Best compliments.....

[SW MI Planner]

With all of this negativity of planning flying around, let's talk about something positive. What are the best compliments that you have gotten in your career?

I've gotten the occasional "good job", and "at a girl" from the City Manager and a few councilpeople, but the best one I've had was from our City Engineer. Fred is a gruff type of guy. WAY not into BS or politics. He comes across negative quite a lot. Isn't too impressed with planners - he's the type of person that thinks it's BS that a municipality can tell a property owner what they can/cannot do on their property. Despite all of this, we get a long with each other, and work well together.

Well, we have been working on a linear bike trail and we (Fred, the consultant, and myself) were discussing a challenge of figuring out how we can get pedestrians across US-12, which is five lanes and rather busy, and there are no stop lights in that area of town. I won't get into specifics, but I made a suggestion, and Fred just looked at me like I was crazy. I said "uhhh....what?". And he said "Are you SURE your not an engineer?". My suggestion was valid, and that's what we will end up doing.

Ok, so maybe it was only a compliment in an off-handed way - it wasn't really meant to reflect positively on planners, but I was thrilled! To me, it means that he is starting to recognize that planners are not one dimensional / one track kind of people. Plus, he is the type to NEVER pat you on the back.

Ok, there has gotta be some more out there.....

 

[donk]

My best compliment was getting a standing ovation, before the presentation, for a secondary / strategic plan we did for the local business group.

They have even been able to implement some of the items. its funny seeing them now, they use the plan we did for justifying eveything they do.

Too bad that was 2 years ago, since then I have received little validation of what we can do for the community.

 

[NHPlanner]

I wasn't there, but my boss relayed one to me from last week...

He was doing our budget presentation to the Town Council, and the bulk of our increase is for some summer interns. One of the councilors (after 2 straight presentations of cuts) spoke to the rest of the council and said something to the effect of "Tim was an intern for us back in 1996, and look how things turned out with him. I have no problem with the intern line."

 

[Planderella]

I'm still waiting for one............

 

[Chet]

About 4 months ago a Plan Commissioner complimented Prudence and bturk for raising the level of professionalism of the planning dept. (this was in comparison to our predecessors)

 

[Cardinal]

About 4 months ago a Plan Commissioner complimented Prudence and bturk for raising the level of professionalism of the planning dept. (this was in comparison to our predecessors)

So he has not visited Cyburbia yet?

 

[Zoning Goddess]

Last year, a County commissioner told my boss, and my boss's boss, what a great job I had done briefing him on a complex case. Things were back to normal the next week when I finished another complicated zoning case in public hearing, and during the subsequent break, the same commissioner asked my boss "Which idiot wrote that report"?

 

[Jeff]

I wrote a plan that won the Pennsylvania Planning Association's "Outstanding Plan of the Year" award for 2000.

The Project Manager, who did absolutely nothing for the project (my boss at the time told me to just pretend she wasn't even invloved with the project and pretend I was the Proj Mgr (he knew she was worthless too)), took all of the credit when it won, she was subsequently given the County Commissioner's "Award for Excellence" for her job well done.

I wasn't even invited to go to the PPA Banquet to get the award, and when the application for the APA Awards was being prepared, my name was "mysteriously" erased from the application before it went to the secretaries for typing.

But on a better note, at my new job I was just congratulated for saving a project over $500,000 by redoing a grading plan, and making the earthwork balance. Dirt is very expensive in New Hampshire.

 

[NHPlanner]

Dirt is very expensive in New Hampshire.

Yes, it is.

 

[jestes]

I just returned from a meeting in Jackson where I was asked to present a position paper/policy statement on the Phase II Storm Water Regulations to a committee of the Mississippi Association of Conservation Districts. After my presentation the committee voted unanimously to adopt the policy as written. They also asked me to return next month to present the same information to their Board of Directors and then again in January to moderate a round table discussion at their annual meeting.

I consider all of the above to be a high complement. Now if they will go beyond adopting the policy and actually implement it........

 

[Bucky alum]

I made it through the last round of employee cuts...

I found that it was very rewarding. Only critique was I was to honest with headquarters, gave out too much info...