Center for Community Planning

Tom Schulze, FAICP - Tom has been a City Planner in the NJ/NY area for almost 40 years. Recently retired as Senior Director for Capital Planning at NJ TRANSIT, he now directs the Community Planning Assistance Program for the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association, and works part-time for the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. He is also the Executive Director of the Center for Community Planning, a non-profit community planning group providing planning services to communities throughout New Jersey. Prior to working for NJ TRANSIT, he was the Executive Director of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) in New York City.  He has also worked for local and regional governments, including the City of New York, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and NJ TRANSIT, where he was lead planner for the creation of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Line.  He has worked for private consulting firms, and consulted for local community development corporations and non-profit housing development groups in and around Newark, New Jersey. He has taught at NYU, St. Johns University, Hunter College and Rutgers University Bloustein School. He has a Bachelors Degree from Rutgers University, and a Master’s Degree from Hunter College in New York City.

Vivian Baker, AICP - Vivian has over 30 years of experience in strategic and integrated transportation corridor planning, adaptive reuse, redevelopment, community engagement, and Transit Oriented Development (TOD). She currently directs Intermodal and Interagency Coordination for NJ Transit, where she determines the strategic direction for prioritizing intermodal and multimodal, programmatic planning activities with other transportation providers and elected and appointed officials to develop state-of-the-art approaches to demonstrate the benefits of New Jersey’s multiple billion dollar capital investment program. She previously served as the Assistant Director for the agency’s award-winning Transit Friendly Planning, Land Use and Development Program, and is also NJ Transit’s representative on a variety of cabinet-level, interagency teams. She is NJ Transit’s lead on Together North Jersey, a multi-disciplinary collaborative of counties, municipalities, the NJTPA, state agencies, not-for-profits and Rutgers University that delivered a regional plan for sustainable and equitable TOD in northern New Jersey in 2015. She continues to represent NJ Transit’s interest in Together North Jersey 2.0, moving recommendations into action across the target region. She is a founding member of New Jersey’s Transit Village Task Force, a consortium of government agencies that support the state’s Transit Village Initiative, and also serves as a Board Member for Downtown New Jersey. Vivian holds a Bachelor of Science in international environmental planning and a post-graduate certification in environmental planning, both from Rutgers University-Cook College.

Leonard Robbins, AICP - Lenny is the Director of Real Estate Project Management at the Urban League of Essex County, leading their property acquisition, rehabilitation and neighborhood redevelopment work in the Fairmount Heights Neighborhood of Newark.  He has experience as a private developer, contractor and construction manager in New Jersey and Brooklyn.  Prior to joining the Urban League Mr. Robbins served as the Director of Training and Technical Assistance for the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey.  Mr. Robbins has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Syracuse University, a Diploma in Construction Management from New York University, Certification from the National Development Council as a Housing Development Finance Professional and is a Certified Rehabilitation Specialist.