In this issue:
· Archtober is Coming!
· AIANY Advocates for Proposed Changes to Lobbying Laws
· e-Calendar

Archtober is Coming!
Archtober is New York’s Architecture and Design Month, a festival of architectural design activities, programs, and exhibitions taking place throughout October. The official Archtober kick-off starts Saturday, Archtober 1, with the opening of the Archtober Lounge at 10am and the Building of the Day tour of the Center for Architecture at noon. The Center for Architecture Foundation will have an exhibition opening reception for Building Connections, from 3-5pm. AIANY President Margaret O’Donoghue Castillo, AIA, LEED AP will present the presidential-theme exhibition Buildings=Energy, in conjunction with the opening of Smarter Living — the 2,000-Watt Society, with a public reception from 7-9pm. Stay informed on all of the Archtober news by joining the Archtober Facebook group, following Archtober on Twitter @Archtober, and visiting www.Archtober.org. Thirty-five cultural and civic institutional partners have come together under the Archtober banner to celebrate NYC with architectural and design-related programming every day throughout the month. Download the Archtober Guide here.

AIANY Advocates for Proposed Changes to Lobbying Laws
By Jay Bond, AIANY Policy Director

AIA Advocacy is mobilizing its forces to protect the profession and to affect change in proposed lobbying laws that would make architects register as lobbyists with the New York City Clerk!

Margery Perlmutter, Esq., AIA, AIANY Director of Legislative Affairs; Rick Bell, FAIA, AIANY Executive Director; William Stein, FAIA, of Dattner Architects; Edward Applebome, President and CEO of AKRF; and Mark E. Strauss, FAIA, AICP, LEED AP, from FXFOWLE attended on behalf of the Chapter and presented testimony on the impact of the broad interpretation of the definition of lobbying as it applies to architects — who are required by law to appear as technical experts at hearings on nearly every development project. AIANY advocated that changes suggested by the NYC Lobbying Commission would result in an economic burden on the entire architecture industry in NYC, which includes more than 2,000 firms and nearly 5,000 architects. In addition, the commission is suggesting that clients of architects also register as being a client of a lobbyist, placing an incredible burden on countless others.

The NYC Lobbying Commission was appointed in February 2011 to review the city’s lobbying laws and make recommendations to the mayor and the city council that identify areas to strengthen the current laws.

Please contact Jay Bond, AIANY Policy Director, to help.

eCALENDAR
eCalendar includes an interactive listing of architectural events around NYC. Click the link to go to to eCalendar on the Web.