Members' 25-Year Reminiscences

Elliot Weinstein, AICP

Warren, New Jersey

I started as an architectural student at the University of Cincinnati in 1961. After one year, I switched to the Community Planning program and was in the first class to graduate with a B.S. in C.P. in 1966. It was a work study program, which I highly recommend.

After graduation I worked for the Nassau County Planning Commission as an Assistant Planner for two years while going to NYU Graduate School in the evening to obtain an MPA with a major in Planning and Development.

In 1968, I took a job as project planner with the engineering firm Metcalf & Eddy working on a 701 Program for Northeast Dutchess County, New York. After two years, I accepted a position as Director of City Planning in Plainfield, New Jersey. There I worked with a great staff for 15 years. We worked on model cities programming, five-year capital improvement projects, and all aspects of physical planning. It was a dynamic time to work in the planning profession.

I left public service in 1984, opened a planning and zoning consulting office, and did adjunct teaching at New Jersey Institute of Technology in land use planning. Being influenced by a book entitled The Tenement Landlord, by G. Sternlieb of Rutgers University, I purchased several tenement and garden apartment properties, which I developed and managed until selling out in 2002.

The planning profession has been very good to me, with many, many fond memories and experiences.

I wish APA many more years of continued success.