Presidents MessageDavid L Stipe, ASLA, LLA
As spring is beginning to fade and summer is coming on in Wenatchee, the WASLA conference committee is on the home stretch in the planning process. I wanted to thank a few people for their hard work on preparing for what promises to be a great event in downtown Wenatchee. Jillian Reiner, conference chair, has been doing a great job putting the finishing touches on the two receptions planned for our first traveling conference. She has been working closely with Kate Richards on the planning of the entire event along with keeping me as close to on-track as I can be on the various tasks I have been assigned. Our office staff, led by Becky Shaddox and Reta Waldrop, has been digging into the last minute to-do list helping to ensure that all of the loose ends have been addressed. Courtney Landoll, Past President, has demonstrated an unknown talent for selling. She has almost single-handedly secured the largest collection of sponsors and exhibitors we have seen in years. She has been working closely with Ryan Flannery at HQ to make sure we have an informative exhibit hall to stroll through between sessions. A couple of highlights about the conference thus far:
Thanks everyone for working so hard to make this traveling conference a sure success. While the planning has been rolling along here in Wenatchee, I had the honor to attend the ASLA Chapter Presidents Council mid-year meeting in Washington DC. The highlight of the trip was spending the day on Capitol Hill advocating for three important funding programs that make our communities a better place to live. Joining me for the day on the hill was Curtis LaPierre, Vaughn Rinner, Shelby Upton and Taylor Weik. Curtis is the Trustee for our Washington Chapter and a seasoned lobbyist. Vaughn is our Advocacy Committee Chair and has been heading to Washington DC for the Advocacy Day for a number of years. Vaughn is also running for ASLA President and will make a fine leader should she be elected. Remember to vote for Vaughn when you get your ballot in the mail. She practiced landscape architecture for over 40 years. Having recently retired from active practice, she relocated to Washington State from Virginia to be near family. Let’s show our support for Vaughn by giving her our vote and helping place a fellow Washingtonian into the leadership position at ASLA.
Shelby and Taylor both are students at our two LA programs in the state and had the opportunity to meet with our elected officials to advocate for the Transportation Alternative Program (TAP), the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and the Centennial Challenge. TAP provides funding for programs and projects defined as transportation alternatives, including on- and off-road pedestrian and bicycle facilities, infrastructure projects for improving non-driver access to public transportation and enhanced mobility, community improvement activities, and environmental mitigation; recreational trail projects; safe routes to school projects; and projects for planning, designing, or constructing boulevards and other roadways largely in the right-of-way of former divided highways. For more on TAP, visit - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/transportation_alternatives/ LWCF is the federal program to conserve irreplaceable lands and improve outdoor recreation opportunities throughout the nation. The program works in partnership with state and local efforts to acquire and protect inholdings and expansions in our national parks, national wildlife refuges, national forests, national trails, and Bureau of Land Management areas. LWCF grants to states support the acquisition and development of state and local parks and recreational facilities.
The Centennial Challenge is a program that may someday become a funding package to help our National Park Service fund infrastructure and recreation projects to improve access to our national parks in anticipation of the park system’s 100th anniversary. I trust that you see how important these programs are to our communities and our profession. They fund projects that many of us have the pleasure to be a part of while improving the places we live and work. Over three hundred landscape architects and landscape architecture students spent their day on Capitol Hill discussing these programs and how important they are in improving our urban and rural community fabric. I want to close by thanking all of your for your commitment to the profession by being members of ASLA. Advocacy Day is a perfect example of your membership dollars at work. See you on May 28th.
David L Stipe, ASLA, LLA |
