Trustee Report

Welcome to the fourth piece of this report series, "Your ASLA Membership," telling you just a few notes from our national organization over the last month. ASLA membership went up and down in February. Do remind people who may have lapsed in their membership to rejoin and that payment options are available. Please feel free to contact me at Trustee@FLASLA.org if you have any questions or concerns about ASLA issues.

Government Affairs

Save The Date: May 15 is ASLA Advocacy Day and preparations are in full swing with staff working with congressional offices to secure luncheon space on Capitol Hill, guest speakers, ordering materials and building out the Advocacy Day website for Chapter Presidents and Trustees. Please contact me immediately if you would like to be part of this. Members are welcomed but there are costs involved and preparations needed. FLASLA will support a student from each of our Landscape Architecture Programs at Advocacy Day.

The National Complete Streets Coalition, of which ASLA is a Steering Committee member, has released its yearly report, The Best Complete Streets Policies of 2013, which scores and ranks the top Complete Streets policies in America. The Coalition’s report also highlights national trends, details on the Top 15 comprehensive Complete Streets policies, and a scoring breakdown of each. Click HERE to view the report and find out which communities have the best policies in the nation. For more Complete Streets resources, visit the ASLA Complete Streets Issue Brief. Congratulations to FT. LAUDERDALE, No. 3 for best Complete Street policies!

ASLA activated the Advocacy Network this past week to inform advocates about the recently released Best Complete Streets Policies of 2013. More than 500 advocates clicked on the alert to learn about the report, which also urges advocates to contact their legislators about co-sponsoring the Safe Streets Act. To date, nearly 400 activists have taken action on the Safe Streets Act. All ASLA members are encouraged to use the Advocacy Network to send a message to your legislators about supporting Complete Streets legislation. It is easy and fast to do ... and can be so beneficial to our profession. When called, become an ASLA Advocate.

Legislative Analyst Leighton Yates participated in the Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK) Coalition conference call. A discussion was held to determine the development of OAK’s issue priorities along with legislation and initiatives that the coalition will potentially publicly show support for, which includes the Community Parks Revitalization Act.

PUBLISHING AND RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

JobLink job postings are at 86 as of March 5, 71 of which are for full-time, professional positions, while 15 are internships. Job postings for the year to date continue to trend much higher than the previous four years.

MEMBERSHIP & CHAPTER SERVICES

Preparation continues for LABash. The conference is March 27-29 at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. ASLA will have a booth in the EXPO and will host a student chapter president’s luncheon. President Focht will provide a presentation on green infrastructure and will host a Q&A with students on March 28.

Note: President Focht will be speaking at the FLASLA State Conference in Key Largo at the Ocean Reef July 24-26, 2014, so come and meet him.

Emily O'Mahoney, ASLA
Trustee