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#iAdvocate: Advocate for Our Profession
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#iAdvocate
The 2015 Legislative Session is off to a robust start as environmental issues will be a popular topic in Tallahassee and around the state. With a 76 percent voter approval rate, the Water and Land Conservation Initiative has made its way to the top of the "to do" list with the Florida Senate and the House. The broad language of the Constitutional Amendment will take some time to interpret by both the legislature and the courts. The Governmental Affairs Committee along with our lobbyist, Diana Ferguson, Esq. of Rutledge Ecenia, P.A., will continue to monitor legislative activity and provide updates to the Chapter on a regular basis.
The 2014 ASLA Advocacy Summit was recently held in St. Louis this year hosted by the St. Louis Chapter with meetings held at the corporate headquarters of HOK. During the Summit the ASLA Government Affairs team unveiled the Guide to Hosting Tours with Elected Offices, a new strategy for engaging your elected officials and demonstrating how landscape architects and landscape architecture have benefitted the constituents within the official’s districts. Not only did the Summit attendees learn about his process, we also participated in a tour of Citygarden with elected officials from St. Louis and the members of the Missouri delegation. The tour was a great learning experience and we hope that you will take the time to read the guide and consider hosting a tour in your own community. From a landscape architectural standpoint, getting elected officials out to your project sites and showing them firsthand how the project made a positive impact in your community is a win-win. The Guide will help you organize a tour of your own and along with the help of other members in your Section, you can organize and host a tour in your own community and help spread the word.
The Summit not only focused on the tour, but also on the use of social media to engage your elected officials. Unless you are under a rock somewhere, you probably know that most of our elected officials, from local councils and commissions, and up to state and federal legislators are all using social media to connect with their constituents with Twitter. The use of Twitter has become very popular with elected officials as their staff tweet their accomplishments and look for support on various issues.
As part of our Advocacy strategic goals in the coming years, we will be working on developing two documents for members to use while engaging their local officials: a "Local Official’s Guide to Landscape Architecture" and an updated brochure that can be left with local officials for them to review at their leisure. The guide will outline the services and contributions Florida landscape architects provide and to help them understand our role in the design of our natural and manmade environments while the handout will be a graphic sampling of some of the work completed in Florida. Developing these guides will be a bit of a task and we will be looking for some help with layout, graphics, and samples of meaningful projects. Please feel free to submit samples to us at your convenience.
So what does the title of this update #iAdvocate have to do with governmental affairs? Historically governmental affairs has had its work cut out for it by having to defend our licensure, to stand up against attempts at deregulation and work tirelessly at removing the barriers of practice. This year we are hoping to do more, to truly get out and advocate for our profession and become more visible in our communities.
If you have any questions about the 2014 Advocacy Summit, the Tour Guide, assisting with the development of the local official papers, or want to get involved with FLASLA Governmental Affairs, please contact Jim Couillard at memberatlargeAL@flasla.org, or call (352) 266-5830. You can also find me on Twitter @Jim_Couillard. And yes, #iAdvocate!