Sometimes our Greatest Accomplishments Come from a Loss By David Ferris Fun Fact: Did you know that 10 years ago, we were the largest Chapter in the American Society of Landscape Architects? Did you know we had just over 1,000 members or 1/16 of all ASLA members?

 

Summertime and time for the FLASLA Conference, which is just around the corner! Welcome to the 20th piece of my Trustee report series where I share a few notes and items from our national organization over the last month or so; and, 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.

 

REDISTRICTING UPDATE Thursday, July 9th, the Florida Supreme Court ordered that at least eight congressional districts be redrawn because of violations of the Fair Districts constitutional amendment. The order will require the Legislature to redraw congressional districts represented by Corrine Brown, David Jolly, Kathy Castor, Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel, Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen "on an expedited basis." The order could also affect neighboring districts.

 

Highlighting the new members that joined Florida Chapter of ASLA in the month of July! We had 20 new members for the month of July! Let's give them a warm welcome!

 

Groundwork Jacksonville held a two-day session this week to discuss the proposed S-Line Rail Trail between historic Springfield and Jacksonville's Eastside. The S-Line is an abandoned stretch of railroad 4.8 miles long. The American Society of Landscape Architects partnered with Groundwork Jacksonville for the session to help shape its vision for the trail. Plans include converting it into a path for walking, biking and other recreation. The S-Line Rail Trail will connect to the Hogans Creek Greenway. Doug Smith is a representative for the Florida chapter for ASLA. He led the presentation during the forum on the second day.

 

Miami Section chair, Deena Bell Llewellyn, together with Christopher Cabezas, of Jungles and a past Executive Committee member, planned a "Miami Summer Social" which was hosted by Raymond Jungles at their studio downtown Miami on the river on Thursday July 16, 2015. Food and libations were sponsored by Landscape Forms and Sutton Brick and Stone, Inc. This was a terrific event in an artistic venue with more than 50 in attendance! It was rewarding to see landscape architects from all over Miami-Dade and Broward counties, as well as many recent grads from the FIU department of Landscape Architecture, Environmental and Urban Design come together for fun and fellowship.

 

As president of the international landscape architecture firm EDSA, Doug Smith has worked in destinations as exotic as Egypt and as local as his home state of Florida. But it was his time growing up in Bayard, Iowa, population 458, that truly shaped his understanding of nature's scale and diversity. "My high school graduating class in 1981 was 23 people," Mr. Smith, 51, says of his hometown, which is about 65 miles northwest of Des Moines.

 

Need CEC/CEU or want to know the newest regulations, rules, products and more?!? Join FLASLA in Orlando for our 2015 Annual Conference and Expo! You will not be disappointed!! When: July 30 -- Aug. 1 Where: Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld® 6677 Sea Harbor Dr., Orlando, Florida 32821 Contact: Cherie Pinsky: cherie@flasla.org or at (850) 222-6000