Tallahassee is about to destroy our right to protect Florida

1000 Friends of Florida says: 

SB 540, “Local Government Comprehensive Plans,” and its counterpart in the Florida House of Representatives, HB 359, have moved rapidly through the legislative process, with only one committee stop left in the Senate. Join us in calling for Senate leadership to stop SB 540 from being placed on the Rules Committee agenda and shut down this bad bill. More here.

Why is this crucial? Let's remember:

Rick Scott

'RedTideRick' defanged Florida's Regional Planning Councils, depriving them of enforcement power over large scale developments. This power had kept DRI's (Developments of Regional Impact) from their worst excesses.

 Scott also extinguished the Dept of Community Affairs (DCA). 

Without those regional and state regulatory layers, the only thing standing between Carlos, Pat, Randy, Rex and their unlimited ambitions was local government. So Carlos, Pat, Randy and Rex bought the Sarasota and Manatee Boards. 

That left only We the People to oppose developments with bad impacts. 

When (if) SB 540 and House Bill 359 pass, if we file suit to oppose a terrible project, like building right alongside wetlands, the state and DeSantis will make us liable for huge attorney fees. 

The Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association says 

"HELP US STOP SB 540"

Click here to oppose SB 540 and HB 359

DeSantis, Florida, and the seeds of Fascism

 

Heather Cox Richardson:

The attempt to take over schools and reject the equality that lies at the foundation of liberal democracy is now moving toward the more general tenets of authoritarianism. This week, one Republican state senator proposed a bill that would require bloggers who write about DeSantis, his Cabinet officers, or members of the Florida legislature, to register with the state; another proposed outlawing the Democratic Party.

DeSantis and those like him are trying to falsify our history. They claim that the Founders established a nation based on traditional hierarchies, one in which traditional Christian rules were paramount. They insist that their increasingly draconian laws to privilege people like themselves are simply reestablishing our past values.

But that’s just wrong. Our Founders quite deliberately rejected traditional values and instead established a nation on the principle of equality. 

 

NBC: Florida bill would require bloggers who write about the governor and legislators to register with the state

The bill proposed by Republican state Sen. Jason Brodeur would also require bloggers who write about state officials to disclose who is paying them and how much.

 

  

  . . . the seeds of Fascism begin in fear & contempt . . . 

Curmudgucation - The DeVos School Privatization Plan Turns Twenty-One: 

Way back in 2002, Dick DeVos, husband of Betsy, was at the Heritage Foundation, where he was introduced by former education secretary Bill Bennett. In a speech there, he laid out strategy for the dismantling of public education and replacing them with a privatized system. 

It would, he said, have to be done on the state level, with a certain amount of stealth. 

We need to be cautious about talking too much about these activities. Many of the activities and the political work that needs to go on will go on at the grass roots. It will go on quietly and it will go on in the form that often politics is done . . .

 

Daily Beast - Batshit Bill Would Force Bloggers Who Write About DeSantis to ‘Register’ With the State: 

The bill, which sounds better suited to Soviet Russia than the Land of the Free, includes a dizzying list of requirements. If a blogger writes more than one blog post, they would have to submit monthly reports that disclose, among other things, the amount of compensation received for each post. Failure to do so would result in fines of at least $2,500 per article, and a subsequent requirement to file a notice of failure to file.

 

DeSatan Is A Stinking Fascist

Continued depravity by Republican Party in the longest state to hang precariously off the bottom of the eastern United States is reaching a fever pitch!

Governor Ron DeSantis leads his merry band of womb wreckers into “F*ck Free Speech” territory, inspiring the  one-upsmanship that is currently on display by  white nationalist legislators in New Disney—I mean Florida.

 

Holocaust Encyclopedia

Starting in 1934, it was illegal to criticize the Nazi government. Even telling a joke about Hitler was considered treachery. People in Nazi Germany could not say or write whatever they wanted.  

Book Burning

 

Herald Tribune: Banning books has nothing to do with liberty | Editorial

There are public school classrooms in Florida where teachers wrapped paper around bookshelves to shield the books from students. Why? If one of the books were to fall afoul of the new state law on book appropriateness, the teacher could face a felony charge.

Some, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, call this liberty and freedom.

To us, it looks anything but.

Book banning are two words that don't partner with the ideas of liberty and freedom. 

 

(How) Fascism Is When People Don’t Want You to Exist - Umair Haque

DeSantis banned…teaching…books…words…classes. He’s realized that, well, why bother with any of the niceties of democracy at all — let’s just ban people we don’t like from existing. Let’s disappear them — first, ideologically, in the mind, then socially, as in, they’re not really allowed to exist…and it hardly takes a genius to see where that particular road ends. 

Meanwhile, the new “Women’s Health and Safety Bill” makes it a crime for women to…use the internet. Remember when I pointed out that it wasn’t just “the end of Roe” that the Supreme Court had brought about, but had effectively eviscerated the rights women have, the basic ones, from expression to association to speech to privacy? Now — think about this — just using the internet in ways the GOP doesn’t want you to is to be a crime. More...

 

- Public Statement of the Alumnae/i of New College of Florida -

Since its founding, New College of Florida has represented excellence in liberal arts education. As the New College Alumni Association (NCAA), we are charged with representing New College’s largest constituent community: its 7,500+ alumnae/i. We are also charged with supporting the exceptional college and educational mission that produced those alumnae/i.

For more than 60 years, New College has stood as a bastion of academic freedom and rigor: a place where a wide diversity of ideas are fiercely debated by independent scholars from all walks of life. New College students are empowered and encouraged to self-direct their education and to conduct bold, original research. They are supported by world-class faculty who celebrate differences of background and opinion and who reward real-world contributions over rote recitations.

As a result, New College enjoys a formidable reputation as a top-five public liberal arts college and as the public college with the single highest proportion of students who go on to earn PhDs (including in STEM fields). Our alumnae/i include 86 Fulbright scholars, a Fields Medalist, a Federal Reserve Bank president, elected Republican and Democratic officials and luminaries in virtually every field in which New College has granted a degree. New College accomplishes all of this while graduating students with the second-lowest average federal loan debt of any public liberal arts college.

The rapid and drastic actions undertaken by the Governor and the new Board of Trustees – and the promises of more such actions to come – threaten New College’s long-standing tradition of academic freedom, undermine its history of excellence, and flout basic principles of good governance and community consultation.

Namely, we cite: the sudden firing of President Okker and installation of Interim President Corcoran without consultation with – let alone endorsement from – the campus community; attempts to dissolve the Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence; and suggestions by trustees that they intend ideologically-motivated overhauls of the school’s faculty and academic programs, such as the termination of tenured faculty or the elimination of entire departments.

These extreme actions and statements have been predicated on a mischaracterization of New College as a politicized institution that enforces left-wing ideologies and indoctrinates students. We strongly reject this ill-founded caricature of our school, students and faculty. New College teaches students how to think, not what to think; impassioned, informed academic debate is a hallmark of the New College experience, and that debate relies on a diversity of views and experiences.

In keeping with New College’s emphasis on the importance of open discourse, we strongly object to the exclusion of the New College community in planning and executing these extreme changes. New College is a prestigious institution with a long track record of excellence. Any and all changes intended to address New College’s challenges should rely on deep and careful consultation with the students, faculty and alumnae/i who have earned the school its many successes.

In stark contrast to its long-standing reputation, New College is now receiving a different kind of attention from the academic community: concern. Dozens of major academic organizations have issued or signed statements denouncing attempts to undermine New College’s academic freedom and integrity. We thank those organizations for their understanding and support. New College’s alumnae/i are similarly concerned about the future of their alma mater’s reputation and legitimacy.

New College’s students and faculty have been resolute in affirming their commitment to a superb academic experience replete with freedom – academic and otherwise. Today, as representatives of New College’s thousands of alumnae/i, we formally join that chorus. We ask the Board of Trustees to avoid preconceptions; to listen; to learn; to ask questions; to truly seek to understand New College’s unique excellence – and to do all of that before seeking drastic changes to an irreplaceable school.

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Action Item: Sign Petition against turning New College into DeSantis propaganda machine

More reporting about New College:

25 days that shook New College: How Ron DeSantis swiftly transformed the Sarasota school

New College faculty concerned about draining Foundation to pay president's $699,000 salary

New board member says his assignment is 'to lead New College of Florida out of wokeness'

SEIDMAN SAYS: What qualifies Richard Corcoran to make up to $1 million at New College?

What's with the Sarasota School Board ideologues? Schurr

 WHY DO KAREN ROSE AND BRIDGET ZIEGLER WANT TO GET RID OF SUPERINTENDENT BRENNAN ASPLEN?

There are so many reasons, not least that they want a superintendent who is a lapdog. Remember that there was a time lapse of only three weeks between Asplen’s evaluation by the Board at the November 1 school board meeting and Rose’s move to fire him at the November 22 board meeting. It is interesting that the board’s evaluations do not support the actions of Rose, Ziegler and the two new board members.

At the November 1 meeting, Dr. Asplen’s written evaluations (link to the evaluations copied below) were provided to the public as an attachment to the agenda and each board member gave his or her comments to their respective evaluations. Brown, Edwards and Goodwin rated Asplen as Highly Effective, Rose gave him an Effective rating, and Ziegler gave a Needs Improvement rating (which she verbally negated by saying she saw it not as negative, but as an “opportunity” see 1:15:47 of the November 1 Board meeting located at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEaWL4alfMc). There was no discussion of terminating his contract for cause or otherwise at that meeting.

It was most interesting that although Ziegler gave a Needs Improvement rating overall, this was not supported by her individual ratings: 2 Highly Effective, 4 Effective and 4 Needs Improvement. Basic math tells us that does not support a Needs Improvement rating. Denise Cantalupo provided a summary of all five evaluations, which resulted in a Highly Effective rating overall. And Rose’s overall rating was Effective, yet she voted against confirmation of the overall rating and was outvoted 4-1. Is this a case of, if you don’t like the overall results, you just ignore them and vote against them? And hold a grudge until you can fire him or drive him out, for no cause? Or is this a case of two vindictive board members with a plan, who do not like being challenged with facts against their opinions in the evaluation system? It is clearly a situation where the action is not supported by the facts.

After each board member gave their comments, Dr. Asplen was afforded an opportunity to speak. Asplen graciously thanked each of the board members for their evaluations and then respectfully rebutted in detail, some of those areas where certain board members had noted areas for improvement. Remember, this was a public evaluation, where everyone had an opportunity to present their opinions, even the person being evaluated. Unfortunately, it appears that retaliation is the result of such transparency. Watch the YouTube video of Asplen’s comments starting at 1:31:44.

Another very telling moment can be seen at 1:43:07. Ziegler had accused Asplen of playing politics and being divisive in her evaluation, because of a letter to the editor of the Sarasota Herald Tribune that he wrote a year and a half ago in June 2021 (link to the letter attached below). As a result of one of Ziegler’s countless visits to Fox News and other media outlets to fan the flames of the false narrative that CRT is taught in our schools, Asplen was inundated by calls and emails from concerned parents and residents. To reassure the public that CRT is not taught, never has been taught in our schools nor will it ever be taught in our schools, Asplen wrote a letter to the editor. Apparently, Ziegler finds it “divisive” when the superintendent seeks to reassure the public and the truth is told. Particularly when it goes against her false and divisive narrative.

I have been a very vocal opponent of Dr. Asplen and have often disagreed with his decisions, even going so far as threatening to sue him and the board for removing books from the shelves without having gone through the board mandated policy for media center challenges. But I have never doubted that he was more than competent to do his job and more importantly, that he had the best interests of our children at heart and that he was dedicated to public education. Unfortunately, I do not think Rose and Ziegler share those qualities.

We know why Rose and Ziegler (and possibly the new Board members?) are so keen to terminate Asplen’s contract. They want a lapdog, not a superintendent whose first allegiance is to the students and stakeholders in this district. Perhaps it is time to cut out the politics, Ms. Ziegler and Ms. Rose, and concentrate on closing the achievement gap, bringing up reading scores and last, but certainly not least, it is past time to support our teachers, rather than attacking them.

Lisa Gialdini Schurr

Parent and CEO Support Our Schools

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Link to the written evaluations given by the five board

Link to November 1, 2022, Board Meeting

Asplen letter to the editor

Will Bunch: Conservative attacks on higher education

Excerpt of a Fresh Air interview NPR's Terry Gross did with Will Bunch, author of the new book, After The Ivory Tower Falls: How College Broke The American Dream And Blew Up Our Politics And How to Fix It. He's a columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

BUNCH: Ronald Reagan emerged as an underdog candidate for governor of California in 1966. And this was right after the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. It was when you started seeing publicity about the counterculture of, you know, kids wearing blue jeans and having these parties with the wild psychedelic screens, with the music from the Jefferson Airplane or the Grateful Dead. And Ronald Reagan said famously that taxpayers should not be funding the intellectual curiosity of students. And this was a defining, you know, governmental philosophy for him.

When he won in a landslide that fall - when he took office, you know, he tried to impose tuition. Colleges in California had been free. And, in fact, that was basically part of the state constitution and something that was cherished in California - the idea that higher education for all its citizens would be free. And Reagan thought that, you know, free tuition basically encouraged kids to rebel against the establishment. So he launched this long crusade to - he wasn't - you know, he had political opposition. And he wasn't able to increase tuition right away. But he did raise fees, and he basically set the groundwork for higher tuition in California. And then it became higher tuition in other states as well as the backlash spread.

Forty-five million people have some college debt. And many of those 45 million have more than 10,000. Some of them have 50,000, 100,000, 150,000.

You know, there's been a lot of research that the Princeton University economists Case and Deaton have made a name for themselves writing about deaths of despair among working-class people, which refers to, you know, suicide, drug overdoses, alcohol addiction. And what they found is that people succumbing to these deaths of despair are getting younger and younger. And the No. 1 determining factor is whether or not they have a college degree, you know? Not having a college degree is the No. 1 driver of people being prone to these deaths of despair.

Gross: You say that Republicans are waging a war on higher education. And you offer examples from a couple of states, Wisconsin and North Carolina. Give us an example of what you mean.

Scott Walker

BUNCH: Well, Wisconsin is a perfect example, particularly during the tenure of Scott Walker as governor from 2010 to 2018. Some of it was just cutting funding for education. He certainly tried to reduce tenure protections for professors because he saw professors as promoting a liberal ideology. But to me, the most interesting thing was this idea of, what is college really for? And on the right, there's this push that college should be for workforce development and nothing else, you know, the flip side of this whole idea of liberal education and critical thinking. And in the middle of his tenure as governor, there was a huge controversy because he actually pushed to change the language of the University of Wisconsin's mission statement to take out the idea that the goal of the university is the search for truth. He wanted that language removed. He wanted it changed to, the purpose of the university is to develop the state's workforce, period. And, you know, I don't think people were ready for that. There was a huge outcry. And he actually backed down from that.

But what you have seen in states like Wisconsin and North Carolina and several other red states is more and more politically connected people being appointed to the board of university trustees, trying to exert more control over what goes on on-campus, you know, over hiring, you know? . . . You know, now in Florida, you know, Ron DeSantis has done the same thing, you know? He has a very conservative board of trustees overseeing the public universities in Florida.

And so, you know, you've seen this intense focus on, what are kids learning about race? What are kids learning about gender? What are they learning about the LGBTQ community? And, you know, it's interesting because I think it's an evolution, you know? In the 1960s and '70s, conservatives were worried about what kids were doing on college campuses. And now they're starting to think that we need to nip some of these critical thinking ideas in the bud when these kids are in grade school. And, you know, that's become the next battleground.

Critical Times: Corporate support for Voter Suppression and Tallahassee's squelching of free speech

Stories from the July Issue of Critical Times -- the info is important, local, and free.

Top 25 Corporate Contributors to Voter Suppression Supporters

Tallahassee - First in reducing public expression - 

Tallahassee also first in Voter Suppression - which local elected officials supported suppressing your vote?

Update: Toll Roads, water, and the abandonment of planning

Update on Toll Roads 2.3.21:  Dems want to get rid of them

Citing environmental and fiscal challenges, two Democratic Florida lawmakers are introducing legislation to kill an ambitious yet controversial toll-road building plan dubbed by opponents as “roads to nowhere.” 

Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Fort Lauderdale, and Rep. Ben Diamond, D-St. Petersburg, held a news conference Wednesday to discuss their proposals to strike the M-CORES project from state law and redirect the millions tapped for planning to other more critical infrastructure.

Despite budget crisis, Florida is doubling down on costly and destructive plans

Nicole Johnson: "two initiatives will change Florida forever. One will result in 330 miles of new or expanded tolled roadways opening up large swaths of our rural Florida to sprawling growth.

Nicole Johnson is the Director of Environmental Policy for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.

More on the intentional dismantling of state oversight:

Save Florida’s shreds of growth control

Palm Beach Post:

The state’s most respected smart-growth groups are aiming most of their firepower at the blandly titled HB 7103, “Community Development and Housing.”

There was one safeguard left. Citizens had the right go to court and challenge a bad decision by their local government: a condo tower that exceeds a height limit, an apartment complex in a neighborhood of single-family homes.

But if HB 7103 becomes law, that final right to protest will be crushed. Citizen challenges will face a tilted burden of proof — and the requirement to pay the opposing side’s legal fees if they lose.

More on Galvano's toll roads:

Veto New Toll Roads - Sean Sellers

SB7068 authorizes the construction of three massive toll roads, stretching from Naples to the Florida-Georgia line. However, as nearly 100 business and civic organizations noted this week, the plan is remarkably flawed and must be vetoed.

 

No April Fool

Here is Gov. Ron DeSantis's Executive Order EO 20-91, which shuts down the non-essential, after defining it rather broadly:

A helpful summary is offered here by the Herald Tribune.


Sarasota County -- with one of the oldest citizen demographics in the nation -- has this Covid-19 page. So far, we don't see anything new from the county's last public guidance.


For a comment on a former Florida Governor's medieval agenda, see this citizen post from Dren Greer.


Kidding aside, some prudential thoughts on keeping safe in a time when erring on the side of caution can go astray amid the endless rolls of toilet paper.


See also: The latest edition, digital only, of Critical Times is here.

HB 7103 - another road to nowhere for Ron DeSantis?

From the Palm Beach Post:

Another Opinion: Save Florida’s shreds of growth control

DeSantis signs "Roads to Nowhere"

When Gov. Ron DeSantis put his signature on a bill authorizing three unnecessary, ridiculously expensive “toll roads to nowhere” that would plow across millions of acres of undisturbed land at Florida’s heart, he put his self-claimed reputation as a champion of the state’s fragile, threatened environment in jeopardy.

Now, he faces an even tougher challenge. Within the next few weeks, legislation will land on his desk that will gut Florida’s already-weak oversight of rampant, irresponsible development. Like the toll roads, these bills were mostly concocted in secret through last-minute, legislative machinations.

The state’s most respected smart-growth groups are aiming most of their firepower at the blandly titled HB 7103, “Community Development and Housing.”

This would be the last nail in the coffin for Florida’s once-innovative comprehensive planning laws enacted in the 1980s. These laws require each community to enact blueprints for growth, making sure new developments meet minimum standards for flood protection, infrastructure and the like. The plan becomes local government’s guidebook: every development decision must be consistent with the plan.

Once upon a time, there was a state agency to review development proposals, the Department of Community Affairs. But in 2011, Gov. Rick Scott got rid of the “job killer,” as he called it, and folded its remaining duties into the Department of Economic Opportunity. Scott and the Republican-led Legislature also crippled the concept of concurrency — a requirement that schools, parks and adequate roads be in place before development is completed. And they starved the state’s 11 regional planning councils of money.

There was one safeguard left. Citizens had the right go to court and challenge a bad decision by their local government: a condo tower that exceeds a height limit, an apartment complex in a neighborhood of single-family homes.

But if HB 7103 becomes law, that final right to protest will be crushed. Citizen challenges will face a tilted burden of proof — and the requirement to pay the opposing side’s legal fees if they lose. Basically, all a developer would have to do to win is to send a squadron of high-priced attorneys into battle — and then punish anyone audacious enough to challenge their profiteering with crippling legal fees.

This isn’t the only reason this bill deserves a veto. It also deters local governments from requiring developers to include affordable housing in their projects. Any government that does so, this legislation says, will have to repay the developer for any financial losses.

If he signs it, it’s game over for DeSantis, the warrior intent on protecting Florida’s threatened water resources and natural beauty. He’ll be exposed as something worse than an honest shill for the kind of reckless environmental destruction that most Floridians decry. He’ll be the person who was willing to trick people into thinking he cared — before he stripped them of the ability to defend this state’s endangered environment against irresponsible, predatory development.

Governor, please veto 7103. Do the right thing, and reclaim some of the faith you’ve lost.

Water Actions, Events, Analyses

Sierra Club Florida Action Item: Everglades Alert

• HB 7103 will make a losing party, in consistency challenges, automatically liable for a prevailing party’s attorney fees. This will effectively end citizen enforcement of local comprehensive plans. 

• If HB 7103 becomes law, local communities will likely see more developments that do not comply with local protections for water resources and environmentally sensitive lands. This is of grave concern to the Everglades and clean water advocacy communities.

• Please contact Governor DeSantis today and ask him to veto HB7103.
• email: Ron.DeSantis@myflorida.com
• Tel:(850) 488-7146

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Sarasota Water Quality Summit June 5

Riverview High School Auditorium

1 pm - 6:30 pm

1 Rim Way

More information here

The Sarasota County Water Quality Summit will bring together local, regional and state experts to discuss water quality issues. Free and open to the public, the summit will be held 1-6:30 p.m. June 5 (Wednesday) in the auditorium at Riverview High School, 1 Ram Way in Sarasota.

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Marine Scientist Larry Brand June 10

CONA

Complete Info here

Monday 7 p.m.  June 10, 2019

     ​

red tide and algae blooms 

 environmental causes, health consequences

​                 

     On Monday, June 10, CONA will host Larry Brand, who will discuss research he has been conducting for decades into our blue-green algae and red tide blooms and his findings regarding their environmental causes and human health consequences. His peer-reviewed scientific research has been featured recently in media articles, news programs, and at a sold-out presentation by Suncoast Waterkeeper.