BIA Baldy View Members -
I had the privilege of serving the previous year as President of this fine Chapter. Unfortunately, when I begin my term, we were unable to kick off our celebration in person. Our 2021 Chapter Board was installed via a video conference event and the video was shared with our industry by way of a hyperlink. However, on December 9th, it was wonderful to finally gather in person with colleagues and friends for our 2021 Annual Awards and Installation Gala.
Our 2021 Gala theme "Better Together," is a simple expression representing several things to me.
For one, it is simply better to be together in person, reconnecting in 2021 after a long year or more apart. For another, it is a reminder of the fact that the solutions to many problems are better solved together with competing voices in a room and different perspectives being considered - all while listening with the intent to understand.
On global issues down to local issues, this seems to be a lost art. Whether it is the politics of the pandemic, or the strategy of sustainable development, people encircle themselves with those who share only their same beliefs. They yell and scream and have little to no desire to actually talk and attempt to solve a disagreement.
I won’t humor myself in thinking we are going to turn the tide on this overnight, but I believe we can eventually. I believe we can each make a conscious choice to do better and resolve to listen more, to turn off social media, to get our heels out from being dug in, and work towards solutions. I hope those who are on the other side of the issue, whatever that is, will be willing to do the same.
Within our home building industry, that applies as well.
We need to work together as an industry to help elect officials who will sit down with us and work with us on solutions for issues like traffic, GHG, affordability, and open space preservation. We need to collectively work to stop legislation that is written by one area of our state specifically for that one area - and then is imposed on the rest of our state. We need legislation to be flexible to work at all local levels throughout our state.
At the project level, we should be willing to proactively meet with our neighbors and communities and talk about issues that are concerning to them in an attempt to be good stewards of the land that we develop. But, when a project runs up against the wall of NIMBY-ism, our "Better Together" theme comes into play when we, as an industry, support each other’s projects and answer the call to action for support at Planning Commission and City Council meetings.
We have a tidal wave of challenges ahead of us as an industry, and with the strong leadership of BIA staff, we are being informed of those challenges and what we can do together better than ever.
In this new year, I ask and encourage of each of you to read BIA's emails, join the webinars, and recruit colleagues at your work and family in your homes to become advocates for our industry - and to listen more and argue less.
Please enjoy a safe and wonderful holiday season with your loved ones - and we look forward to seeing you once again in 2022.
For questions or more information on BIA Baldy View Chapter please email your questions to Senior Vice President Carlos Rodriguez at carlos@biabuild.com.
