April 20, 2006

§         All-America Rose Selections (AARS) sponsors Designing with Roses Competition
The AARS is currently accepting entries for its Designing with Roses Competition. Deadline for submission is 7/7/06. The panel of judges includes ASLA Fellow Rosheen Styczinski and Better Homes & Garden Editor Elvin McDonald. Winners will be announced in late August at the 58th Annual Garden Writers Association Symposium in Valley Forge, PA. For more information, click here.

§         Headquarters green roof update:  Acting Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett and D.C. Council Chair Linda Cropp participated in the opening celebration on Wednesday, April 26.  The program, was carried live over the webcam.

§         ASLA hosted the landscape architecture students from the University of Maryland for a presentation on and tour of the green roof.  Students and faculty from Iowa State visited ASLA headquarters on April 7.  The Iowa delegation was treated to a presentation on the roof given by Chris Counts, ASLA, from Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc.

§         EVP Nancy Somerville met with new AIA EVP Christine McEntee.  Action items from the discussion include an exchange of information on education trends, diversity issues, and demographics in the professions, as well as continued communications on government affairs and other issues. 

§         The Colorado Chapter continues to move legislation to enact a licensing law.  On April 18, the Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee heard testimony on the bill and approved it by a 5-2 vote.  The next stop for the legislation is the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is chaired by the bill’s Senate sponsor, Senator Abel Tapia, who is also a civil engineer.  The bill has already passed the House.

§         ASLA is currently working to secure meetings with Members of Congress for those of you coming to Washington for Lobby Day on May 4.  Now is the time to do your homework: background on your Representative and Senator; local examples of good (and bad) security design; how does landscape architecture help prepare for or mitigate natural disasters where you live?  For more information, visit the 2006 Lobby Day website: http://www.asla.org/discussions/lobby_day_06.html

§         The ASLA Green Roof web cam is up and running.  The camera is currently refreshing on three-second intervals, making it look a bit jerky, but not requiring as much bandwidth as streaming video.  It will be switched to full streaming video and audio for the dedication on April 26 and when ASLA hosts events on the roof. 

§         Cash contributions for the green roof project have risen to over $130,000. To date, 25 professional chapters and two student chapters have contributed. 

§         ASLA Corporate Member Rain Bird and Outside Unlimited have joined forces to contribute an irrigation system and installation for the green roof, for a fair market value of nearly $10,000. 

§         JobLink exceeded 230 job listings recently.  ASLA is testing the new upgrade and is working on an advertising campaign featuring the new functionality, including search capabilities by job titles, city, or state; discounts for multiple months postings; more management and editing capabilities for job posters; and an archive of previously posted positions.

§         The ASLA Honorary Members Dinner will be held on Thursday, May 4, 2005, at the Hyatt Regency Washington Hotel.  The reception will be at 6:30 pm and the dinner will be at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available for $60.00 a person and $600 for a table of 10.  For more information, contact Carolyn Mitchell (cmitchell@asla.org). 

§         Seventy-four entries have been received to date for the ASLA 2006 Student Awards Program.  The entry deadline is Friday, May 19.

§         National Landscape Architecture Month was featured on ENR’s online calendar of events.  

§         EVP Somerville was interviewed by the Boston Business Journal on general industry trends and issues.

§         PR Coordinator Erin Maguire continues to work with chapters on promoting regional National Landscape Architecture Month events.  A press release was released statewide announcing the award winners from the Minnesota Chapter's 37th Annual Awards Dinner and a media advisory and press list was developed for the Potomac Chapter’s NLAM event, The Confluence of Water and Design on the Mall. 

§         The South Carolina Chapter is working hard to generate press on the chapter’s NLAM events.  The chapter has already approached the Charleston Business Journal and The Greenville News to cover chapter events in the lowcountry and the upstate.

§         Ramiro Villalvazo, ASLA, represented the Society in radio interviews this week focusing on careers in landscape architecture.  Stations included: Red River Radio Network  (Shreveport, LA ); CNN en Español Radio Network  (international);  KNUV-AM (Phoenix, AZ); and Clear Channel consortium (WRNQ-FM, WBPM-FM, WKIP-AM, WGHQ-AM, WPKF-FM, WRWD-FM & AM, WBWZ-FM, WFKP-FM, Upstate New York).

§         Steve Martino, FASLA, was interviewed by Constance Ramos of “Extreme Home Makeover” for the radio show, Living Large. The show is featuring “Outdoor Spaces” and will air on Sunday, April 30 at 1pm CST. Listen via live feed on their website.

§         A press release entitled “Making Your Home More ‘Green’” was released over the feature newswire and as a matte release this week. 

§         Ken Smith, ASLA, and Pat Caughey, FASLA, were interviewed by Copley News Service on the Orange County Great Park Project. 

§         A writer for the Associated Press toured the ASLA green roof project yesterday and interviewed EVP Somerville.  USA Today will feature the ASLA green roof project on its web site on Monday, April 24, in a Q&A format including interactive graphics for readers to explore.  Invitations to media went out this morning for an pre-dedication press briefing and tour on Tuesday, April 25.  Already, representatives from The Washington Post, Governing magazine, AP, and Hanley-Wood publications have responded.

§         By now, members should have received a letter encouraging the use of their ASLA designation along with an ASLA pin.  The goal of this mailing is to encourage members to use their ASLA designation and thereby increase recognition of ASLA and the profession.

§         Early bird online registration for the 2006 Annual Meeting and 43^rd IFLA World Congress is now live.   And, as an added enhancement to the registration process, attendees can reserve hotel rooms online for the ASLA annual meeting at any of the three official ASLA hotel properties:  Hilton Minneapolis Hotel, Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, and Doubletree Guest Suites Minneapolis.