By: Gerri Kielhofner, AIA, LEED AP

The next day at Grassroots started off with attending a breakfast with our peer groups - other components in the country that have similar size chapters. This breakfast meeting was probably the best one I've attended in the three years. Many people shared examples of what their chapters do to serve their members and make their chapters the best they can be. The second half of the morning, I attended a meeting where we discussed how to be a better leader. The best part of this seminar was how we learned that in a confrontation with people, it is better to say "and" instead of "but." For instance, instead of saying, "I'm sorry to hear that you don't agree with me, but you really are wrong," it is better to say, "I'm sorry to hear that you don't agree with me, and I hope in the future we can come to some sort of agreement on the issue."

I had an interesting lunch discussion with several architects from Nebraska about our Springfield architects wanting the Springfield Public School staff to choose a local architect for one of our major school renovation projects. At first, they were sure that since we had done work in other states, that we had no business asking for local selection; however, when I pointed out the difference is the source of the money for these projects and how we want local tax dollars to stay local, they were nodding their heads. They also respected the fact that we had not tried to make the Nebraska firm the school chose look bad nor cast any mud upon their reputation.

My afternoon seminar was not as helpful.  A chapter the exact size as ours discussed how they had increased their revenue and membership by holding design charrettes.  They also allow members to have a reduced membership rate if they agree to do volunteer work for the chapter.  They are obviously very successful.  They have a operating budget of around $80,000, more than twice what our chapter survives on.

Instead of going home Friday night as planned, we ended up walking to dinner at the DC Chophouse.  The snow had started around noon, but it really hadn’t started sticking too much yet.  We did get our feet wet from the slush because we hadn’t brought waterproof shoes!  Dinner was delicious, as well as their home brewed Oatmeal Stout beer.  Little did we know that our stay was going to be extended much longer than expected!

By 8 am Saturday morning, the snow had accumulated to around 16 to 20 inches outside our hotel.  The city had come to a halt, and nothing was open!  We were informed by the concierge that only two museums were open – a wax museum and the News Museum.  We elected to visit the News Museum, which happened to be a very smart idea.  This museum features the history of the news in the United States and it was extremely interesting.  Brad and I stayed all day almost until they closed at 5 pm.  They have several movies tucked into corners throughout the museum, but the two parts I liked best were the displays on 911 and the Pulitzer Prize Photos. 

There’s not much to say about the next two days.  Our flights kept getting delayed longer and longer.  I spent numerous hours on the phone trying to get earlier flights.  My in-laws who had been watching the kids generously offered to stay longer.  We had no options as far as site seeing; however, there were several restaurants open.  We didn’t have any snow boots (or stores open to buy them until Monday) and so every time we went walking to eat, our feet got soaked and cold.  They had cleared the streets and the sidewalks, however, there were few good paths between the streets and the sidewalks.  Luckily there was a Borders Bookstore three blocks away to get some books to read and Brad enjoyed the hotel health spa for a couple of hours one afternoon. 

Finally on Tuesday morning, we headed to the airport by taxi because the Metro was still not running all the way out to the airport.  We’d already heard that another snow storm was coming and we knew Chicago was already having snow.  I really think it was a miracle that we got out of there.  Our flight out of DC was delayed for almost an hour, so we didn’t fly out until around 11 am.  My cousin told me later that at noon they started shutting the airport in DC down because another snow storm had started!  Chicago had several flights that were cancelled, but luckily ours was not.  We landed in Springfield at 3:30 pm that afternoon, happy to be home.  What an adventure! 

By: Gerri Kielhofner, AIA, LEED AP

Our next scheduled visit with Senator McCaskill wasn't until 2:30 pm, so we decided to visit the Holocaust Museum. It had taken us quite awhile to walk there, so we had an early lunch at their cafe. In the museum, we didn't take any guided tours but just wandered through the different sections and admired the architecture of the museum itself. There were some really cool details of steel, concrete and glass interconnected in ways I had never seen before. The museum content itself was obviously very sad. Brandon and I had to go to our next visit, but Brad ended up saying and spending a lot more time exploring. He said the permanent display had some recorded interviews about their experiences that made him cry.

Brandon and I were running late and ended up taking a taxi to the Hart Senate Office Building. The mountain and clouds sculpture in the center atrium is really cool. Senator McCaskill was not available to meet with us; however, her staff person Clark spent a long time with us discussing our blueprint and issues. Several other architects from Missouri were able to go with us for this meeting and I think that always makes a better impact on the congressperson.

One always hears that the staff members are the better audience to voice your concerns because the representatives and senators have so much to deal with. I can only guess that the staff listen to several different lobbyists and then give their bosses a condensed version of everything that was said, saving the reps and senators time. I'm ok with that as long as the message does reach them!

By this time, Brandon and I were really tired from having walked around most of the day. We headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for our visit to the AIA Institute office building, located in the Octogon. Before we left though, we got the word that our airline flights were being delayed due to the threat of 30 inches of snow coming through the next day through Saturday. We couldn't believe it. It hadn't even started snowing yet!

Brad and I went out to eat at a restaurant we always try to go to when we're in DC - Old Ebbet Grille. It's located close to the US Treasury on 15th Street (our hotel was on 11th Street). It's been very cold every time we visit DC, but we enjoy walking as much as possible. We then walked to the AIA Institute, several more blocks away. I met the AIA legal representative that I had spoken to over the phone concerning a couple of issues for our chapter. It's always nice to put a face to a name. We decided to ride the bus back to the hotel.

By: Gerri Kielhofner, AIA, LEED AP

Our local AIA Chapter, like most chapters throughout the United States, sends their president and president-elect to the annual Grassroots Conference held in Washington DC each February. I had the privilege of attending Grassroots for two years already due to the fact that our president-elect two years ago couldn’t go. Last year I went as president-elect and this year I attended as our component president.  Even though I’ve attended two previous conferences, I still felt unprepared for the Capital Hill visits, which are a major part of this conference.  Who really knows what to say to a politician, and will it really make any difference?  More on that later.

My husband Brad goes along with me every year, so we booked our flights and made it to Ronald Reagan International Airport around 3:30 pm.  We always take the Metro to our hotel, the Grand Hyatt, in downtown DC.  I haven’t been to very many major cities with rail systems, but the DC Metro is very clean and pretty sophisticated.  Blinking lights warn passengers waiting at each station when the train is approaching.  A live person sits on each train and announces destinations and makes other pertinent announcements.  The people are friendly enough for the city, and we’ve never met someone we were uncomfortable riding with on the train. 

Anyway, we checked into the Hyatt and immediately turned around and went back past the airport Metro Station to the King St. Station where my Mom’s cousin and her husband picked us up and took us to eat in Old Town Alexandria.  This district is amazing.  Numerous restaurants, shops, historic houses and townhomes, office buildings, etc. inhabit blocks and blocks of historical brick buildings that have been renovated.  I’m pretty sure I couldn’t afford to live in the area, but the restaurants are relatively inexpensive and good.  The last time we visited, my cousin took us to lunch at one of the oldest buildings in the district that used to serve as a social hall.  George Washington had actually attended social events in this building!  This time we went to Union Street Public House.  The trout was delicious!

After a long day of traveling, we were ready to head back to the hotel and get some sleep.  Thursday morning, Brad rose early and did his usual jog around the Mall between the United States Capital and Lincoln Memorial.  Needless to say, it was cold.  I got up and went to the 7 am breakfast at Grassroots and met some other component leaders from the Central States region.  Brandon Dake, our chapter president-elect, and I left for our visit with Representative Roy Blunt at 8:15 am.  We took the Metro to the South Capital station and walked the rest of the way to the Rayburn Building.  Every Federal Building in DC requires that you go through security now in order to enter.  Luckily it’s not as bad as the airports, so we didn’t have to take off our shoes.  You do have to take off coats and put everything you’re carrying through the xray machine. 

The Rayburn Building has a huge number of occupants and of course we got a little bit lost finding Representative Blunt’s office, but we made it on time for our 9 am appointment.  We were immediately greeted by Rep. Blunt’s staff member who sat down with us and asked us numerous questions.  Brandon and I had a list of issues that we were given by the AIA to present to the representatives and senators.  They also gave us a large “blueprint” of issues that we left for everyone we met with.  After a few minutes, Rep. Blunt joined us also.  I met with Rep. Blunt last year during our Capital Hill visits and he is always willing to sit and listen to our concerns and issues.  I can’t remember everything we discussed, but I felt like he sincerely listened.  I had also brought along some letters that members of our chapter had written to Rep. Blunt, telling him of how bad the situation is for the profession and that we hope that congress will do something to help ease the lending restrictions that are preventing people from getting loans for construction projects.  In no time at all, our meeting was over and we were headed out the door. 

Check back next week for Part II of my Washington DC trip (including some cool photos of DC during the snowstorm)!