October 2011 President's Message

Days are getting shorter. Kids are back in school. The sights and sounds of the autumn holidays are appearing.  These things, and others, remind us it is October and they give us that comfort of routine. Except your San Diego Section of ASCE has anything but routine in mind for this month and for the coming year.  

For starters, we are launching a new and revamped website in October.  With the dedicated input from your volunteer board members Steve Fitzwilliam and Emil Rudolph, along with Cathy Riley, our section’s executive secretary, our team of designers from the University of California San Diego has made our website more informative, easier to navigate and hopefully more useful to you.  Through the hard work of David Najera, David Jurado, Elaine Thai, Leonard Kim and Jeniene Knight, you’ll be able to view upcoming events for the section, quickly register for the luncheons  and stay in touch with us.  Check it out later this month, and, by all means, provide us your comments so we can continue to make it better!

We hope you will join us at our luncheon on October 25, 2011, to hear Richard Chavez, Principal Transportation Engineer from SanDAG, talk about the ins and outs of the Transnet Early Action Program.  Not only will it be informative, but you and your guest will be entered to win a prize for attending.  This is our small way of saying “thank you” for participating and supporting all of the good things that ASCE does for you and our community.

Our local Report Card update effort continues to move steadily forward under the strong leadership of Larry Pierce.  Larry and his team are in the process of gathering and analyzing the data for our local infrastructure. The team’s goal is to unveil the grades in March of 2012 so that elected officials and candidates can make informed decisions regarding our aging infrastructure.  Thank you to all who are dedicating your valuable time for this important initiative.

Recognizing that we need to find ways to extend the life of our infrastructure in ways that minimize impacts on our world, ASCE, along with American Public Works Association (APWA) and the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), is establishing a Sustainable Infrastructure and Natural Resource Management Committee.  Leading our efforts locally, Cory Jones is looking for people interested in this effort. It is an excellent opportunity to get involved early and shape the direction of this committee. Please contact us if you want to learn more about what Cory and his team is planning to do.  

Once we have the projects built and operating, the ones that endure the test of time (and use) should be recognized as engineering feats.  We have recognized several projects in the past, but many more are worthy and we want to credit the projects and those involved with making them a reality.  Past President Phil Kern has volunteered to lead this effort.  If you know of a project in the counties of San Diego and Imperial that has served the community well and provided flare to the occupation of civil engineering, please let Phil and us know about these projects so we can consider them in our efforts.  

These are just a few of the many things that your board has in mind for this year. I cannot reiterate enough how grateful I am to be part of an organization whose dedicated members have the energy to give these ideas life. The next time you see any of these people, please tell them “thank you.” If you have other ideas or just want more information, give us a call or send us an email; we would love to hear from you.  We look forward to seeing you at one of our events!