St Louis Chapter leaders stormed Capital Hill on May 19th to advocate for issues crucial to landscape architects. Every spring, ASLA leaders from across the country convene in Washington D.C. to speak directly to their Senators and Congressperson about the Society's current legislative agenda. This year the focus was on:
Transportation
Green Infrastructure
Urban Parks
(Click above to learn more about ASLA's positions)
Attending Advocacy Day on behalf of the St Louis Chapter were:
Hunter Beckham, Trustee
Chris Moon, President
Susan Maag, President-Elect
Josi Nielsen, Executive Director
Aicha Menendez, Student Representative from Washington University
MO Senator Claire McCaskill speaks with Korey Schulz (President Prairie Gateway ASLA) & Chris Moon (President St Louis ASLA)
Our first meeting of the day was with Senator Claire McCaskill. We were fortunate enough to join her for coffee and spend time discussing affairs in Missouri and issues affecting the profession. After coffee, our group met privately with one of Senator McCaskill's aides and focused on the local ramifications of the federal policies that ASLA promotes.
The day's second meeting was with Peter Henry, aide to Senator Blunt (and formerly aide to Senator Bond). Mr. Henry has an exceptional grasp of the the topics we came to discuss and was helpful in giving our group a clearer picture of how legislators view the policies we support.
The consensus from aides to both our Senators, was that many of the policies landscape architects support (Complete Streets, Safe Routes to School, Green Infrastructure etc.) may benefit more from a ground-up approach then a top-down approach. This is predicated on the current fiscal condition of our nation and the belief that local implementation preceding federal can reduce problems from inflexible oversight.
Our group broke apart in the afternoon to visit our specific Congressman (Todd Akin, Lacy Clay and Russ Carnahan). In these meetings we were able to present detailed information on projects from their home districts that landscape architects had been involved with and show how those had benefited the community and the profession.
Advocacy Day is a culmination of efforts throughout the year, but by no means the most important piece. ASLA's Advocacy team is highly skilled and continually abreast of the issues that need attention. This expertise is passed on to us at a local level through the periodic Advocacy Alerts sent to members. It is YOUR response to these alerts that ultimately has the most effect on the Society's effectiveness. We thank all members for the effort and attention they give to advocacy issues throughout the year.