July 6, 2011

 

Governance and Administration

 

• Thomas R. Tavella, FASLA, has been elected the 2011-2012 ASLA president-elect.  The Tellers Committee convened at ASLA headquarters last Friday to review and verify election results.  Congratulations to Tom, and many thanks to Richard Hawks, FASLA, for his willingness to serve and an excellent campaign.  The constitutional amendments on ASLA/LAF cross-representation were approved by a wide margin.

 

• The SITES™ Executive Committee met last week at ASLA Headquarters.  A significant accomplishment at the meeting was the formal signing of the Letter of Intent between SITES and the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI).  The Letter of Intent will allow discussions to proceed concerning the possibility of having GBCI provide project certification and professional credentialing for SITES.  The SITES ExCom also met with the leadership of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) and its founding organizations (American Society of Civil Engineers, American Council of Engineering Companies, and American Public Works Association) and discussed use of SITES content in the ISI envision rating system and ongoing collaboration.  A follow-up meeting between EVP Nancy Somerville, Hon. ASLA, and the ISI Executive Director is planned. 

 

• The ASLA green roof was used as a backdrop for an interview with the (Washington, D.C.) District Department of the Environment’s director. The focus of the interview was a survey by The Economist Intelligence Unit, commissioned by Siemens, that named D.C. one of the greenest major cities in the U.S.  Although a center of the federal government, D.C. “was recognized as a leader in its local environmental governance.”  In all, 27 cities in the U.S. and Canada are featured. Complete results were made available on June 30.

 

Government Affairs

 

• The Department of Transportation (DOT) will open up a third round of a grant program aimed at fostering environmentally friendly transportation options.  DOT is making $527 million available for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) III program for states, cities, and planning groups for projects that include bus and pedestrian infrastructure, roads, freight rail, and intermodal transit centers. According to DOT, the previous two rounds of the program netted more than 2,500 applications requesting more than $79 billion. Applications for TIGER III will be due this fall.  Interested applicants may attend a half-day seminar and webcast providing information and guidance on the TIGER application process on July 18th from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EDT. Stay tuned for more online resources and updates for interested applicants.

 

• Thanks to your efforts, the “June Advocacy Jamboree” was a huge success!  Over 500 ASLA Advocates sent nearly 1,500 messages to state and federal elected officials on Complete Streets, green infrastructure, and more.  In addition, ASLA shared information on federal grant opportunities.  Kudos to the New York chapters for their work in helping to pass Complete Streets bills in their state House and Senate!  Summer is a great time to reach out to elected officials on issues that matter to landscape architects. If you or your chapter would like to activate the Advocacy Network please contact Kevin O’Hara.

 

• Recently, Senator Jeff Bingaman (NM), along with four other original sponsors, introduced
  S. 1265, a bill to guarantee full funding of $900 million per year for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The LWCF has provided funding to acquire new federal recreation lands and grants to state and local governments. Senator Bingaman reminded supporters and skeptics alike that this bill would not increase government spending, as the LWCF is funded through an account derived from a percentage of offshore oil and gas royalties.  Sponsors of S.1265 are Democratic Senators Bingaman, Max Baucus (MT), Jon Tester (MT), Mark Udall (CO) and Ron Wyden (OR). During the last Congress a similar measure, S. 2747, enjoyed bi-partisan support with 25 cosponsors.  However, the 111^th Congress ended without the measure being passed into law.

 

• ASLA has accepted an invitation to serve as a consulting party in the evaluation of the proposed changes to the President’s Park South.  The U.S. Secret Service is studying “whether to change the status of the closure from temporary to permanent and to integrate durable, more aesthetic security elements in place of the temporary security elements identified above. The National Park Service will be deciding on landscape and infrastructure changes to the area that respond to the proposed street closures and re-design of security elements to preserve the iconic historic landscape that is the White House and its environs.”  These changes must undergo a review and analysis under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act to ensure that the security changes preserve the historical and cultural significance of the iconic landscape. . 

 

• The Political Economy Research Institute released a study this month that analyzed the employment that results from the design and construction of pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.  The report, “Pedestrian and Bicycle Infrastructure:  A National Study of Employ... found that $1 million spent in bicycle infrastructure creates 11.4 jobs in the state where the project is located.  Pedestrian-only projects created 10 jobs per $1 million spent, and multi-use trails 9.6 jobs per $1 million.

 

Publishing and Resource Development

 

• The 2011 Fellows-elect were announced yesterday to the general membership and the media. The 2011 Council of Fellows Investiture Dinner will be held on Tuesday, November 1, to honor the 40 new members. Ticket prices go up on August 6, so make your purchases for this event before then and save.

 

• Advertising contracts for Landscape Architecture Magazine (LAM) now total 83 percent of the annual budget goal.  The July issue has been posted online for free access and an email went out on Friday to more than 50,000 contacts.  Analysis is underway of newsstand sales and opportunities for increasing the number of retail outlets where LAM is available.   

 

• Registration for the annual meeting and EXPO continues to climb and now totals nearly 900, which is significantly ahead of the same number of weeks prior to the 2009 and 2010 meetings.  A revenue comparison year over year also shows this figure to be far ahead of the previous two years.  A reminder about registration and ticket prices increasing on August 6 ran in LAND this week. EXPO and sponsorship sales have grown to 81 percent of the annual budget goal.  Over 100 first-time exhibitors have signed up for the EXPO so far this year, promising many new products for attendees to discover.

 

Public Relations and Communications

 

• Recruitment of landscape architects in the public awareness campaign ramped up, with a teaser email from thedate@asla.org, an appeal from President Jonathan Mueller, FASLA,  and aggressive Facebook outreach – doubling the total number of members to more than 500 followers to the Facebook campaign page: www.facebook.com/theunderstory. In addition, new outreach materials are now available to post in your office to engage other landscape architects in an upcoming campaign.  Be sure to use the materials and “like” the campaign on Facebook.

 

• Staff conducted two more webinars with the 48 public relations representatives, covering recruitment strategies and traditional media outreach. Their lessons and tips are applicable to all, so feel free to watch all three webinar recordings. 

 

• For the first half of 2011 through June 20, pageviews on alsa.org are down 2.9 percent to 2.4 million. Visits, however, are up 6.5 percent to 781,253, and unique visitors are 318,877, just slightly ahead of the same period last year.  A big traffic driver to the site are the professional awards, which in the past have been released in April. This year, they will be released in the fall.

 

Member and Chapter Services

 

• As of today, the current ASLA membership is 15,606 (see details):

 

MEMBER CATEGORY	TOTAL
Affiliate	638
Associate	1,518
Corporate	184
Full Member	9,568
Full-Fellow	654
Honorary	126
International	189
Student Affiliate	431
Student	2,298

 

 

• Over 40 new and rejoin member applications, and 334 renewal invoices were processed between June 22-July 5. In addition, the department processed requests for one dues waiver, one Emeritus, and one Limited status; 72 Free Associate applications; and, created 76 company profiles for Firm Finder.

 

• Other completed tasks included: February 2011 non-renewals (105 professional memberships) were called regarding their renewal (four renewed) and the updating of all LATIS products for online sale. Database maintenance included assigning gender to 118 records and cleaning the Key Contacts list (75 records were updated).

 

• Membership correspondence included: the Welcome to ASLA emails to the 29 new members processed and the Thank You for Renewing email to the 307 renewing members processed the week of June 13 – June 26; underpayment memo to three members; ASLA membership cards to 40 members; 24 ASLA new member certificates; and, ASLA membership information to five prospective members. In addition, the “Renew Your Membership” reminder emails were sent to the following open renewal periods with valid emails: 141 members with an April 30 expiration date (90-day grace period concludes on July 29) and 615 members with a July 31 expiration date.  The “Staying Connected” email was sent to the 204 March 2011 non-renewals.

 

Professional Practice

 

• There were 11,538 members in the Professional Practice Networks as of June 30.  This represents an increase of six members since May 31, and 495 members since January 1.

 

• Preparations for last week’s SITES meetings were a major focus, along with preparation of SITES-related education program submissions for the New Partners for Smart Growth and AIA annual meetings. 

 

• The Landscape Architecture Technical Information Series (LATIS) report “Forum on Therapeutic Garden Design” has been updated and reformatted.  The new 2^nd edition has been sent to 20 Professional Practice Network members, who are asked to report the number of hours it takes to read the LATIS. The average reading hours will correspond to the number of professional development hours that will be assigned to the exam associated with the LATIS. This process is consistent with the guidelines of the Landscape Architecture Continuing Education Series (LA CES).

 

Deadlines and Reminders

• The Leadership Calendar can be accessed on the web.

 

Chapters are encouraged to submit their LAND Chapter Chat items (e.g., events, partnerships, accolades, etc.) to ASLA Public Relations Coordinator Michael Cowden.