In the November issue of Builder magazine,
p. 77, under the column heading, News Briefs, was the all-too-brief notice,
"Changes." It announced a Research Center management change due to
a "philosophy" difference between NAHB and the
Research Center . It left a lot to be explained. It must have been
a sharp difference of opinion to result in huge management
change.
Does anyone know what were the points of
disagreement? What political forces seized power here?
Why am I interested? I teach building and
architecture students at a community college. I have been following the
progress of PATH to keep abreast of new developments in industry, specifically
the changing paradigm of construction.
I have always respected the effort that PATH is
making on behalf of the industry and the public it
serves. So I want to know why NAHBRC
is being changed, and what will this mean in terms of the legitimacy of its
research. Can we expect "politically directed" research
results? I will have to revise my opinion of the value of the work of
the institution, based on this management change. So-----what
now?
Any GBList people who have history with NAHB might help me recall
something like this in the past--didn't they disband the whole energy
committee about 10--15 years ago?
Pat Ballentine
P.S. PATH--Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing is an effort
with DOE to develop the "Whole House and Building Process Redesign" to build
better homes faster and at lower
cost.
