Members' 25-Year Reminiscences

Neno J. Spagna, AICP

Naples, Florida

I consider myself fortunate to be numbered among the 25-year members of APA. Actually, my membership predates APA, and as my memory serves me, I first became a member of the American Institute of Planners in the late fifties prior to its combining with ASPO to become the APA.

I have been an active planner since 1947, spending my entire career (except two years in California) in Florida. I still work six hours every day as a planner for the City of Naples, Florida, and manage to teach, on an as needed basis, at International College in Naples.

I recollect the early days of planning in Florida during the '50s and '60s as times of extreme difficulty in selling the need and worth of planning. Planners were viewed as communists; the more sympathetic objectors to planners referred to them as socialists. Oh, those were the days. The tenure of a planner on a new job was about six months or to the next election. Thank God, things have changed for the better.

Planning programs in the universities were just beginning to make their debut and most of the practicing planners came into the profession with a background in geography and landscape architecture.

The good part of being a planner back then was meeting and associating with all the true planning pioneers, who never lost faith in the need for planning and paved the way for its acceptance and universal use throughout the world.

It is amazing how many of the names of these early Florida planners appear on the 25-year anniversary list. Good for them! Here's looking forward to many more years. I think it is safe to say, Florida has accepted planning as the keystone to growth management. Yes, planning in Florida is here to stay.