Members' 25-Year Reminiscences

Karen Lapidakis Melby, AICP

Senior Planner, Sparks, Nevada

When I joined APA, I was a graduate student. At this point, I was not even sure what a planner did. I got into planning by circumstances. I was filling out applications for graduate school, explaining my anticipated concentration in Anthropology. The graduate school suggested that I check out the field of planning since it sounded more like my career path. So here I was in my first class in planning graduate school and the professor hands out applications to join the American Planning Association. A few weeks later, I got a certificate honoring me as a Charter member of APA. I was not even sure what that meant; I had to look up the word in the dictionary.

I graduated with my Master's in Urban and Regional Planning during one of the worst recessions in history. Most places would not even take my phone call let alone a resume — there were no jobs. I packed all my belongings in my Subaru station wagon and headed west to Nevada from Pennsylvania.

It took a month and a room full of rejections before I landed my first job in planning. This job lasted three months before I got laid off. Again, I was lucky and landed a job within a few weeks. I got a position as a planning technician doing drafting in a county planning department, but it was a start to my long career as a planner in the State of Nevada. Twenty-three years later, I am still planning in Nevada. In those 23 years, I have seen Nevada grow exponentially from less than a million people to nearly three million people, with roads and homes in places we never dreamed there would or could be. My career has spanned working for two rural counties, three cities, and a planning consultant, all in northern Nevada.

I got on the Chapter Board for APA shortly after arriving in Nevada. I served for eight years in various positions. Our Chapter has grown up over these years, maturing into an organization of professionals. During our early meetings, it was questionable if we were professionals. At our annual chapter meeting in a rural town in Nevada, it turned into a food fight. The rolls were the favorite ammunition.

As a perspective, when APA was born, planners were using batch cards on a mainframe. To do calculations, we used a slide rule unless you special-ordered a calculator from Texas Instruments that did statistics for about $100. (Now you can get such a calculator for about $10 at a bargain store). We drew up our plans with a "T" square using French curves, a pointer, Magic markers, parallel bars, and Leroy lettering guides. Our reports were typed on a typewriter, and you were lucky if it was electric. Also, if you needed copies, you used carbon paper.