Ellen Barth Alster

Transportation at the Annual Meeting

ASLA staffLeave a comment
Canal Street in New Orleans image: Alexandra Hay
Canal Street in New Orleans
image: Alexandra Hay

PPN Live in New Orleans: Network. Learn. Have fun!

The ASLA Annual Meeting & EXPO is the place to connect with your Professional Practice Network (PPN) peers in person. If you’re coming to New Orleans, please join us for any or all of our events on the EXPO floor on Sunday, October 23:

PPN Live Session: Sunday, October 23, 9:15-10:00 AM, Jackson Square Meeting Room

The Transportation PPN Leadership Team will share updates on our work and highlight opportunities for you to share your expertise and expand your network through ASLA. In addition, Roxanne Blackwell, ASLA’s Director of Federal Government Affairs, will present the latest news on federal transportation legislation and advocacy. Have an idea for an education session for the 2017 Annual Meeting? We’ll connect PPN members with each other to plan for next year in Los Angeles. For one panel that teamed up last year after meeting in Chicago, it led to a successful education session proposal to present in New Orleans!

Network and Learn at the ASLA EXPO – Transportation Tour: Sunday, October 23, 1:00-2:00 PM, starting from PPN Live

Meet with Transportation PPN members and product exhibitors in a show floor tour that will provide 1.0 PDH (LA CES/non-HSW). The tour will offer the opportunity to learn about new and improved products and services for transportation-related projects. We’ve got a great lineup that includes Victor Stanley, Duo-Gard Industries, HessAmerica, and Custom Rock FormLiner. Sign up online to join us on the tour!

EXPO Reception featuring the PPNs: Sunday, October 23, 4:30 – 6:00 PM

Network with your peers at the EXPO Reception featuring the PPNs. It’s now free to all registered annual meeting attendees, and non-PPN members are welcome to attend. Be sure to stop by to get your PPN pin!

Continue reading →

When Did Scenic Quality Stop Mattering?

ASLA staff2 Comments
Figure 1: Broadway Boulevard and Wilmot Road in a busy commercial area of central Tucson, AZ. View to Rincon Mountains. image: Ellen Alster
Figure 1: Broadway Boulevard and Wilmot Road in a busy commercial area of Tucson, AZ. View to Rincon Mountains.
image: Ellen Alster

The Sonoran Desert area in and surrounding Tucson, Arizona has stunningly unique scenery: vivid bright blue skies, mountains that continually change hue depending on the light, and forests of saguaros that punctuate the horizon. Four mountain ranges surround the city: the Santa Catalinas to the north, the Tucson Mountains to the west, the Santa Ritas to the South, and the Rincon Mountains to the east. Even on Tucson’s most mundane streets, the mountains embrace the city, framing it on all sides. The spectacular native landscape should elicit the highest aspirations for the built environment. Yet it seems as if both leadership and citizenry have become numb to the beauty enveloping them, feeling powerless to take action against the changes occurring.

Southern Arizona’s signature skyline of saguaro cacti silhouettes is rapidly being usurped by the dark rusted steel poles newly dominating the horizon. They loom over urban, suburban, and rural landscapes as the electrical grid is replaced and upgraded (see figure 2).

Continue reading →