Category Archives: 2024 Articles

The Streatery perseveres

Recently the City has endured and rejected another attempt by a few local businesses to end the Streatery (SW First Ave between Main and the parking garage at SE Second St.) 

There are plans to launch a landscaping program in October 2025 that will provide places for electric hookups for festivals and markets. Designs also include planting six new trees along the corridor; 11 existing oaks will be preserved. See the Alachua Chronicle article “Downtown street to remain closed to traffic” at tinyurl.com/Iguana2119 for more info.

This is great news, and those that are interested and support this should stay active and watch for meetings and planning workshops. Seeing the area come alive with dancing, festivals, and art markets, as well as an open walkable area, mark it an as yet undeveloped urban park with much potential. 

Much credit on keeping vigilant for its preservation goes to the fine local business who regularly bring life to it,  especially Danny Hughes at Loosey’s and Jacob Larson at the Bull, and as well as the fine folks at How Bazar, lead by Laila Fakhoury, who have been bring many new and younger folks to downtown with their diverse variety of events and activities.

In memoriam: Remembering Joseph Little

by Penny Wheat

Those of us who serve the public, in any capacity, do not do so by ourselves alone. There are many friends, allies and supporters who have our backs with their various expertise, words of wisdom, and a kick in the pants when necessary.  Joe Little was just such a person for me.

Joe’s principled demeanor and public service advocacy served as a blueprint for my 16 years as an Alachua County Commissioner. A former Mayor of Gainesville, Joe was a public service mentor to many of us who were elected after he served. He was also the Professor of my law school Torts class, where he both scared the hell out of us students and  enchanted us with his numerous stories that cogently explained the ethical choices we would face in the legal world. 

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Vivian Filer, December’s Flying Pig Parade Grand Marshal

by Glenn Terry

Organizers of the Flying Pig Parade, Gainesville’s annual holiday fun fest, have announced that community leader, Vivian Filer will serve as Grand Marshal of the 2024 event.

The colorful procession is set to roll down SE 1 St. from Bo Diddley Park on Saturday, Dec. 28 at 2pm. Anyone can apply to enter a band or group by going to the event’s website, www.flyingpigparade.org.

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Tipping point for both environment and Cinema Verde Environmental Film Festival

by Trish Riley

Cinema Verde has brought international films about environmental challenges around the world to audiences here in Gainesville with our award-winning festival and now on our Cinema Verde Channel.

All of this has been made possible thanks to the tireless efforts of hundreds of student interns and volunteers, generous donors and community organizations. I am grateful for such support and relieved to know that so many in our community realize the importance of facing and fixing these problems.

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Amendment 4 falls short of supermajority needed for passage 

Floridians demand end to extreme abortion ban, as over 57% of voters call for repeal

by Yes on 4 Campaign

Floridians made their voices heard loud and clear, demanding an end to the state’s restrictive 6-week abortion ban. With 57% of voters calling on lawmakers to repeal this law, Amendment 4 fell just short of the 60% needed to overturn Florida’s near-total abortion ban. 

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Looking back, moving forward: The movement for Amendment 4

by National Women’s Liberation – Gainesville chapter, and The Gainesville Radical Reproductive Rights Network

The proposed Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion, known as Amendment 4, received majority support from Florida voters in the November election, but did not receive the required 60% support to become part of the Florida constitution. 

This means that Florida’s 6-week limit on abortion remains in place. 

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What’s Next? Thoughts from a first-time general election voter

By Stefanie Gadalean, Founder and President of UF League of Women Voters

As a first-time voter in a general election, I felt the weight my pen carried filling out my ballot. This election season prompted me to wonder how generations to follow will view the times of the present. Will our future generations look at the remainder of the 2020s as a dark period, or will they be inspired by the resilience of the American people in their pursuit of progress? 

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The history of Florida’s 60% amendment threshold

The 60% threshold seems to make Florida’s democracy less of a grassroots-based system in a state that has seemingly no end to its Republican supermajority

by Eric Atria

Florida voters recently decided the fate of 6 proposed constitutional amendments, the most significant of which was Amendment 4, seeking to secure a woman’s right to have an abortion. While 57.2% of voters chose to support this amendment (startling considering 56% of Florida voters chose Trump), it failed because it did not meet the required threshold of 60%. In the aftermath of the 2024 election, many have been left wondering, why does Florida require 60% to approve a constitutional amendment? 

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Election reflections

by Joe Courter

Our little Blue Dot county ran strong in the last election, with Mary Alford and Anna Prizzia both winning, and the local ballot initiatives all doing well, too. It goes to show we have a certain community vibrancy that has built up over the decades, and we should be proud of that. 

The Sheriff’s race was extremely close, and required a mandatory recount as it was within .5%, but it came out fine. I personally underestimated our blue wave and the turn out for Chad Scott, and we no doubt alienated some folks with giving partial support to No Party candidate Pam Koons, which contributed to that race being so close, but she kept showing up and sharing a positive, needed message, and deserved some credit for doing so. 

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From the publisher: Well, that happened …

by Joe Courter

I did not expect it to come out that way, but there it is, profound evidence of the varied information bubbles we all live in now. Once I saw the numbers piling up the evening of Nov. 5, I knew we had entered a new and perilous period of history.

This one was not like the feeling of profound sadness and shock I felt in 2016. No tears, just a grim dark feeling of horror that so many fellow citizens would choose Trump over Harris in spite of all we knew about him, his history, and the battle plan of Project 2025, and that here in Florida that 60% threshold for abortion rights was too steep. A double whammy of bad news.

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Celebrating our victories where we earned them

by Bobby Mermer

Election night was a rough one for progressives and Democrats on the national level. We worked hard here in Alachua County and should be proud of our historic 85% turnout. We were one of only five blue counties in Florida, despite facing national headwinds like inflation. 

Here in our solidly blue island in north central Florida there is a lot to celebrate. Our values are clearly on display as we easily re-elected Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton over an election denier propped up by the local Republican Party. We renewed the One Mill for schools, showing we value well-funded schools to offset continued cuts and privatization attempts from Tallahassee.

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November/December 2024 Gainesville Iguana

The November/December issue of the Iguana is now available, and you can access it here! If you want to get your hands on a hard copy, check out our distro locations here.

Editors’ picks: all the news that didn’t fit

ACLU responds to election of Donald Trump
by ACLU ~ Nov. 6 ~ tinyurl.com/Iguana2098
“At the ACLU, we’re clear-eyed about the chaos and destruction a second Trump administration will cause to our nation. That’s why we’re done with handwringing, admiring the problem, or waiting anxiously to see which unlawful action President-elect Trump will take on Day One. We are ready to take action the minute Trump takes the oath of office.”

Earth’s water cycle off balance for ‘first time in human history’
by Julia Conley ~ Common Dreams ~ Oct. 18 ~ tinyurl.com/Iguana2099
Decades of mismanagement of water resources and the fossil fuel-driven crisis of global warming have put “unprecedented stress” on the Earth’s water systems, and have thrown the world’s hydrological cycle out of balance “for the first time in human history.”

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Election Day Cheat Sheet: Iguana Endorsements

Here is your helpful guide to voting. Please vote all the way down the ballot, your voice is loudest the more local you get. We strongly lean Democrat in party races. 

Note that Alachua County Commission races are newly single district, so you may have no County Commissioners, or one of the two we list. Later in the ballot you have the chance to vote on returning us to at large voting for County Commission. 

You will also find two names under Sheriff, the Democrat, Chad Scott, and No Party Pamela Marshall-Koons. Pam has a mental health and social justice background, and has added a lot to our community, and to the candidate forums, and should be recognized for that.

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UF faculty supports the UF 9

by Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons

I write as a retired University of Florida Professor and a long time civil rights and peace and justice activist in support of the courageous UF students who joined with thousands of students across the U.S. (Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and non-religious) to protest Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and the ethnic cleansing and occupation of Palestinians in all of Palestine. 

In a country which claims to uphold the right to free speech, free expression of views, the right to peacefully assemble and to protest wrongs, what has happened to the UF Students (known as the UF 9) and many across the U.S. shows that this is not the case. 

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‘It Can’t Happen Here,’ a play about democracy

Oct. 7, 14, and Nov. 4

You are invited to attend a performance of “It Can’t Happen Here,” a radio play based on the 1935 book by Sinclair Lewis. The production is produced by Actors’ Warehouse and sponsored by the Social Justice Council of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Gainesville.

Performances on Oct. 7 and 14 and Nov. 4, starting at 7:30, will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Gainesville at 4225 NW 34th Street.

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Cut the B__ S__!  Tell it like it is!

by Bill Gilbert

Our Republic does not have a people’s representative democracy!

If we did, we would not have the following protracted economic, environmental, and social problems. 

Among the industrialized nations we are: number one in prison population with 2.3 million people incarcerated, first in teen birth rates, and some of the highest rates of STD’s, first in illiteracy, poverty, racism, homelessness, income disparity, child hunger, child poverty, drug use and drug related deaths, use of antidepressants, violence, firearms deaths, not providing access to health care for all of our citizens, not providing child care for working parents, the most military spending, hazardous waste production, recorded rapes, and the poor quality of its public schools, and lowest in life expectancy. This is warp-speed decline.  

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Vote NO on Amendment 2

by Tim Martin

With so much at stake in this upcoming election, it’s understandable if Amendment 2 hasn’t caught your attention. This proposal seeks to enshrine the right to hunt and fish in Florida’s state constitution. While it might appear to be a harmless endorsement of outdoor traditions, a closer examination reveals significant concerns that should prompt you to vote against it.

Potential Opening of Conservation Lands

One of the most concerning aspects of Amendment 2 is the potential pressure to open public conservation lands to hunting. Currently, many state parks, preserves, gopher tortoise mitigation areas, some state forest lands, and water management district (WMD) lands are off-limits to hunters. This amendment could create legal and public pressure to allow hunting in these areas, jeopardizing the safety and tranquility of spaces crucial for wildlife preservation. Non-hunting outdoor enthusiasts such as hikers, bird watchers, and families seeking recreational activities would likely face increased risks and reduced enjoyment if these areas are opened to hunting.

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Candy Birch, of League of Women Voters, to speak on six Amendment proposals to Florida Constitution

by Jay Whitehead, President, Florida Free Speech Forum

We hope everyone made it through the storm safely. We hope you will join members of the Florida Free Speech Forum for our Oct. 14 meeting, full of important information just in time for the upcoming election. We will again be meeting at the Institute of Culinary Arts at Eastside High School at our usual time, 11:30am. 

Our speaker this month will be Candy Birch with The League of Women Voters of Alachua County. She will discuss the six Amendment proposals to the Florida Constitution that will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot.

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Prevention first: A new vision for safety in Alachua County 

by Pamela Koons, Candidate for Alachua County Sheriff

“Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.” Psalm 119:165. This verse is the first line in the book I wrote, “The Art of Forgiveness – An Expression of Peace.” Little did I know it would become my mantra during this campaign for Alachua County Sheriff. It reminds me to stay grounded, focused on serving the public, and to seek peace even in the midst of challenging moments. 

With over 30 years of public policy experience – working on transportation, healthcare, housing, and economic development initiatives and serving as Chief of Staff for the Mayor in one of the nation’s largest counties – I’ve seen firsthand what it takes to run an efficient, safe, and fiscally responsible operation. I helped to manage a $1.2 billion budget, but my key takeaway has always been about people. We must put people over politics. Which is why I chose to run as an independent candidate. Safety isn’t about politics, it’s about protecting people. It’s a fundamental issue that affects us all. This campaign has only reinforced that belief. 

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