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Trustee Report
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Welcome to the 14th piece of my Trustee report series where I share a few notes and items from our national organization over the last month or so. Remind people who may have lapsed in their membership to rejoin and that payment options are available. Please feel free to contact me at Trustee@FLASLA.org if you have any questions or concerns about ASLA issues.
FLORIDA NOTES
I was pleased to represent the Chapter at the recent Florida Board of Landscape Architecture meeting on December 12 in St. Augustine. The FLASLA Executive Committee voted to honor the retiring Executive Director of the Board, Juanita Chastain, and her assistant Linda Tinsley by presenting Florida landscape artwork from photographer Steve Vaughn. They appreciated the art work and loved having an audience of many interested landscape architects and past board members and chairs including Paul Davis, Collene Walter, Liz Gillick, and Libby Beasley Marshall. Make a point to attend face to face FBOLA meetings. They are always interesting and educational. One face to face meeting is always held at the FLASLA Annual Conference.
#1 Emily O’Mahoney, ASLA,
presenting award to Juanita Chastain, retiring Executive Director for
FBOLA
#2 Emily O’Mahoney, ASLA
presenting award to Linda Tinsley, retiring Governmental Analysis for
FBOLA
Government Affairs
ASLA 2014 Advocacy in Review: ASLA’s Government Affairs department wrapped up 2014 with several notable accomplishments including: protecting licensure; preserving critical federal programs important to the profession; and unveiling key advocacy tools and reports to help local chapters and individual activists continue to be effective in the policy arena. You can view the ASLA Government Affairs highlights document here.
ASLA has joined with other active transportation organizations in sending a letter to Senator Patty Murray (WA) and Representatives David Joyce (OH) and Mike Quigley (IL) thanking them for their leadership in including non-motorized safety performance explanatory language in H.R. 83, the 2015 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, which was signed into law last month. The language directs the Federal Highway Administration to establish a performance measure to reduce the number of bicyclists and pedestrians killed on our nation’s roads.
Finance and Building Operations
Once again in 2014, the ASLA Headquarters building earned the Energy Star certification. Buildings that earn the EPA’s Energy Star certification use 35 percent less energy and generate 35 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than similar buildings across the nation.
Public Relations and Communications
A press release about the 2015 Call for Entries for professional and student awards, and the new online submission process was distributed today via several wire services.
At year-end, ASLA’s website recorded more than 1 million users, with unique visitors up nearly 13 percent over 2013. Unique visits were up 4 percent, while pageviews were flat. Average time on the site fell by 5 percent, but the number of new visits out of total visits increased 13 percent over 2013. New Google analytics data reveal that ASLA.org’s audience is 54 percent male and 46 percent female. Also, 50 percent are under the age of 34.
In November, ASLA went live with a new homepage and feature entitled "Learn What Landscape Architects Do." In the last two months of 2014, the new pages, which are also viewable on an iPad or smart phone, have received 199,000 views. Comparing the performance of these new tools against the previous version of the home page two months earlier, there has already been a 40 percent increase in traffic.
The new Center for Landscape Architecture website, designed to aid in fundraising efforts, has already surpassed 10,000 pageviews in just a few weeks.
The Dirt’s annual best books list gets coverage: ArchNewsNow picked it up, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum blasted out the announcement of its Composite Landscapes book being included in the list, and Harvard Graduate School of Design posted a news story.
Professional Practice
On December 19, 2014, ASLA published an updated release in the Landscape Architecture Technical Information Series (LATIS) entitled, "Integrating BIM Technology into Landscape Architecture, 2nd Edition," by James L. Sipes, ASLA. The LATIS addresses a variety of Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools and discusses how they can be applied to landscape architecture projects. ASLA members can view the report for free and can purchase and pass a self-study exam to earn 3.0 PDH that meet LA CES criteria. Visit http://www.asla.org/LATIS for the full catalog of LATIS papers.