An architect friend called my attention to the commentary in arcCA 02.2, “Citizen Architects,” noting the absence of Mike Stepner’s profile, because everyone in San Diego is alleged to have too many irons in the fire. (Or maybe we just spend too much time at the beach!) Giving Mike his just desserts comes down to a Herculean task—so much to say and so little time— but, if you have the appetite, I can satisfy it. The thing is, for a fellow with so many feathers in his hat, Mike Stepner, FAIA, is a very humble sort without an ego. He tends to give credit to everyone else and can’t imagine an occasion when he and his accomplishments would be profiled. But all his admirers can, even if they don’t stop to make it happen.
In that vast store of knowledge that architects accumulate and accumulate and accumulate, you were instilled with the notion that a perpetual motion machine is an impossibility. Let me lighten your information load and introduce you to Mike, an architect perpetually on the go. I should know; I’ve been trying to keep up with him for more than 13 years.
As president of the AIA San Diego Chapter, Mike and the Chapter are in the midst of planning to play host to the AIA National Convention 2003. He has been an active member of the AIA for almost thirty years. He polished a diamond-in-the-rough for San Diegans when he initiated the AIA’s annual Orchids and Onions awards ceremony, a recognition of the best and the worst and a welcome excuse for cheering and levity.
After receiving his degree from the University of Illinois and wearing a U.S. Navy uniform for a few years, he embarked on his career path with Crosstown Associates (C.F. Murphy Associates/Skidmore Owings and Merrill) in Chicago. Then, it was on to bigger and better things in San Diego and more than thirty years of leading, managing, and participating in comprehensive planning programs and the development of public policy. He served the city as Assistant Planning Director, Acting Planning Director, City Architect (the first in the city‘s history), Assistant to the City Manager and Special Projects Coordinator/ Urban Policy Advisor, and City Urban Design Coordinator. He is internationally recognized for his leadership and innovation in community planning, public participation, visioning, and, particularly, for his reliable follow-through to implementation.
In 1997, Mike accepted the position of Dean of the NewSchool of Architecture & Design, where he had taught and lectured on urban planning and design for more than ten years. His leadership at NewSchool resulted in six-year accreditation for the school in 2001. He resigned this position last year to join the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation as Director of Land Use and Housing, but he has not forsaken academia and remains an adjunct faculty member of the school. In addition, he has taught and lectured at Woodbury University and other colleges and universities throughout the United States and appears to have no intention of eliminating those activities from his agenda.
San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, photo courtesy of Centre City Development Corporation.If you took one of Mike’s classes or heard the commencement address he gave at NewSchool in May, you know that in “the world according to Mike” architects have to be involved in their communities. Mike practices what he preaches and his is a very tough act to follow. He is known as the “Father of Gaslamp Quarter” for his vision, perseverance, leadership, teamwork, and political skill in preserving a 16-1/2 block historic district that was facing demolition in the early ‘80s. Today, it stands as a feather in the city‘s cap, a source of pride, and a delightful attraction for both tourists and residents. As Charles Reilly, president of Charles Reilly Company, a marketing/strategic planning/communications group, has said, “It is difficult to look at our downtown today or any of a dozen neighborhoods without seeing and savoring the fingerprints that Michael Stepner has left on the cityscape…. San Diego is fortunate to have among us such a visionary—a committed and warm educator, a leader who today is still helping us to see where we can go, and what we can become.” Roger Showley, author and columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune, has identified Mike as “Mr. Planning in San Diego” and says that not a month goes by that he does not figure into the debate on the direction of the region‘s future.
Mike‘s hallmark is all over Uptown District, too. This is a beautiful and successful mixed-use development that was given life after a Sears Roebuck property was abandoned and the acreage turned over to the city. It has received accolades galore and is recognized as a prime example of how to raise the Phoenix from its ashes. Prior to leaving city employment, Mike spent several years working with the community to shepherd the redevelopment of the former Naval Training Center, a work-in-progress now known as Liberty Station. Among other things, he is now lending his expertise toward improving Balboa Park and working with another group to redevelop an area known as The Bronze Triangle.
Mike has received more awards than I can count or remember, but here are a few to make the point: Distinguished Leadership Award from the American Planning Association California Chapter in 1991; Leadership in Planning Award from the Newschool of Architecture in 1992; the Gaslamp Pioneer Award from the San Diego Gaslamp Quarter Foundation in 1993; and the Michael J. Stepner Community Design Award, from the AIA San Diego Chapter in 1997. (Actually, it was the AIASD’s Community Design Award, but, after it was given to Mike in 1997, the name was changed and the honor is given annually to a deserving individual within the planning and design professions.)
When Mike isn’t directing or teaching or meeting or planning, he’s probably writing. His articles and publications make up another very long list, but this will give you a general idea of the depth: for San Diego Architect, “Bureaucracy or Not?”; “Citizen Architects”; “Neo Downtown Urbanism.” For the AIA San Diego Chapter, “Urban Design San Diego” (co-author). For The Planning Journal, “San Diego at a Crossroads—A Framework for the Future—Growth Management—It’s back, as we knew it would be”; “The Ten Things San Diego Needs to Consider for the Future.” For San Diego Planning Journal, “The City Architect of San Diego”; “Planning Under Pressure” (co-author). For Los Angeles Times, “It’s Time to Link Balboa Park to San Diego Bay” (commentary). For Hidden Leaves Magazine, Ilan Lael Foundation, “The Balboa Park Connection.” For Newschool of Architecture, “Borders, Not Bridges, The Mexican Connection.”
Mike is a member of the California Architecture Board and is listed in Who’s Who in America.
How’s that for perpetual motion?
Author Rosado (Rosie) Wiseman, CPS, a Certified Professional Secretary, has been administrative assistant to Michael Stepner for 13+ years, having accepted that challenge when both were employed by the city of San Diego.
Originally published 4th quarter 2002, in arcCA 02.4, “New Material.”
