Should the ASLA focus on employment for LAs?

That is not ASLA’s job nor it shouldn’t be.  If we as a profession will loose more credibility if we are approaching the government and demanding that they provide us jobs.  If we can not do our work to a level that is enticing for developers/builders to come to us with their project, and they believe that another profession can do our work better than we can then we don’t deserve to have a seat at the table.  It is not ASLA’s or the Government’s fault if we don’t know how to market ourselves, that is a you problem and no amount of effort demanding a jobs is going to change that you problem.

Ummmm, the ASLA does in deed have lobbyists, and does indeed lobby! They even have a Lobby Day where they ask LAs from around the country to come to DC and meet with their representatives to promote LA.

Many states also lobby their State Houses (I know mine does) and have events. Its not as easy as just saying “we’re going to do this now.” Remember, other professions have lobbies and deep pockets, namely PEs and Architects, both are fighitng for the same thing ASLA is. Many municipalites also require just what you ask, that projects of certain sizes have an LA stamp drawings. What you are seeking is more on a local level than even national or state.

The GSA, which controls federal buildings, has LAs on staff, and they do hire outside LA firms for their projects. The Army Corp, and the Dept.of the Navy, which both design bases, also have staff LAs and Planners to design new bases and redesign old ones ( I know a few of them). Many federal projects also require that an LA firm is on the design team at the time of bid submission.

I would also stay away from ever using the “green” moniker, as in some circles, it has VERY negative connotations (private developers), let alone us as a profession being accused of greenwashing. It also pigeon-holes much of the rest of the industry outside of the specialty of ‘greening.’ Not all of us do ecological restorations, you know. We also canno rely on the EPA, which will likely have its budget gutted very soon. 

I agree with all.  Too bad about the politicization of the word “green”.  I have seen this too.

George, I feel like I have to apologize to a degree, there have been a number of comments I have read both here and other places about who the government needs to get their act together and work for ‘us’, meaning they should make it so ‘we’ can do our job.  After reading some additional comments on this thread I don’t think your intention was to say that they government needs to give us work so our profession can survive.  That idea is what I thought your original comment was making reference to.  So I’m sorry for that.  

I to believe that we need to stand up for ourselves, show people that we bring valuable tools to the table/discussion and that we shouldn’t be overlooked.  Personally I think our profession lacks a sense of value because we have a difficult time quantifying what value our work brings to a project.  Landscape Architecture melds both design and ecological science but our education system (at least in my experience) caters heavily to teaching design and falls short on teaching quantifiable science.

I worked for the City here…as the sustainability intern a few years and agree with the notion that the term “green” much like “sustainability” has negative connotations. Lets not forget that ANYONE can claim to be “green” or “sustainable”…much like we see the meaning of the term “organic” mean different things to someone interested in purchasing from their local farmer’s market vs. Walmart. I don’t think those terms help us define what we do at all. I know a lot of non professionals that use those terms to market their services and successfully at that. I think some of our challenge as a profession is that fact that what we do can be done and piecemealed out to others. Consider that many municipalities are interested in Safe Routes to school and trail systems…but in our neck of the woods they don’t hire LAs for that, they do it in house with their engineers. If an LA is hired it is to design walkway signs describing Lewis and Clark history and salmon fountains…so not the meat and potatoes…just the dress up. Jon even found a letter from a law firm here in Idaho explaining to the City that he could legally perform the tasks of grading and drainage…yet the firm he was subcontracting through STILL hired an engineer to do it, creating more work in the long term because there was no communication. And the grading that was done was pretty sloppy. Didn’t matter…still went with the engineer.