President’s Message: Bruce Monighan, AIA
2011 AIACV Chapter President
It is that time of year again when people are asking, “Can I afford it?”, and “What I am getting from my dues?” Yes, it is that membership cost/value equation.
The traditional retort is that you “only get back what you put in.” But frankly not everybody wants to volunteer or participate—and that is ok. So there should be another way of looking at this. For those of us on the Board, making decisions on what programs to pursue, what benefits to try and bring forward and how to define a budget (that is not only balanced but valuable to membership) needs to factor in a key ingredient….you and what you want
So I am looking for just a bit of participation here, a one shot deal maybe. Tell me what you want for your money, or time, or both.
We represent a very divergent group in age, professional status, employment status and geography. Making it work for everybody is challenging but I believe we can do better. Our new website was a step in that direction. With this message you can talk to me, your chapter’s leadership and your colleagues by adding your comments below this post and telling us your thoughts. The website is now offering pictures of events and will be offering more programs on video. We have experimented with a few video postings and are moving toward complete programs on line. It would allow those outside of the immediate area to participate in architectural and educational activities. Technology will allow us a lot of connectivity and we want to use that in the best manner possible.
I believe it is an important function of a professional membership to help members, especially now. If you are not employed or underemployed how can we be of help?
If you are you in the licensing process (or deciding not to follow that line) how can we help, and what do you need to succeed professionally?
If you are a downsized office looking for a foothold in the “new normal” what do you need? Small firm roundtables, employment of legal direction, marketing ideas or techniques?
With your feedback we can tailor the chapter’s activities to your needs and then when you look at that dues invoice you will know that membership is a good idea. You might even find yourself in a committee or at a program that sparks your professional interest.
Add your comment below and click “post”. Talk back–we are listening.
Ok the challange has been posted. Tell me what you think, what you need or even….what you dislike. Take some time to express your opinion and needs.
Hit the COMMENT button
The president’s message is so simple I like it! – one does not have to participate but everyone who is a member has to have a reason for being a member. The reason maybe as simple as “I want to use AIA after my name,” but as Bruce further writes, it is hard for the Board to be effective without understanding our challenges
In these times Bruce has poignantly asked how can the Chapter help; that is a strong message that all of us need to respond. I’ll start:
For me personally as a professional and as a shareholder of a firm, I would like the the AIACV to orchestrate and promote more dialogue, more interaction among our Chapter’s firms to explore how we each assess critical issues that are eroding and hindering our ability to truly promote the profession of architecture. Forums such as Design Matters, UDA nights, Principals’ Roundtable et al, are very benificial but value is always increased in those sidebar conversations between individuals. Why not have smaller firms learn from bigger firms? Why not discuss indemnity clauses in public contracts – that erroneously make architects offer legal services – and discuss when should we say enough and walk away instead of submitting? How can we control the outcome? Is ownership of drawings really important? How we mentor staff that is more commonly unprepared to put together a set of drawings? How do we compete on a local/regional basis with outside firms? Discussions do not need to detail firm secrets but the AIA is an organization for our profession and back a few decades ago, that’s what firms were about, support for the profession because it had benefits to everyone; sort of a Muskateer approach “One for all and all for one.” That’s why I belong to the AIA, to learn about my colleagues face-to-face, learn what they do, learn of their challenges and how we can help each other.
Good points Carl. We have the Principals Roundtable which tends to be more “educational/instructional” than dialog/exchange based. I anticipate that we are moving towards the possibility of a Small Firm Roundtable group as a dialog mechanism to focus on small firm issues. Maybe we could do need a “self help” forum where firms of all sizes meet to discuss a range of topics. I did that years ago when I started my firm. It was pivotal to keeping me out of trouble.
What I like about your idea is that large firms might act as a mentor to others because they have a broader range of experience and more resources. We all have the same general problems but they change in scale and intensity. Might even end up posting the discussions as a blog and get a broader range of participation and comments.
10 topics could be easy to come by and a casual group therapy session would be easy to do. Maybe even over beers.
The profession is not necessarily at a crossroads, rather in a transitional period. It seems that in past transitional periords that the profession lost ability to influence the general public, lost ability to govern itself, and lost ability to lead the creative process. I am not saying that we are at the bottom of an empty well but there is so much opportunity for us to take advantage of, which will allow architects to again play more prominent roles in everyone’s lives. Hopefully by playing more prominent roles, our communities will benefit and our standards for this region will rise.
Specifically, I would love to see a greater partnership between the AIACV and local professional orginization like the Metro Chamber. Why is the AIACV not being mentioned or included in the Mayor’s GreenWise initiative? There should be ample opportunity in such a large agenda. Where is the voice of the AIA as it pertains to issues such as the Arena debate? This topic affects so much that architects pride themselves on having expertise. And where is the voice of the AIA in the issues facing our local agencies in review and approval of projects? Complaints on the City review process can be piled miles high, yet no solutions or partnerships in solving this issue are being offered.
Taking a number of weeks to enjoy the birth of my twin daughters has given me plenty of moments to mull over the opportunities for collaboration within our region. All of these opportunities have existed for years, yet I rarely see any action by any side. I became a member of the AIA to improve the connection betwenn the public and architects. To improve our communities, and to improve the standard at which we design, communicate and practice. I took part in helping lead and outline our new website and that was only a very small step in the right direction. There are larger opportunities for us to take charge on and become leaders of a greater dream.
Being “at the table” certainly is the way to increase influence, move our agenda and be better known by those who make policy. The Chapter does have a history here through the Sacramento City DOC and there are other efforts by individuals that usually do not get much public notice. The Chapter is currently working on an April 28th program, The AIACV Challenge Workshop that will bring together public officials and service users to talk about opportunities for regional collaboration and opportunities to eliminate duplicate services.
That said there are two things that come to mind to me that we need to do.
The first is that working on the AIA/ECOS Smart Growth Leadership Committee I see projects come through that are really wonderful only to get major abuse by neighborhood groups. The Rosen project on T Street by Ron Vrilakas is an example. Great project undergoing pressure to reduce its size from 6 UNITS! We as a design profession need to be able to support those projects loudly. The 22nd and C Street infill project was another example of public policy and process being hijacked and a chill sent through the development community.
• We need to help educate communities as to the value of design and opportunities of sustainable design.
• We need to hold elected officials accountable in their actions and votes to their policies of Smart Growth and the General Plan.
• We need to be not afraid to tell the truth.
We have the format in place but it takes time and commitment.
The second is that we let others dictate our credentials as architects and define what we can do. I have had issues with NCARB for decades defining what an architect is and what qualifies one to be an architect. Mostly it is just States giving NCARB power to write the rules because then individual States do not need to spend the time or money to define and maintain a process. I also take exception to the fact that we let USGBC define what a sustainable trained architect is. Ask any public official and they will tell you that a LEED building by a LEED AP is a qualifier of credentials in sustainable design. How as architects did we ever let that happen? As long as we let others define in the public venue what we are, or are not, we will be on the receiving end rather than the leadership end.
Passion is the key and the willingness to take a little risk. We need more people who are passionate about what they do in their lives be willing to take some of their time to push involvement agendas.
Oh and congratulations on your twins Brian, hope you are holding up ok
Since I am not an architect, I am not a member. BUT I am a major fan of yours. I also enjoyed the Wednesday Design dialogues held at your offices.
I want to thank the AIA CV for its important involvement in the Smart Growth Leadership Program, operated jointly with ECOS. Full disclosure: I am building a smart growth project in Midtown that applied for and was honored to receive this program’s endorsement. It should make AIA CV members proud to make contributions to your community at large by helping City planners and neighborhoods recognize which projects deserve to be built and to counter the terrible NIMBY problem we have in Sacramento. Thank you and keep up the good work supporting Smart Growth and taking it to the next level.