Lobby Day 2006 and Beyond
This year's Lobby Day will focus on security design, disaster response, and the new congressional fellows program.

ASLA’s annual Lobby Day is fast approaching, and is set for May 4. More than 140 ASLA members will be coming to Washington to meet with their senators and representatives. Lobby Day provides an opportunity to educate members of Congress and their staffs about the landscape architecture profession and to discuss how landscape architects are helping to address important public policy issues.

Although Lobby Day allows us to interact with a large number of policy makers in a short period of time, it cannot be the only time that landscape architects reach out to their members of Congress. To improve the understanding of the profession and build relationships necessary to advance ASLA’s policy agenda, we all need to be engaged more regularly. Meeting with members of Congress in their district offices is one way to begin this process; another is to invite them and their local staff to visit one of your projects so they can see firsthand what landscape architects are doing in their community. These local examples—whether shown on-site or highlighted during office meetings—are absolutely critical to helping them understand your work and make issues more relevant to them. Representatives in particular view so many issues through a local prism and devote the greatest amount of time and energy to issues that are most relevant to their constituents and district. If we do not make these local connections, it will be challenging to engage a growing number of members of Congress as advocates for ASLA’s policy agenda.

The following briefly summarizes the key messages ASLA will communicate on May 4:

Security Design
The message will focus on some of the challenges and opportunities associated with designing and implementing perimeter security that is highly protective and maintains openness and freedom of movement, which are the hallmarks of our democracy and way of life. Specific points to be made include:

• Good design and effective security go hand in hand. The best designs emerge from multidisciplinary teams, including landscape architects, engineers, architects, law enforcement personnel, and planners.
• Investment in research and development and testing is required to spur innovation in perimeter security technologies and approaches.
• Threats must be comprehensively assessed and responses must be tailored to specific threats.
• Better planning and coordination among government agencies and between the public and private sectors is necessary to ensure the best designs and reduce duplicative spending and effort.

Disaster Response and Hazard Mitigation
The message will focus on Gulf Coast recovery and natural disasters most prevalent in that region because Congress as a whole is focused on this region and this disaster rather than all natural disasters. Participants will present specific recommendations from ASLA for restoring and rebuilding natural defenses, including wetlands and coastal ecosystems, and for mitigating some of the impacts of future disasters on families and communities.