As indicated in my previous comments on LEEDuser, the 'USGBC Approved Program' is the big dealbreaker for me. The USGBC chose not to respond to my questions about it, and although I've heard from several people that they will not make any 'substantive changes' without member approval, I remain mistrustful. There are other issues that bother me, like the ACC influence in the MR Credits, but the 'USGBC Approved Program' looks like a very serious mistake to me.

The consensus process has been on a downhill slide since the Committees who used to write the Credits were disbanded. Staff took over the Credit writing, with 'input' from the TAGs, and final approval by senior staff (this process description is directly from staff). In the past couple of years they've added special advisors quietly selected by staff from the membership and the trade associations. Despite the best of intentions, the staff who are in charge of writing the Credits are simply too inexperienced on a practical project process level, lack the depth of technical knowledge needed, and are susceptible to undue influence from the dark side to take LEED to the next level in a workable version.

So now, in a effort to bypass those pesky members and streamline the process, we have 'USGBC Approved Program'. Surprise! Excluding the members from the development of the Credits and decisions about these god-knows-what programs will seriously harm the brand, but more importantly, it undermines the consensus process that LEED was built on. AND, inexplicably, they are sabotaging consensus while they are under intense attack for not having a consensus process. Do they think the other guys won't notice?

Voting yes because we feel sorry for them does not seem wise to me. I don't think we can fix it later. To me, voting yes is hastening the demise of LEED. I don't want to help them hurt the brand, and I don't want to willingly give up my power as a member.

For me - it's a solid NO. It won't be the end of the world if v4 doesn't pass this time. They'll have to fix it. It could be so much better if they would invite the members back into the Credit development process. Just imagine....