David Callahan: Planning to solve problems

David Callahan is Kootenai County's new director of community development. A San Antonio native, Callahan started work here in November of last year after holding a similar position in Fort Morgan, Colo.

If you had it to do over, what would you do with your life?

I'd be a jazz pianist. Jazz is one of the art forms that is cerebral while being all at once emotional. It can reach people in a way that gets to them on multiple levels.

After high school, I was already in the jazz program at University of Texas, Austin, when I realized I had to switch careers. When I saw talent like Lyle Mays and others of that caliber barely eking out an existence, I realized there was some real competition out there and that I wasn't really that talented. I decided that my strengths were in other areas.

How did you learn about landscape architecture as a possible career?

I had some vocational counseling while I was in junior college and that was when the idea of landscape architecture first popped up.

At the same time, my best friend was at Texas Tech and Texas Tech, as it turned out, also had a good landscape architecture program. Oh, and I wanted to get as far away from home as I could and still stay in Texas.

Sounds like the educational equivalent of the trifecta. Do you think you made the right choice?

In the end, I was thrilled with the idea of being a designer. I was at the top of my class and very good at it. It was something entirely new and I positively sank into it and embraced it. I figured I would be a practicing landscape architect for the rest of my life.

What do landscape architects do?

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David Callahan: Planning to solve problems