Finally addressing the entrenched social problem of architect-perpetrated crime? Or just the security state running mindlessly forward on its own momentum? David Lancaster of the Texas Society of Architects told a trade newspaper that his group “believed fighting the legislation would be ‘futile.'” [Mike Riggs, Atlantic Cities]
6 Comments
Well, if a building falls down, how else are they supposed to figure out who designed it if the can’t match the fingerprints on the blueprints?
/sarc
Hey, have you seen the work of all these architects who think if Frank Gehry can do it (he can’t), so can they (they can’t)?
Bob
This is almost surely about a private company providing “fingerprinting” services at obscene mark up. In NJ it is Morphea. I have been fingerprinted twice, once for a medical liscence and once for a community volunteer. I suspect theses companies provide a lot of contributions. I also suspect a very low yield
Matt,
If the building falls down, you go after the Structural Engineer, not the Architect.
@Matt: Who built a building and all of the engineers that helped are a matter of public record.
From the linked article it appears a criminal background check of some kind was already required. If this is the case, then wingeing about the fingerprints – a standard component of effective background checks — seems late to the party. That horse left a long time ago. Did the various society of architects ever oppose background checks, or do they just (now) oppose making implementation of background checks more effective?
I’d also be curious to see if the architectural societies have supported or even pushed for licensing by the government, or ever made an effort to remove licensing from government purview. Licensing schemes in general sometimes (often?) seem to have the taint of trying to squelch competition (say, by out-of-state competitors). If so, seeing someone getting hoisted on his own licensing petard elicits some amusement.
I suspect Texas is ripe for some house-cleaning in the vocational licensing arena. For example, to get a cosmetologist license requires 1500 hours of training. !! I could go for a state health requirement that a cosmetologist knows some basic hygiene, like how to effectvely clean tools between customers, but I can’t believe that takes 1500 hours. I don’t doubt it takes some training and skill to be an good cosmetologist, I just don’t see the state having any interest in that beyond making sure basic health and safety requirements are met.