February should be a great month! At our upcoming meeting, we will award the Tim Fleming Scholarship and welcome Brad Diede, ACEC-CA’s recently selected Executive Director. Brad will share ACEC-CA’s re-envisioning and strategic planning, as well as his vision and plan in his new role. To take the pulse of ACEC-CA, Brad will solicit feedback from, and dialogue with Chapter members. I hope you will attend the meeting if for nothing more than this. Our February meeting will also honor the Past Presidents of the Sierra Chapter. As the current president, I am aware of the effort required to keep ACEC-CA and the Chapter strong and to promote active and engaged members. February is also when Legislative Visit Day takes place. If you haven’t signed up, I hope you will. This is an opportunity for you to be engaged in the political process. ACEC’s mission of political engagement is not something that can be left solely to ACEC-CA staff and Board of Directors. It requires you! A December 9th article in The Zweig Letter, a weekly newsletter serving the architecture, engineering, and environmental professions, was about getting involved – about joining the public policy conversation. The engineering and surveying professions should not relinquish leadership to others in public policy debate related to our profession. The article asks “Are you a participant or a spectator?”
In my November newsletter message, I promised to be more politically aware, politically engaged, and politically active in the coming year. I have started delivering on that promise to you and to myself. I have researched state and national elected officials serving the Sacramento region to understand better the issues they support. I have signed up for news alerts from www.GovTrack.us to be aware of their voting. I also vowed to engage my local representatives. At the joint ACEC/APWA meeting in January, I had the opportunity of sitting next to the speaker, Assembly Member Roger Dickinson. I was not particularly knowledgeable of his voting record and where he stood on issues significant to ACEC, though I had read a few articles about legislation that he had recently sponsored. To learn more, I researched his voting record and policy statements, and found policies I support, those I oppose, and his support for some policies not favored by ACEC. I also learned that he was holding an open house the following week. Despite a hectic schedule, I took the time to attend. Although the open house was more of a kickoff event for Roger’s upcoming run for the California Senate, I was able to talk briefly with him and meet his District Representative, Susie Low. I have an appointment with Roger in a few weeks to discuss issues important to me and ACEC. If you, like me, have not been as politically engaged as you should, make the time – attend Legislative Visit Day, join one of ACEC-CA’s committees (you have until March 7th), and reach out to your representatives.
Will you be a spectator, or a participant?!
