New York city’ planner is being honored for leading the largest rezoning effort in the city’s history. Amanda Burden has been given the Marietta Tree Award for Public Service by the Citizens Committee for New York City. Next week, Travel + Leisure magazine plans to name her the Design Champion for 2008. She says one of the keys to her success is the ability to think visually and listen carefully, something she learned growing up in the deaf community. She’s fluent in sign language because both of her parents are deaf. Doctors believed she was deaf at birth but a teacher later discovered Burden had some residual hearing. She says, "I don't like to say deaf because I don't consider it a handicap in any way. For me, it's a benefit.” Burden also has a background in theater, starring in the road production of Children of a Lesser God.
