March 2005

• An update/redesign of the professional practice area of ASLA Online is nearing completion, as is implementation of new Professional Interest Group and chapter website templates. The next areas of the website to be targeted will include the Council of Fellows and government affairs.
  

• March 2, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved HR 3, TEA-LU, a TEA-21 reauthorization bill, and sent it to the House floor. Please see the government affairs column in LAND Online for more details.
  

• The U.S. Congress has begun to make its displeasure known with respect to the FY06 budget submitted by the administration. Please see the column in LAND Online for more details.
  

• ASLA and the American Planning Association are co-sponsoring a legislative conference in Washington, D.C. on May 11-13, 2005. All ASLA members are invited to participate. Please see this link for more details: http://www.planning.org/legislation/2005policyconf.htm.
  

• The new Dirt has been getting a lot of attention. A new “Dirt Alert” system has been implemented, allowing readers to sign up for daily emails letting them know when the Dirt has been posted. Staff is working on automating the Dirt Alert sign-up and implementing an “email this to a friend” option. Since The Dirt was relaunched Feb. 15, it has become the 8th most visited page on the ASLA website.
  

• An email announcing the 2005 Professional and Student Awards call for entries and linking to the online web area was sent on Feb 28. A print brochure will be mailed soon. A new residential design category has been added this year and the student awards now mirror the professional awards categories and entry requirements.
  

• Another version of the Career Discovery brochure has been created that allows members and chapters to download a file and have it printed professionally, with double-sided pages and an accordion fold. Individuals who prefer to download the original version in single pages and print it on their own using a laser printer will still be able to do so.
  

• Preparations for National Landscape Architecture Month (NLAM) are gearing up and ASLA has retained Clara Frenk to work on television and radio placements. She is a former producer for FOX and CNN and is updating the online activities calendar and inviting allied organizations to become “partners” for NLAM and provide promotion to their members. Clara may be reached at 202-216-2371 or cfrenk@asla.org.
  

• The call for nominations for the 2005 Class of Fellows was announced on Monday, February 28. The nomination packet guidelines can be found at: http://www.asla.org/Members/FASLA.htm. The closing date is May 6, 2005. The jury will meet the weekend of June 17-19, 2005.
  

• Have you noticed LAM's recent focus on our hemispheric neighbors, particularly Latin America? The cover photo and a feature story this month focus on new parkland in Bogota, Colombia. Other highlights: A Clare Cooper Marcus essay looks at an exemplary garden for Alzheimer's patients in Michigan and offers guidelines for the design of such gardens; playground guru Robin Moore talks about returning to nature as the locus of children's play in Shared Wisdom.
  

• In next month's Landscape Architecture look for:
• A new department, Firm Focus,that will explore innovative business practices in landscape architecture offices--what's working, what's not.
• Landscape architects respond to the "Apocalyptic Manifesto" that predicts the demise of landscape architecture. Read it and see the sparks fly!
• In the vein of critiques of built works, Mark Hinshaw wonders whether comfort and safety are enough to make Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco a great public space.