Announcements

Next Meeting

Reservation Deadline for September 26th meeting – Monday (Noon), September 19th

Location:

Independence Holiday Inn, 4th and Arch Streets, Philadelphia, PA (5:30 p.m. Social Time, 6:15 p.m. Dinner, 7:00 p.m. Business and Program)

GET NOTICED! — Advertising in the Newsletter is a great way to get noticed, Full page, Half page and business card sizes available. Please contact Wally Bates for more details.

ADVERTISERS — If you prefer your ad appear in color, please e-mail a color .pdf or .jpg version. Send your color ad file to Wally Bates wbates@tnemec.com or contact him at 610-551-3713.

Philadelphia Chapter Construction Specifications Institute Golf Outing

Benefiting the Charter High School for Architecture + Design

When:

Monday, September 12, 2011
11:00 AM – Registration
12:00 PM – Shotgun Start
5:00 PM – Dinner

Where:

Makefield Highlands Golf Club
1418 Woodside Road
Yardley, PA 19067
“Come experience the beauty of one of Bucks County’s finest golf courses while helping to support a worthy cause.”

Event Includes:

Greens Fee, Cart, Lunch, Dinner, Driving Range, Prizes

Greens Fees:

Per Person – $150
Foursome – $575

Sponsor Opportunities:

Hole Sponsor – $300
Beverage Cart – $500
Golf Ball Logo – $500
Dinner – $1000

Questions or Additional Information:

Contact Mark Kennedy
215-321-5300
mark@constructionsalesgroup.com

The President’s View

First: Mark your cal- endars, and sign up for the chapter golf outing September 12 at Makefield High- lands in Yardley, PA. Proceeds benefit the Charter High School for Architecture and Design (CHAD).
We’re off! Our chapter is starting a new fiscal year under new leadership. Not the result of a coup, but rather a very smooth transition. Most characters helping lead our Chapter are familiar, having been actively involved for years. As president, I want to welcome our newcomers to the Board of Directors: Al Kleinschmidt, Jennifer Faller, and Chris Lalonde. Thank you for serving our Chapter.
Although we are in the midst of one of the hottest summers, I remember (my memory tends to get fuzzy at times), the Board met twice, electronically, to plan this coming year. Everyone contributed and endured the 2-hour conference calls. Not an easy task, considering the potential distractions when not meeting face to face.

We brainstormed ideas and I believe we found some excellent potential to invigorate the Chapter. Some ideas will be implemented immediately. Some must be developed more before we can im- plement them.
We brainstormed ideas and I believe we found some excellent potential to invigorate the Chapter.
Some ideas will be implemented immediately. Some must be developed more before we can im- plement them. Sara Sweeney will assemble a chapter calendar. The calendar will allow current and future leaders to know what is expected and when it must be completed. The calendar will include deadlines for all regular Chapter, Region, and Institute events. Submit your deadline information to Sara.
Steve Lawrey will be leading an effort to engage past Chapter presidents. A new forum will be start- ed on the Chapter Basecamp site to begin discus- sions with all past presidents. Their experience, wisdom, and ideas will be captured and shared with this and future Boards of Directors.
The Chapter will offer monthly programs that will earn AIA continuing education credits to be sure architects have another reason to attend. The Chapter renewed its status as an AIA CES Provider. We will submit programs to AIA to ensure credits are available, when programs are not registered by the presenters.

The discussions abut member engagement were the most detailed and resulted in extensive ideas
that must be developed to be sure they are viable. I believe some ideas will survive and will be imple- mented later this year or next. Stay tuned, more later.
The Chapter meeting bartender will be back. We experimented this past year to help reduce meeting costs. Our Members have spoken. The Board heard you and believes that keeping Mem- bers together in a single room is the most im- portant thing the Chapter can do. So the bartender is back.
Matt McMonagle and Steve Lawrey are reviewing the Chapter Bylaws. Because the Institute approved revisions to the member classifications, the Chapter Bylaws must be revised to be consistent. We will be making corrections to replace requirements for Professional and Industry members with Profes- sional members. We will also suggest changes if needed to permit electronic communications and meetings.
Be sure to check the new and improved Chapter Website http://www.csiphila.org. Thanks to Darv Dombach for updating and maintaining the web- site. Darv and Wally Bates will be working to coor- dinate the website and newsletter Chapter brand. So watch as both evolve.

And finally, a request. I ask that each Chapter member add a friend to our Chapter mailing list. We want to be sure the Philadelphia construction community, not just our members, knows about our Chapter’s events. Send one name with an email address to Wally Bates at wbates@tnemec.com.

 NO. 136

CONCERN v. SUSPICION

by Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI, CDT Cincinnati, OH

I guess it’s a tough choice, even if you make it with- out really thinking!
Some person, circumstance or issue may come to CONCERN you, in that you feel it is unfair, inappro- priate, improper, marginally legal, or not to your thinking or perhaps your best interest. Your concern is seated in the fact that you really don’t know all of the details of the dilemma, nor the influence or out- come it may produce.

Oddly enough, most concern is an inward expression, where you mull or perhaps fester, basically in si- lence. Your antennas are up as you try to “inhale” more information, and added details of the occur- rence. Sort of silent intelligence gathering!

Concern can take hold most any place from small [even family] groups or settings all the way to large groups, of regional, national or even international breadth. Of course, you can come to resolution of your concern far easier in the small group, as you can gather enough insight, quickly to form your opinion, solution or course of action. Too, it is eminently easi- er to express your conclusion and see a reaction if not a result.

But even in the home, concern can escalate to suspi- cion. The measure, it seems, is severity of the circum- stances. You may be concerned about your teen be- ing exposed to unsavory “others”, and the influence they may have on yours. But if you see some change in your teen, your demeanor “jumps” to suspicion– immediately and perhaps unfairly—that your teen has taken to embracing some of that to which they have been exposed. [Yes, this alludes to drugs, drink- ing, illegal activity, pre-marital sex, etc.] It is the level of hazard, so to speak that elevates your thoughts.

Outside the home, and particularly in situations where you have little control, this moves to a suspi- cion sequence of increased irritation, greater lack of control, and a feeling helplessness– you are in a situ- ation that impacts you, causes you concern, and over which you have virtually no control. Not good!

This may be job related, where you are part of a mas- sive corporate labor force. Your union [if there is one] may be of some help. But if you and every other employee is alone, your concern is steep, prickly and quite bothersome– and helplessness doesn’t help! You simply have to put up with things, and have no real way to change things or resolve them.

In large organizations [social, professional, or other- wise] much the same is present. You are one of thou- sands; sure, you vote for elected officers, but you really don’t know them; you “trust” them and can only hope they do the right things. You may be active and somewhat outspoken in your local unit, even in that more comfortable environment; you don’t have a lot of control or influence. Maybe you find a few similarly-minded folks, but your group is counted in tens, not thousands.

Still, you and your fellows are not “dumb”. Your posi- tion in the trenches gives you a very unique and in- sightful view of what is, and is not happening; of what the organization is missing, and how its direc- tion has become misdirected, or sadly, has never been developed. When your dues comes due, you pay, decrying the number of layers in the organiza- tion that each extract money from you– most of which you merely send and forget. You never know what your dues money really bought!

More and more your organization seems to be spin- ning in its own juices, and has no real direction to expand, improve, to better address local concerns[!], or to provide more service than previously. There is perhaps a national focus that is supported by locally collected dues, but which’s aimed at issues other than those dear to mere members.

You see no saving grace. Contacting others in various ways, shows their similar suspicions, and their impa- tience that the organization is “off-track”. This group grows, speaks, but due to its lack of cohesion, and organization, the voice goes unheard. Things swirl, but inertia remains; second agendas take place; ill- advised actions are taken under the guise of well- intentioned but poorly conceived efforts.

Eventually every such organization will profess that the individual members owe, or simply “are” the or- ganization. That statement rings hollow, if indeed there is a clapper in the bell. It may be true, but the organization ignores that resource. Input may not even be heard, or if heard, dismissed as too costly; never done before; why now!; or we tried that and its didn’t work 15 years ago. Should we, then, be con- cerned or suspicious?

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