Category Archives: Articles

President, Representatives, Commissioners: Vote Democrat 

Judges: Yes to Lewis and Makar; No to others 

State Amendments: Yes on #2; No on #1, 3, 4; Leaning No on #5, 6 

County Referenda: All Yes 

Gainesville Referenda: All Yes 

by JoJo Sacks, CMC Coordinator

As we move into fall and remain at home during the pandemic, the Civic Media Center, though closed for events, has been putting together online programming to keep our community engaged. 

In September, volunteers organized our first virtual CMC book club, reading adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy. Organizers held a discussion about the need to stand for Black communities and against the gentrification of the historic Seminary Lane neighborhood. (See related story on page 9.)

Every Thursday: A Downtown Market is being hosted by Heartwood Soundstage at 619 S. Main St. on Thursdays from 4-7pm with music and vendors. Masking  and distancing is required. The first one was Oct. 1 and had a good turn-out with a similar vibe to the Wednesday Bo Diddley Market, which was suspended due to Covid. Not a lot of farmers at the first one, but it may grow. Other markets continue at Cypress & Grove on Mondays from 4-7pm, at Celebration Point on Wednesdays from 4-7 and Haile Plantation on Saturdays from 8:30am til noon.

Saturday, Oct. 17, in conjunction with the Women’s March in DC, a local Women’s March event will be held at Bo Diddley Plaza from 10 am until noon.

Sunday, Oct. 18 at 3pm, to mark the Civic Media Center’s 27th anniversary, Solidarity not Charity is a Zoom event on Mutual Aid, citing examples from history with the Black Panthers and others to current efforts in Gainesville. More information is listed in the article below.

Friday, Oct. 23, South Main Art Hub at 435 S.Main St. will host Spacial Inclinations, an indoor/outdoor socially distanced mask-requiring art show.  Parking and entry from SE 5th Ave.

Saturday, Oct. 24 features the UN association Zoom event (see page 14), and an actual outdoors out-of-town event at Rodman Dam on the Ocklawaha River (see page 10).

And of course this year no FEST, no theater, minimal live music, but Zoom meetings, blocked off city streets,  parks and nature remain … hang in there, we’ll get through this.

Jane Hiers [H], Jean Chalmers [C], Cora Roberson [R], Vivian Filer [F], and David Chalmers [DC] speak in April 2009 with interviewer Steve Davis about their time working with Gainesville Women for Equal Rights (GWER), one of the first integrated organizations in Gainesville. 

This is the 62nd in a series of transcript excerpts from the UF Samuel Proctor Oral History Program collection; other parts of this excerpt appeared in the July-August and September Iguanas.

Transcript edited by Pierce Butler.

C: Remember when we investigated the Department of Welfare? 

First, we found out that one of the county commissioners’ parents were on welfare. So we thought, “Well, we’d really like to look at the rolls and see who’s on welfare.” And we never could. I won’t mention her name, but every time we went, there was some reason we couldn’t see the rolls. 

by Jacob U. Gordon, Ph.D., Chair, UN Day 2020 Working Group, UNA*USA Gainesville

The United Nations was founded on Oct. 24, 1945 in San Francisco. Its purpose was to promote international cooperation after the devastating World Wars I and II.  

The Gainesville Chapter, United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA*USA) will commemorate the UN’s 75^th anniversary on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 9am to 1pm. This  program will take place as a virtual conference via Zoom, due to the coronavirus. This will allow us to have an international audience. 

by Hannah Jacobs

The Adam Christensen for Congress Campaign to fill the vacant seat in Florida’s 3rd district has become a powerful force in the progressive movement growing among all demographics. 

The campaign has been endorsed by prominent figures across the spectrum, including former presidential candidates Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang, as well as organizations No Dem Left Behind, Florida College Democrats, Humanity Forward, and the local chapter of Our Revolution. The support from social media followers and constituents in the district is proof of the traction Adam Christensen’s political philosophies have earned him. 

Be happy to know that Gainesville permanently dumped Columbus Day (a federal holiday since 1937) in 2018. We are the only city in Florida to have made the change.  No celebrations will occur this year due to Covid, but there very likely will be a proclamation at the Oct. 12 City Commission meeting and an acknowledgement on the City’s Facebook page. This all came about from the grassroots spearheaded by Sylvia Paluzzi, of Morning  Meadow Pre-School and Kindergarten working with the City Commission. Current Mayor Lauren Poe is supportive of bringing attention to the Native people who preceded us on this land, and has promised that in 2021, if we’re out of the pandemic woods by then, a series of City supported events will be held to mark this overlooked history.

by Jennifer Carr, President, Florida Defenders of the Environment

According to NOAA Fisheries, it is estimated that more than 2 million dams in the U.S., and even more culverts and other barriers, block fish from migrating upstream. This has contributed to the decline of many fish populations. 

It was recently mentioned in the Florida Specifier that the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership has an online prioritization tool for dam removal. The Rodman/Kirkpatrick ranks as one of the three highest priority dams for removal out of over 2,500 aquatic barriers in Florida, based on the amount of habitat to be gained and the condition of the watershed. 

by Neighbors Standing with Seminary Lane 

Once upon a time there was a beautiful neighborhood in the center of Gainesville. It was called Seminary Lane. 

It had a school (currently named A. Quinn Jones Education Center, soon to be renamed), barber and beauty shops, nurseries for children, mom and pop places to eat, locally owned funeral homes and a place where music played and people danced.

People thrived in their community. African-American people. They had homes they could afford in a place they loved. Having been pushed there during the Jim Crow area, they built a vibrant, diverse, historically African-American community which is now prey for developers seeking to build luxury student rental housing.

by Deidre Houchen, Member, Moratorium Committee

The City of Gainesville Commission is considering a moratorium on major development in historic and historically Black neighborhoods. On Oct. 15, they will meet again in what we expect will be another long discussion on the merits of this proposal. We urge the Commission to vote for a moratorium. We urge you to contact your commission to support this proposal. 

On Aug. 31, the City Commission voted to direct the City Attorney and the City Manager to come back to the Commission with the first draft of an ordinance to enact a moratorium for a period of time to be determined by the city attorney and city manager effective immediately, for major residential and non-residential development with a map of boundaries encompassing Fifth Ave, Pleasant Street, Springhill, Duckpond, Duval, Sugarhill, Porters, North Lincoln Heights, Oakview and Northeast Neighbors, not including Downtown.

by Nkwanda Jah

This fall, the Cultural Arts Coalition will introduce our Science Bus, an interactive Science experience for students throughout Alachua County. 

The exhibits aboard the bus are similar to those pioneered by Brian Jones of University of Colorado, Ft. Collins and his “Little Shop of Physics.” 

These exhibits have two main features: They capture and frame otherwise unusual physical phenomenon, and they will use inexpensive and readily available materials to construct demonstrations. 

by Joe Courter

So Trump and others in the administration tested positive. October Surprise #1. How this plays out regarding campaigning, debates and the election remains to be seen. I can’t help but wonder if we are being played. You, who are reading this now, know more than I do writing this on Oct. 2.

The University reopening has predictably led to many scenes of unmasked students clustered together at bars and on the sidewalks. We people who live in town and have been doing a good job of masking and distancing are rightly appalled. And not just for ourselves, but for the service workers, store workers, and university employees who may become infected due to the University’s decisions. Yes, they are covering their asses with strict rules on campus, but we in the community are suffering the consequences of the off-campus behavior.