estate
Development, MTA
Roger Moliere, after finishing law school in the mid-west, engaged
in the private practice of law with concentration in real estate
development, leveraged leasing and bond transactions. He later
joined a large financial institution as secretary to the Board
of Directors and head of real estate before moving to the West
coast to serve as corporate counsel to a number of real estate
development entities.
In 1996, he joined the County of Los Angeles Department of Beaches
and Harbors and for over 9 years led negotiations for the second-generation
development of Countyowned Marina del Rey, completing over $1.5
billion in new leasehold public/private joint development projects,
including shopping centers, hotels, multi family residential and
marine-related projects, as well as overseeing leasing/development
along the 31 miles of coastline managed by the County.
Mr. Moliere’s current position with Metro involves public/private
development of Metroowned property along the Los Angeles region’s
transportation corridors and at larger Metro-owned sites at transportation
and operations terminals. A number of mixed-use and commercial
projects have already been completed at these venues, with construction
of a new full city block mixed-use (hotel, retail, residential)
project having broken ground in February of 2007 at Metro’s Hollywood
and Vine location. More than 30 further projects are in various
stages of project solicitation and/or planning, as expansion of
Metro’s rail and bus operations continues.
[back to top]
Katherine Perez, Vice President of
Development, Forest City Enterprises, Alumni Council Member, UCLA
Department of Urban Planning
Katherine Aguilar Perez is the Vice President of Development for
Forest City Development. Her focus is on transit oriented development
and development in emerging markets. She is a professional transportation
planner with experience in national transportation policy, regional
planning and local government. She was recently recognized as
an “Outstanding Leader” in Business Life Magazine.
Before coming to Forest City, Ms. Perez was the co-founder and
Executive Director of the Transportation and Land Use Collaborative
(TLUC) of Southern California. A nationally recognized non-profit
that promotes greater civic involvement in planning and development.
While at TLUC, Ms. Perez created the Latino New Urbanism project
which has promoted more culturally sensitive development and planning
practices. In addition, she helped secure state grant funds to
conduct two transit oriented development community plans located
in minority rich communities. Each plan required the customized
outreach strategies to gain active participation of Latino and
African American residents in the process.
Previously, she served as Deputy to the Mayor for Pasadena Mayor
William Bogaard where she worked on transportation, planning and
Latino constituent’s issues. With a professional background in
transportation, she was able to work with community on many developments
including the Gold Line Light Rail Extension, a 13 mile project
from Los Angeles to Pasadena.
Ms. Perez currently serves on the Board of Directors of CORO,
a national leadership training organization. She also serves as
a member of the national Urban Land Institute Inner City Council
and on the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles District Council.
Ms. Perez recently joined the board of AltaMed Health Services
which has provided health care and human services to the underserved,
multi-ethnic communities of Los Angeles County. She brings a unique
perspective about the relationship between the built environment
and development and its impacts upon the health of communities
and its residents. And, Ms. Perez sits as an advisor on the UCLA
Alumni Council of Student Affairs.
In April 2007, Ms. Perez was appointed to the Workforce Investment
Board for the City of Los Angeles by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa. Ms. Perez is a frequent speaker at national, state
and local conferences on the issues pertaining to land use, development,
transit oriented development, transportation, community planning,
and sustainability.
She received her Masters Degree in Urban Planning and Transportation
from UCLA and her Bachelors Degree in Political Science from CalState
Northridge. Ms. Perez is married to Rick Cole, City Manager of
Ventura and former Mayor of Pasadena, and is mother of Diego,
Lucia, and Antonia.
[back to top]
Ed Reyes, Los Angeles Councilman, District
1, Alumni, UCLA Department of Urban Planning
Ed P. Reyes has served on the Los Angeles City Council since April
2001. A native of Northeast Los Angeles, Reyes represents many
of the neighborhoods he grew up in including Lincoln Heights and
Cypress Park.
Reyes was recently re-elected to serve a second Council term,
capturing 75 percent of the votes. He continues his commitment
to bringing government closer to Council District One neighborhoods,
which he affectionately refers to as the “Original Suburbs.” Within
days of taking office, Councilmember Reyes organized town hall
meetings district-wide for residents to voice concerns about safety,
affordable housing, education and recreational opportunities.
This effort has become a hallmark of his administration and has
resulted in projects that have reduced crime, improved schools,
created more jobs and expanded green space.
In response to safety concerns, Councilmember Reyes launched a
lead abatement program to protect children from the dangers of
lead-based paint found in pre-1979 housing. He spearheaded the
$160 million Northeast Interceptor Sewer tunnel to prevent sewage
overflow and protect the health of families and children.
Shortly after William Bratton became the City's top cop, Councilmember
Reyes brought the LAPD Police Chief to MacArthur Park to witness
firsthand the drug deals, gang activity and shootings there. That
tour resulted in a targeted LAPD effort – comprised of surveillance
cameras and boosted patrols -- that transformed one of the City's
most blighted parks into a popular spot for family picnics and
festivals. Crime at MacArthur Park has dropped 20 percent because
of the crime-fighting project, which is gaining national attention.
Councilmember Reyes, who is vice-chair of the Council's Public
Safety Committee, has also secured funds for neighborhood clean-ups,
gang prevention programs and safe route school maps.
As Chair of the City Council's Planning and Land Use Management
committee, Councilmember Reyes has expanded the City's affordable
housing stock. He has pushed for Adaptive Reuse, or the conversion
of abandoned buildings into housing, and Residential and Accessory
Services, which permits residential development in commercial
zones. As chair of the Metro Gold Line Authority the Councilmember
also helped ensure that the $750 million Gold Line project be
completed on time and on budget.
Councilmember Reyes has opened four new libraries in Cypress Park,
Chinatown, Highland Park and Pico Union and is developing more
than 80 acres of new park space to his district. As chair of the
Los Angeles River Ad Hoc Committee, he has brought a renewed focus
to the once-ignored L. A. River and secured more than $3 million
to create a neighborhood-driven plan that will include enhancing
water quality, environmental protection, increasing open space
and improving flood control.
Councilmember Reyes attended UCLA where he earned a bachelor's
degree in English and a master's degree from UCLA's Graduate School
of Architecture and Urban Planning.
Councilmember Ed P. Reyes lives in the northeast Los Angeles community
of Mount Washington with his wife of nineteen years, Martha, and
his four children Natalie, Eddie Jr., Adan and Angel.
[back to top]
Neal Richman, Director, UCLA Center for
Neighborhood Knowledge,
Alumni Council
Member, UCLA Department of Urban Planning
Dr. Richman
has twenty years of experience in affordable housing management
and development, contributing to the rehabilitation/construction
of more than one thousand dwelling units in Southern California.
Most of these projects were designed as scattered-site, infill
developments with the aim of strengthening the fabric of distressed
neighborhoods. His development work has relied on expanding resident-controlled
housing and broadening opportunities for ownership by lower income
households. His development research clients have included organizations
in Europe, Africa and the former Soviet Union.
Currently, as the associate director of UCLA Advanced Policy Institute,
he has been exploring the use of new information and communication
technologies to support grassroots community development activities.
Funding for this technology outreach and training program is currently
provided by FannieMae Foundation, Microsoft Foundation, and the
National Telecommunications Information Agency. The Neighborhood
Knowledge Los Angeles (NKLA) internet site, which provides access
to a searchable database that for the first time anywhere provides
information on property tax delinquencies, code violations, and
other city and country data, can be accessed at http://nkla.sppsr.ucla.edu.
In partnership with the Southern California Association of Governments,
Dr. Richman has also been conducting training programs for government
officials, and representatives of private industry on how new
technologies will reshape urban development and finance.
Since 1991, he has been teaching in the UCLA Department of Urban
Planning with courses on such topics as real estate finance and
development, planning theory, non-profit management and professional
practice. He received a doctoral degree for his cross-national
research on housing provision from the Department of Development
and Planning at the University of Aalborg in Denmark where he
sometimes teaches a module in planning theory. He received his
Master's Degree in Urban Planning from UCLA in 1982.
[back to top]
Bob Rodino, Ph.D., Principal, Great Urban
Places, Alumni Council Member, UCLA Department of Urban Planning
Bob Rodino
is owner and founder of Great Urban Places and Rodino Associates.
Great Urban Places is a development company focused on urban in-fill
multi-family residential, retail and mixed use developments, with
a 22 townhome project currently under construction in the City
of San Gabriel. Rodino Associates provides consulting services
to cities and developers dealing with urban revitalization issues.
His career in urban real estate started as the creator and director
of a project that rehabilitated 400 tenement housing units in
the South Bronx. He has been President and Vice President of major
real estate investment, development and management companies.
During this time he acquired over $400 million of investment properties,
developed over $150 million and directed the management of 12
community shopping centers. Bob also provides expert witness research
and testimony services on matters related to urban development.
He is a lecturer in real estate development and finance with the
UCLA Department of Urban planning and holds a California real
estate broker’s license. Bob received his Ph.D. in urban planning
from UCLA in 2003.
[back to top]
Tony Salazar, Principal, McCormack
Baron Salazar
Mr. Salazar’s entire professional career has been dedicated to rebuilding
inner-city communities. He has used his skills and expertise to
bring a sense of belonging and hope for the future to forgotten
neighborhoods. Currently, his primary responsibilities include managing
the day to day operations of McCormack Baron Salazar’s Western Division.
This involves new business development; coordinating the planning
process; acting as liaison with joint venture partners; interfacing
with government officials and local community groups; and, coordinating
the final design (architecture) process including the integration
of construction, marketing and management disciplines. Mr. Salazar
specializes in developing large-scale urban projects in distressed
communities that involve mixed-use (housing and retail), mixed-income,
blended financing and various housing types (rental and for-sale).
The financing for his projects involve a combination of conventional
debt, Foundation grants and/or PRI loans, pension funds and/or government
sources (CDBG, HOPE VI, Low Income Housing Tax Credit, HOME, Bonds
and Tax Increment Financing.
[back to top]
Ann
Sewill, Community Foundation Land Trust, Alumni, UCLA Department
of Urban Planning
Ann Sewill oversees all aspects of strategic planning, management
and administration of the Community Foundation Land Trust (CFLT)
activities. Ms. Sewill has 28 years of experience in the area
of affordable housing finance and development, serving in leadership
positions in both the public and private nonprofit sectors.
Prior to joining CFLT, she was Vice President of Enterprise Community
Partners; Assistant General Manager of the Los Angeles Housing
Department; Executive Director of the Los Angeles Community Design
Center; and Housing Director for the City of Santa Monica. She
also worked with the Los Angeles offices of the California Department
of Housing and Community Development and the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
Ms. Sewill received a Master of Arts from UCLA’s School of Architecture
and Urban Planning and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
- Public Administration from University of California, Davis.
She chairs the Affordable Housing Advisory Council of the Federal
Home Loan Bank of San Francisco and is the immediate past chair
of the Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing. In
2005, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles
branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
[back to top]
Bill
Witte, President, The Related Companies of California
William A. Witte is
President of Related of California. Mr. Witte, who joined Related
in 1989, oversees all of their multifamily development activity
in California. From 1983 to 1988, Mr. Witte was Director of the
Mayor's Office of Housing Economic Development. From 1988 to 1989,
he was Deputy Mayor for Housing and Neighborhoods and acting Director
of the Housing Authority, City of San Francisco. Mr. Witte graduated
from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts degree
and a Masters degree in City Planning.
[back to top]
Paul
Zimmerman , Executive Director, Southern California Association
of NonProfit Housing
Paul is a native of Los Angeles. Motivated by a life-long interest
in social change, economic equity and the built environment, he
has worked in the nonprofit sector for most of his professional
career. From 1988 to 2006, Paul was the executive director of
the West Hollywood Community Housing Corporation, developing and
managing subsidized senior, disabled and family apartments. In
April 2006, he assumed the responsibilities of executive director
of the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing (SCANPH).
Paul has served as SCANPH’s Board president and on numerous
boards of directors and working groups concerned with affordable
housing and urban planning issues. |
