Jay Everett

I’m often frustrated by the dialog around infrastructure here’s a small example:
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/apr/22/alexander-suggests-higher-gas-tax/
To tax or not to tax?…that is the wrong question. No where in the above article does it mention the real problems with the gas tax. The problem is the gas tax is a consumption tax…[Read more]

I would think it would be a long time before you could pay off that kind of debt. You will probably be making maybe 5-8 thousand dollars more than someone with a BLA when you get out, depending on where you are in the country it could be low 40Ks to mid 50Ks. Most senior landscape architects don’t make over 85K a year.
 
If those are your only 3…[Read more]

Jessi,
If you are still open to other options, maybe look into an MBA with a focus in sustainability. That will substantially increase the range of jobs availbile to you when you get out of school, some firms might find an MBA more attractive than an MLA. I don’t feel like we gain much understanding of the economic side of sustainability in design…[Read more]

yes

I definitely respect your views and agree that people should not be forced to change their lifestyles. However, I really don’t think thats what we are talking about. I think what we are proposing is giving people more choices, not limiting them. More importantly we (advocates for “smart growth”) are saying that America needs to begin positioning…[Read more]

Very good points Andrew,

Like many things in life the difficulty here is that we have finite resources and a long list of priorities, the question becomes what is the highest and best use the resources that we have?

I’m interested by the way the word “subsidized” is used in discussions on public transit. The majority of highways and roads are…[Read more]

I took Mike’s 2-week workshop a few years ago in Kansas. I think the one-week workshop probably covers all of the critical techniques in Mike’s system (like the first week in Kansas) but you probably miss out of the repetition and practice that the second week afforded participants. My understanding from hearing Mike speak back then was that it…[Read more]

Nick,

I think optimism is a powerful ally. There will probably be lots of opportunities for people who are able to hang on through the recession. Personally I think there was already a shortage of “Gen-X”, people roughly between the age of 30 and 45, in the industry before the recession. Graduation rates for LA’s have been much higher in recent…[Read more]

There was a similar discussion in the professional practice forum several months ago, the big point is the one James made: it’s a pretty good deal if you need licensure in multiple states. I have also heard that if you let it lapse and then 8 years down the road decide to renew it you will have to pay the back-fees for those in between years. I’m…[Read more]

Roland, sorry to hear that, I hope that investment lasts a while.

Andrew, I see where you are coming from. I think that individual choices and financial responsibilities are key to many of the problems we face. From my point of view automobile-centric land use and transportation planning fits within the definition of “unsustainable” just as…[Read more]

Doug,
From my point of view it seems to come back to economics and homebuyer/renter’s choices as it relates to lifestyle preference. I’ve observed that when you put the kind of thought and design into a new greenfield development like the one that you describe above, it is almost always impossible to control property values. I feel that scarcity…[Read more]

I remember in school, in our pro-practice class we were told that professional services for landscape architects were traditionally spread by word of mouth and by responding to RFPs and RFQs. We were discouraged from entertaining ideas like buying advertising space on billboards. They used lawyers as an example: “you don’t want to be ‘that guy’…[Read more]