Trustee Report

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GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION 

•  The Board of Trustees elected three vice presidents who will take office in the fall after the annual meeting in Denver: Jeffrey A. Townsend, ASLA, Finance; Keith P. Wilson, ASLA, Membership; and Hunter L. Beckham, ASLA, Professional Practice. Board actions during the meeting included: acceptance of the 2013 financial audit; approval of a new public policy on Agriculture; approval of the Finance and Investments and Member Services Committees’ recommendation for a dues increase ($10 increase in both 2015 and 2016 for Full, International, and Affiliate members; and $5 increase in 2015 for Associate and Student members); strategic priorities and SWOT review; and discussion of Board performance/strategic planning. 

GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

•  ASLA Advocacy Day 2014 was a huge success with a total of 218 legislative meetings. Approximately 97 percent of all participating advocates had at least two legislative meetings, with 99 percent having all three legislative meetings. Initial feedback from advocates suggests that they had good meetings with congressional offices and that use of the AdvocacyDay App added to the experience. ASLA was honored that Barbara McCann, Directorfor the Office of Safety, Energy, and Environment at the U.S. Department of Transportation spoke to advocates during the Advocacy Day wrap-up reception. McCann is also the author of the book, Completing Our Streets, and known as one of the architects of the Complete Streets movement. 

•  ASLA activated the Advocacy Network during ASLA’s Advocacy Day 2014 for a virtual Advocacy Day, where members who were unable to make the trip to Washington, D.C., did their part to urge their legislators to support ASLA’s advocacy day agenda. As a result, advocates sent nearly 500 messages to Capitol Hill through the Advocacy Network, Twitter, and Facebook. So far in 2014, ASLA advocates have sent nearly 3,000 messages through the new Advocacy Network to their senators and representatives on Capitol Hill and in state legislators. 

•  Did you miss the ASLA-sponsored webinar on How Landscape Architects Can Contract with GSA? If so, take some time to view the webinar online, it is posted on Advocacy’s Small Business Growth and Development webpage. 

•  Recently, Senators Mark Begich (AK) and Brian Schatz (HI) distributed a Dear Colleague letter inviting other members of the Senate to sign on as co-sponsors of the Safe Streets Act of 2014 (S. 2004). In the letter, the senators explain the provisions of the bill, its emphasis on safety, and even acknowledge ASLA as one of the main organizations advocating for the legislation. 

•  Recently, ASLA sent a letter to White House staff to make policy recommendations on how the Obama administration should address maintaining a healthy population of honey bees and other pollinators. The recommendations included: developing best practices that include using native plants that attract and maintain pollinators on federal sites and projects; including a landscape architect on federal projects; providing education on best practices for those engaged in urban agriculture; and creating incentives for the private sector to employ best practices to sustain a healthy pollinator population. ASLA is part of the White House Stakeholders Group on Pollinators. 

•  ASLA has sent a letter to President and Mrs. Barack Obama expressing support for Scenic America’s recommendation to convene a 2015 White House Conference on Scenic Beauty. The 50^th anniversary of the 1965 White House Conference on Natural Beauty is approaching and Scenic America and other stakeholders believe that a 2015 conference is needed to evaluate the progress and shortcomings of the initial conference and to make recommendations on how to protect and restore America’s visual heritage. 

•  Director Blackwell met with the office of Congresswoman Dina Titus (NV) to discuss the Safe Streets Act. Staff acknowledged Titus’ strong support for the legislation and for the overall issue of safety. An op-ed on the issue written by the Congresswoman appeared in a recent edition of Roll Call newspaper. ASLA tweeted the story. 

•  Manager Cason met with the Water Environment Federation’s public policy team to discuss areas of mutual interest regarding stormwater and green infrastructure policy issues. The meeting also was an opportunity to start the conversation about a potential congressional briefing on stormwater issues and a green roof reception at ASLA headquarters this summer. 

•  Legislative Analyst Leighton Yates met with representatives of the National Recreation and Parks Association and the Trust for Public Land to discuss future collaboration on advocacy efforts targeted at the development of community parks legislation. The meeting also served as an opportunity to develop initial steps towards the re-engaging the Urban Parks Coalition.

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS

•  Two major media pushes in the past few weeks included the release of the joint statement on resilience, Alliance for a Resilient Tomorrow, which ASLA signed along with 20 other design and construction organizations, and the release of the Dangerous by Design, a new report released by the National Complete Streets Coalition, a program of Smart Growth America, in conjunction with AARP and ASLA. The latter received wide coverage in major metro areas in print, broadcast, cable, and online. 

•  The new career discovery website, Your Path, has received 7,000 page views since its launch in February. 

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

•  Two webinars have been added to the list of upcoming Online Learning presentations: "Supplementing Your Parks Department: How About Friends of Parks?", July 16, 3-4 p.m. EDT, presented by Terry Eastin and "Community Health Needs for Planning and Design," July 31, 1-2 p.m. EDT, presented by Matthew Schoell-Schafer, ASLA. "1315 Peachtree: Creative Stormwater Solutions in a Dense Urban Context" has been rescheduled for Sept. 9, 2-3 p.m.EDT. 

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.

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