Category Archives: Articles

At least 40 people protested at the Publix at the corner of University Avenue and 34th Street as part of Farmworker Awareness Week. Photo by Phil Kellerman.

by Richard K. MacMaster

One week in early Spring, we remind ourselves that we depend on the farm workers who plant and harvest the fruits and vegetables we eat every day of the year. Theirs is the most hazardous, worst paid, and most essential job in the United States. Over the past century, natives and immigrants—Bahamans, African Americans, Appalachian whites, Jamaicans, Mexicans, Haitians, Guatemalans and Salvadorans—have followed the harvest from South Florida to Michigan, living and working in oppressive conditions, not infrequently held in debt peonage or slavery by labor contractors.

Farm workers have made remarkable gains in the last few years. The Fair Food Agreement negotiated by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers with 95 percent of Florida tomato growers and a long list of big tomato buyers is one outstanding example. Buyers and growers agreed to an extra penny a pound for the workers and better working conditions, including an end to sexual harassment. But these real gains are fragile, as long as some growers and some buyers refuse to sign. Within the past year, Trader Joe’s and Chipotle signed the agreement, but Publix and Wendy’s still refuse to even talk with farm worker delegations.

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by Joe Courter

With early voting already in progress, the Iguana strongly endorses Craig Lowe for Mayor of Gainesville, and encourages support for his campaign in getting out the vote. Craig is part of a team of forward-looking individuals on the Commission, and, while not a gifted public speaker and encumbered by the fallout of a recent DUI arrest when he dozed off behind the wheel and ran off the road, all this pales compared to his opponent Ed Braddy, a right-wing talk radio jock with his own DUI history (a 2006 accident where he blew a .18—double the legal limit). According to other Commissioners who served with Braddy his first time around, he was very bad on civil rights and homelessness issues, slack on attendance, and generally difficult to work with, both with fellow commissioners and staff. This isn’t just the Iguana talking; in a recent letter to the Gainesville Sun, 19 (nineteen!) present and former elected officials sent in a letter endorsing Craig Lowe. This is the opening paragraph:

“As mayors, city commissioners, county commissioners, legislators and school board members who have served collectively more than 150 years in office, we recognize that like most normal people, neither of our current candidates for mayor is without flaws. Both have violated the law, and both have apologized and accepted the consequences the legal system has assigned. The difference is that Mayor Craig Lowe has been an active advocate for the positive efforts of the City of Gainesville for the past decade, and Ed Braddy has been a relentless, inflammatory, and often dishonest critic.”

You can read the full letter here.

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As mayors, city commissioners, county commissioners, legislators and school board members who have served collectively more than 150 years in office, we recognize that like most normal people, neither of our current candidates for mayor is without flaws. Both have violated the law, and both have apologized and accepted the consequences the legal system has assigned. The difference is that Mayor Craig Lowe has been an active advocate for the positive efforts of the City of Gainesville for the past decade, and Ed Braddy has been a relentless, inflammatory, and often dishonest critic.

The Gainesville Council for Economic Outreach lists dozens of different honors that have been granted to our community:

#1 in North America in Fodor’s “Places Rated and Ranked.” (2007)

#1 College Town by Livability.com. (2010)

“Best commute times in Florida” and #19 in the nation. (U.S. Census 2012)

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Gainesville Veterans for Peace invited all students, K-12, in Alachua County to submit one poem on the subject of peace. Out of hundreds of entries, winners are selected by a panel of graduate students from the English Department at the University of Florida.

Winners are invited to read their poems aloud at the public reading on May 11 at 2:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Gainesville (4225 NW 34th Street) and are also published in the 2013 Peace Poetry book. 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will receive a gift certificate to Book Gallery West in Gainesville. For more information, email vfppeacepoetrycontest@gmail.com.