Trump as President? Meaning for Landscape Architects?

[Leslie B Wagle]

The weak link is that part about people churning their earnings back into the community…. a dynamic dependent on having a foundation of adequate JOBS; yet nobody seemed to be nearly as concerned about how to grow that very essential condition alongside the big housing plan. And once people couldn’t support their payments…the tremors from millions of personal tragedies added up to a tsunami sized crisis for the whole economy. We were living on vapors while our foundation crumbled, in other words.

[J. Robert (Bob) Wainner]

I have to AGREE with you, Dave………Mark Di Lucido makes more sense than ANY of us…….LOL!

THANKS, Mark!

Bob

[J. Robert (Bob) Wainner]

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! Today, January 20, 2017…America has once again become a DEMOCRACY (a Nation of Capitalism),..from a Nation that was, for 8 yrs. SOCIALIST!!!

Very SOON, America will once again become the GREATEST NATION on this Planet. President DONALD TRUMP is giving control of the U.S. Gov’t back to the PEOPLE, where it belongs. As President Trump stated today, from now on, it will be AMERICA 1st.

I really am optimistic for ALL Landscape Architects here in the U.S. for the next 4…maybe even the next 8 yrs. We need a businessman, not a politician to lead our Nation.

I served 4 yrs. in the U.S. Navy and have always been proud of my Country….but, these past 8 yrs. have been very disappointing, in so many ways. But TODAY, I couldn’t be more proud to be an AMERICAN!!!!!!!!

[Rob Halpern]

a DEMOCRACY (a Nation of Capitalism)

Someone needs a dictionary and some classes in political science. Most Fascist nations are capitalists. Many democracies aren’t exactly capitalists.

Glad you’re happy but the business outlook is very uncertain. Will there be a trade war with China? Or a shooting war? Maybe. Will there be trade barriers with Mexico and South America or even Europe? Probably. What will all of this do to consumer prices domestically? And how will that affect business? With a single Tweet the President has damaged stock prices. Business cannot prosper in an uncertain environment. Especially for those of us with international clients, the situation is dicey.

[Calico]

Agreed on the dicey thing. Several of our land development clients (domestic, not international) put their projects on hold following the election. Should be an interesting few years.

[J. Robert (Bob) Wainner]

[Craig Richmond, RLA]

I really try to stay out of political discussions on this site, but your enthusiasm for the new president is way over the top. I’m thankful that hate filled people like you are the minority. It’s just not fair to see all the stress that nonsense talk like your’s is putting on all kinds of hard working people. I might have to take my lumps, but I’m standing with my neighbors against bullies like you.

I’m not here to stop you from speaking your mind, but I feel I have to counter your gaslighting. I miss the days when you could have an honest, intelligent conversation with someone on the right.

[Dave McCorquodale]

Craig, takes conviction to say what you did. I’ll stand with you. My experience is that the “new & improved” right has run most of us who were interested in constructive dialogue off.

Robert– I appreciate your point of view, but man, your delivery is antagonistic, laced with conspiracy theories, and hateful. We agree on many aspects of getting the younger generation of LA’s on their feet, but I can’t agree with what you’ve expressed here.

Dave

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

I just want to remind everyone that while some people on the right are extreme in their views nearly half of the voters voted for Trump. You (generic you) can’t convince me and I can’t imagine that you have convinced yourself that nearly half of the country is extreme. The problem is that you never hear from the non-extreme right because every time we express a thought that is not to the left we are branded as “conservative” and then immediately stereotyped as being racist, anti-women, anti-gay, hate filled terrible people, so we shut up.

I know a ton of people that are to the right of center despite the fact that I live Massachusetts. Most are pro gay marriage, don’t care if you are black, white, or striped, don’t care where you came from, most of them are women – the rest work with women with no regard to their gender. I did not know that many of these people were right leaning until this election. The stereotype has been drilled into your heads for so long that you now have become judgmental, closed minded, and feel it is your responsibility to shut up anyone who is not on the left.

Our country has come a long way in the last 50 years. People on the right did not get left behind. Yup, racists and homophobes run from the left, so obviously they are found on the right. Just like most on the left are not communists and those on the right should not believe that every democrat is a socialist.

Trump is an obnoxious person. He did not get elected because of that, but he did get elected. You have to think that there is other reasons for him being elected instead of buying the narrative that the country is full of haters. Any reasonable person who is thinking has to know that there are not more racists in the country to day than 20 or 40 years ago – there are less, there are not anti-gay people – there are less, there are not more people who think women should be paid less or barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen – there are less.

So, unless you think that our American society has devolved to have such a growing population of haters, why don’t we try to figure out what other reasons why he got elected.

I’ll share mine. I’ll sum it up in this one thing. Trump never said what he would do to ease my pain if I fail to meet my needs or my wife and I’s ability to meet our family’s needs. He said what he would do to create the opportunities for us to find ways of meeting our own needs. You can disagree, but you should know that it was not because I’m a racist, hate gay people, or want to oppress women. I suspect that my reason is a far more common reason than the latter.

Don’t close your mind with the idea that you are more open minded. An ironic thing is to hate people that are labeled as hateful who really are not hateful at all.

[Dave McCorquodale]

….and that’s how civil dialogue works!  Well said, Andrew.  Thank you!

Dave

[Leslie B Wagle]

Yeah I gave myself a few hours to think about what to say. Why doesn’t it seem obvious that calling other people “troll” or “hate filled” just might get a little bit in the way of an “honest, intelligent conversation”? That may drive them into silence but hardly convinces them. And the most visceral hate I’ve seen since the election has not flowed from, but has been pointed TOWARDS the center / center right. More than anything, this is a divide over the (perceived & desired) role, scope, cost, effectiveness etc. of government itself. We can’t afford for either side to wrap itself in an almost cultic exaggerated assumption of its own pure and unshared virtue. (Sorry for contributing to digression from L.A. issues.)

[Dave McCorquodale]

I’m reminded of that saying that goes something like: You can’t reason someone out of a position that they weren’t reasoned into.  

I’m fine with policy disagreements, but the whole “Obama’s a Muslim” thing is thinly-veiled racism.  Period.  The ACA?  Turned out to be a disaster for almost everyone.  Foreign policy? A hot mess.  Ability to work with Congress to advance projects that help average Americans?  Abysmal.  I didn’t vote for Obama in either election, but I believe he’s a good, decent person who had the wrong prescriptions for what’s ailing the country.  And who was probably a little blind-sided at how tough being the President really is.  And I didn’t vote for Trump simply because he’s a developer and I don’t trust those folks farther than I can throw them.  Pretty judgmental of me, I know.  Am I upset he was elected?  Nope.  Just moving along with my life like I plan to do every day.  

But Obama being a closet Muslim out to wreck America and the western world?  (As if simply being Muslim is somehow going to rot your brain and make you do all kinds of crazy stuff?!?!)  No thank you.  That’s garbage, and should be called such on sight.

Dave

[Anonymous]

You have a very interesting perspective Dave, some of your opinions I share, some I don’t. The ACA could be improved. Like most legislation it will need refinement as time goes on. It does benefit people, though, and it’s fairly obvious that it has a place in some form. Congress stonewalled the last administration because of his kenesian policies during the worst economic downtown since the 1920s. And considering the economy is doing much better now, it’s hard to say that the proof isn’t in the pudding. I truly believe the reason why Trump made to the white house is due to his (genius?) focus on the most glaring issues of American economy – the hollowing out of decent paying middle class jobs due to corporations pushing manufacturing/outsourcing overseas. I think both sides of the political spectrum can agree on that. I do find it a bit ironic that our president shares many of the same ‘socialist’ / protectionist perspectives as Bernie, especially as an a business person that probably reaped the benefits of these non-protectionist trade policies. Maybe that makes him the right guy for the job – takes a thief to catch a thief? I digress. But thanks for keep the conservative right sounding respectable v. one big paranoid conspiracy theory.

[Anonymous]

Back on point – federal agencies are already feeling the crunch of budget cuts and more cuts can be expected on the coastal states if they don’t crack under pressure from dc. So like I expected, public sector LA jobs will almost completely evaporate unless they are tied to the DOT where highway projects will probably get greenlighted. We all know those DOT project get minimal LA design, so doubtful it’ll help the industry much. It’s uncertain what will happen in the private sector, depending on how the protectionist policies impact trade. There may be a shift to domestic building/design, but it’s too early to tell right now. Markets look good though, hope that translates to someone’s pocket book that doesn’t already make $1 million/yr salary.

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

Hopefully, the idea is not to stop the infrastructure work from happening by not hiring more government workers, but to hire it out to private sector companies that demonstrate the best abilities and efficiency for the specific project type. That is the expectation is that it opens opportunities for any of us to fill a need.

When a government agency is displacing that, only he same people in those positions benefit while there is a limited population to generate innovation and efficiency. Innovation and efficiency comes from all of us trying to get a competitive advantage over each other to get each job. The project benefits, the government gets a better product at a better price, some private companies can grow and hire, and some people will start new companies to compete.

That is one of the hopes of most of the nearly 50% of the voters who went with Trump in the last election. Understandably, nearly half the voters on the other side do not think this is a realistic expectation.

I’m having trouble with my wireless keyboard, please excuse missing letters or multiple words,

[Author]

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