What can we do to celebrate National Surveyors Week this year? We can stand up and be counted!
In November 2009, ACSM/NSPS Executive Director Curt Sumner sent a letter to the attention of Christina M. Tchen, Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. The letter was addressed to President Barack Obama, and in it the ACSM requested the issuance of a Presidential Proclamation establishing the third (3rd) full week in March as National Surveyors Week. The issuance of such a proclamation would satisfy the recommendations made in Senate Resolution 361, passed January 31, 2006, and House Concurrent Resolution 223, passed September 24, 2008. In early January, 2010, ACSM faxed a second (2nd) correspondence containing a copy of the request to the President as a follow up. To date no response has been forthcoming.
Let’s work together to make it happen this year!
Laurence Socci, the ACSM Governmental Affairs consultant, advises that neither snail mail nor email is desirable to use in this instance. Rather, a letter addressed to President Obama on company, state society, or personal letterhead and SENT BY FAX asking him to issue the proclamation requested by ACSM in their initial request letter of November 22, 2009, establishing National Surveyors Week as recommended in S. RES. 361 and H. CON. RES. 223 will merit attention.
Write your own, or revise the sample below, but make the contact!!
Date:
To:
President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama,
As President of the United States of America, you are following in the footsteps of some of the most prominent surveyors in American history. Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln all began their careers as land surveyors, which is why surveyors of today claim Mt. Rushmore as a monument to “three surveyors and another guy.” Surveyors have figured prominently in the development of this country from its inception down to the present day, from Banneker, Ellicott, Lewis, and Clark to Dave Doyle. Modern day surveyors are integral to the planning, development and construction of projects which are not simply subdivisions or housing projects, but which are designed to be and truly become real communities all across this great country. They are also helping to build and rebuild energy distribution systems and the nation’s infrastructure.
On behalf of (The American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, the National Society of Professional Surveyors, The Maryland Society of Surveyors, working surveyors across this nation) I (we) respectfully request, in accordance with the recommendations made in Senate Resolution 361, passed January 31, 2006, and House Concurrent Resolution 223, passed September 24, 2008, that you direct your office to prepare and issue a Presidential Proclamation establishing the third (3rd) full week in March as National Surveyors Week, which this year will be celebrated March 21-27. This request is being made in support of a similar request contained in a letter addressed to you and sent in November, 2009, by Curt Sumner, Executive Director of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping and the National Society of Professional Surveyors, to the attention of Christina M. Tchen, Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Thank you for your kind consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,
(Your Name and title)
Send by fax to:
Christina M. Tchen, Director
White House Office of Public Engagement
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Fax: 202-456-2461
Be cordial, polite and professional, and BE COUNTED. What can we do to raise public awareness of surveying and surveyors? This is a way to start!
Thank you for your support.
John Matonich
President, National Society of Professional Surveyors
Photo: Kevin Eilbeck Photography