The Gainesville Iguana

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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? 

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? 

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.”