Dear Members,

November is here! I hope everybody had a wonderful October and a great Halloween with family and friends last week.

October was another busy month for SEAOSC with numerous events as well as significant committee work! Between webinars, membership breakfast meeting in OC, in person SAP training and a structured connections event, we reached out across our SEAOSC region this month. For those that joined us, it was great to see you. If you missed these events, I hope to see you at another event very soon.

This week is the NCSEA Summit in Anaheim and I just got back from all day Board of Director meetings with our State Board as well as a joint board meeting with SEAOC and NCSEA. It is great to see leaders not only from across our state, but also from across the country. Both organizations are working hard to promote our profession and support our membership. From state committee work to national SE3 efforts to technical webinar content….. It was a day filled with lots of great ideas and effort to move our organizations forward. If you are interested in getting involved in either our local member organization (SEAOSC), state organization (SEAOC) or national organization (NCSEA), do not hesitate to reach out to me directly or any of our board members. There are lots of opportunities out there and not only is the work you do within the committees or groups rewarding and beneficial to our profession, but they are also tremendous opportunities for growth in your career!

Speaking of committees….. Our SEAOSC committees were also hard at work in October with regular meetings, event planning and provided some important policy support. We highlight our existing building committee this month which was focused on putting together the finishing touches on support of AC557 Acceptance Criteria Document for FRP Anchors. In collaboration between our EBC as well as our Board of Directors, we were able to vote and approve a measure to support the initiative and we were able to get this support in front of ICC ahead of their vote to pass the acceptance criteria document. This is exactly the type of collaboration that our members can put together which makes a direct impact on our profession. Great job to all those who were involved. The letter in support of the initiative can be found on our website.

We also have an amazing opportunity in Los Angeles right now with Adaptive Reuse. It’s a topic that is on the minds of many in our profession and there is significant movement to propose new amendments to the current adaptive reuse ordinance in the City of Los Angeles. Your executive director, John Bwarie, and I met last week with LADBS General Manager and Superintendent of Building, Osama Younan, to discuss a range of topics including our upcoming Northridge30 Symposium in January as well as Adaptive Reuse in Los Angeles. The City of LA is looking to SEAOSC to provide support and guidance on potential updates to structural provisions within the City of LA Adaptive Reuse ordinance. If you are passionate about this topic and have an interest in helping shape SEAOSC’s input on this critical topic in our city, please reach out and get involved. Several committees lead by the EBC are tackling this initiative and we can use the collective voice of our membership to create positive change in our community. Join us!

This month I highlight in my words to work and live by is the word patience. It's one of the words that's written on the note card that sits on my desk which I look at every day. Although I feel all the words on this note card are equally Important, sometimes I think this may be one of the most important. The projects we work on typically are not simple and straightforward. They take hours and hours of work where we spend time developing construction documents for a contractor to build the project. And even when we finish CD's, we have construction administration to go through before the project is truly done. That can take a couple of months to several decades. Patience is key for all of that. But this is also true in life. Many things don't happen at the blink of an eye. But oftentimes now with everything we have at our disposal in the age of information, it feels like things should happen in an instant. But the reality is that work, life or whatever it is you are tackling, usually takes time and patience is important. Typically, it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and it’s good to remember that.

As we move into November, we're still busy at SEAOSC and there are big programs ahead for us this month! We have already had a webinar on the use of viscous dampers in retrofits last week which I hope many of you enjoyed! And speaking again about the NCSEA Summit….. I hope I will see many of our members in person at this week’s NCSEA Annual Summit right here in Southern California. Not only is this in Anaheim and readily accessible for our members to attend, but SEAOC is also hosting a Welcome to California night (Tuesday…..TONIGHT!) for structural engineers from across the country (I hear there are literally hundreds signed up to attend!). Come on out! Later in November, our annual event with AIA in downtown LA occurs mid-month with a meeting on sustainability. And to cap off November, our annual Gingerbread Build is Nov 30-Dec 2nd. Don't miss this event at a new location in Tustin! It's sure to be an amazing event and I hope to see you there.

Have a wonderful November and a great Thanksgiving with your family and friends. And I look forward to talking to you again in December. And I hope to also see you at one of our events soon!

Best,

Craig Chamberlain, S.E.
SEAOSC President 2023-24