Planners Day at the Statehouse

Do Ohio laws impact the work that planners do? It is a rhetorical question, but of course they do! Is the law-making process or the results of it, too hard to keep track of or just too political for you to care? Maybe that is a harder question to answer yes or no.

The Ohio APA Legislative Committee has been working over the past few years to build relationships with state legislators and their staff. Ohio APA does not have its own lobbyist, so we have also been working to partner with agencies that have similar interests. The Greater Ohio Policy Center and the Ohio Municipal League are two agencies with which we have strong overlap. We are working to building relationships with Ohio Homebuilders and Ohio Realtors.

On September 28, the Legislative Committee held its first ever Planner’s Day At The State House. Because this year’s conference was in Columbus, it made it convenient to have the inaugural event as part of the conference in the form of a mobile workshop.

Executive Director Christine Dersi Davis, AICP and several committee members worked to implement the event. There were 25 attendees. The event included a tour of the statehouse, lunch inside the statehouse and an overview of what the Legislative Committee has been working on.

We were delighted to have House Minority Leader Allison Russo join us to share a few words with the attendees. Leader Russo represents House District 7, in the Upper Arlington area of Columbus. Allison holds a doctoral degree from The George Washington University and a master’s degree from University of Alabama at Birmingham. Prior to being elected Minority Leader, she served as the Ranking Member on the Health Committee. She currently is the Ranking Member of the Rules and Reference Committee. She has received several state and national awards for her work on mental health, early childhood, aging and disability issues. While we do not have pending legislation that directly involves Leader Russo, we believe that this event was a symbolic first step in encouraging our entire chapter membership to get more involved.

As a practicing planner, you can reach out to your elected official and offer your expertise to them. You might be surprised at the reception! If at first you do not succeed, keep trying!