Landscape Architects' Committee Spared

By Erik Skindrud, landscapearchitect.com

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is under fire from teachers, nurses and landscape architects for his aggressive cost-cutting proposals.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has withdrawn a controversial proposal that alarmed California's landscape architects and contractors by threatening to shut down a board and a committee that represent the professions.

The Landscape Architects Technical Committee (LATC) and the Contractor's State License Board (CSLB) were among 88 panels, boards and committees that the governor's California Performance Review recommended cutting last year. Eliminating the bodies could save close to $32 billion over five years, the review claimed at the time.

The proposal was then reviewed by the state's Little Hoover Commission advisory body, which concluded that cutting the committees would save a negligible amount.

Schwarzenegger withdrew the plan the week before the advisory commission was due to vote on it this March 23.

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Among those testifying against the proposal was David J. Mitchell, a San Jose landscape architect and current president of the California Council of the ASLA. At least 60 other landscape architects sent letters or emails opposing the committee-cutting plan.

Schwarzenegger's retreat makes it unlikely that any new legislative moves against the committee will be made this year, but it doesn't preclude a change of strategy on the governor's part.

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