First of all, it may be a month or two before all the industries that seemed to fall apart after Labor Day start to mend. Housing, Energy, Banking, Mortgage, and Automobiles certainly are major parts of the U.S. economy. I think one of the reasons they all fell apart was the country was also stuck in the uncertainty of an election year.

Now that the election has been settled, the bailouts have begun, the interest rates have been lowered, and the peak retail season is behind us, I think uncertainty is basically over and everyone has an idea of what it will take to begin climbing back up the ladder to prosperity.

I have a few friends in the mortgage industry, and every one of them is swamped with refinancing applications. While a great deal of their business is refinancing existing fixed loans there is certainly a large percentage that are fixing their broken adjustable loans. With interest rates low and banks renegotiating with upside-down homeowners, the market will stabilize and open the door to new and existing home sales.

I don?EUR??,,????'???t really understand the auto industry, so for me that part is hard to predict, but I do know the direction of automobile manufacturing is changing from fun to drive cars to cars that drive themselves. With the technology advantages the United States enjoys this could very well put that industry back in the driver?EUR??,,????'???s seat of the industry . . . Even though there may no longer be a driver?EUR??,,????'???s seat in the cars that today?EUR??,,????'???s kindergarteners will be driving when they come of age.

In any event, 2009 will be the year things start to head back upward for the landscape industry. LASN?EUR??,,????'???s sister publication, Landscape Contractor National, recently asked several of the nations largest landscape contractor and maintenance companies about their outlook for 2009 and almost all concurred that construction will begin to pick up in the spring and will be solid, if not super, by mid-summer.

In the mean time, now is a great time to review your company goals and objectives and look closely at your personnel to make sure you have the best team possible to get you through the first part of the year and help you accelerate into the years ahead.

Now is also the time for the ASLA to refocus its efforts on promoting the profession and competing for markets.

Arenas like erosion control, irrigation design, landscape maintenance planning, construction supervision, land planning and wetland preservation are legitimate domains of the landscape architect. Still, with less work to go around, they are fringe elements that attract competition.

Landscape designers are fighting for more authority. Architects are planning parks and downtown streetscapes. Engineers are designing for erosion control and wetland preservation projects . . . (Yeah, build a levy in a straight line for two miles . . . beautiful . . .). Everybody and their brothers are designing ?EUR??,,????'??Smart Irrigation?EUR??,,????'??? plans . . .

Remember . . . We still need licensure in that 50th state (Vermont) to make it official as well.

Yes, now is the time for the ASLA to really kick it in gear to secure and expand your position in the construction and preservation industries. Sure, technological advancements, scholarship funds and university enrollment are all important aspects of the ASLA?EUR??,,????'???s work, but now, more than ever, the society needs to focus on preserving your role in design and planning.

You have to know that the AIA, ASCE, APA, ASIC, PLANET and IECA are all vying for their share of this smaller market. Any ground lost during these times will be very difficult to regain in the years ahead. Every one of those aforementioned associations wants their members to be known as ?EUR??,,????'??the?EUR??,,????'??? leaders in ?EUR??,,????'??Green Development.?EUR??,,????'?? Still you, Landscape Architects, due to the great effort of the ASLA over the past decade, are in the best position to take hold of that lead and secure it for decades to come.

However, it will not be handed to you by the other guys. Rest assured, whether they admit it publicly, they want your revenue going their way, especially over the next year or two . . .

The ASLA has developed into a great association (OK . . . Society) so take the time to remind your representatives that what has been fought for and won can also be lost . . .

Yes . . . 2009 will be fine, but do take the time to remind the front line to focus their minds and then realign those parts of the profession that are yours . . .

?EUR??,,????'??+God Bless