How Colorado’s Southern Ute Community Is Working to Ensure Access to Healthy Foods
The long history of the Southern Ute people of southwest Colorado is marked by perseverance and the ability to adapt in the face of adversity. From being the first tribe to use horses to creating a bevy of nutrition, health and agricultural programs today, they continually strive to strengthen and sustain their community.
“The opportunity for tribal members to succeed in the production of agriculture is vast,” says Kevin Mallow, Southern Ute agricultural division head.
Living in a food desert and a region prone to drought, the Southern Ute Tribe has gotten creative with making sure its community has access to nutritious foods. The Food Distribution Program serves low-income community household members, and like the rest of the country, they’ve seen an increase in food insecurity. Through this program, participants have access to USDA nonperishable, frozen meats and fresh produce.
Education and Conservation
The Tribe also empowers its members by educating them. The Tribal Health Department, Boys & Girls Club and Southern Ute Indian Montessori Academy lead classes on healthy eating habits, and members can access health screenings and education through the Tribal Health Department and SunUte Community Center. The Tribe also has a small bison herd (harvested on a limited basis), and the Culture Preservation Department educates the public about traditional foods, including gathering and preservation practices.
When it comes to water conservation and rights, the Tribe has taken matters into its own hands in upgrading its archaic irrigation systems. Decreased funding for the Bureau of Indian Affairs has limited the bureau’s ability to carry out the trust responsibility of the federal government. The Tribe also finds ways to forecast and measure droughts and other environmental events. The Tribe’s Water Use Options Team has helped develop unused water rights.
“The tribe has vast underutilized agricultural land,” says the Tribe spokesperson. “Couple that with the fact that we have also underutilized, senior water rights and we are in a prime position to pivot our agricultural strategy to something with greater benefit to the tribal membership as a whole.”
Modernization
However, like other rural areas, there’s been a reduction in interest in agrarian living – especially among the youth. To promote farming and provide support, the Southern Ute is implementing modern farming practices, such as using hemp as a hay alternative, greenhouses and investigating the start of a co-op to strengthen purchasing power. The Agriculture Department helps with weed and rodent management, soil analysis, and tasks like welding, fencing and spraying. In the fall, they host a produce sale where farm equipment is rented out.
Historically, the tribe was nomadic, migrating each season while hunting game and harvesting and sharing vegetables, nuts and berries. However, in 1887, the Dawes Allotment Act forced tribal nations to adapt homesteading and farming practices in the style of white settlers. Not only was this a change of lifestyle, but it also abruptly changed the tribe’s diet. This is why the Food Distribution Program and other cultural initiatives are so important.
“The Ute people view everything as interconnected,” the Tribe spokesperson says. “Everything has life and everything should be respected for what it brings to the world and to the Ute people.”
Visitor Center gets up to $25,000 in assistance; farmers market set to return
After struggling through the pandemic, the Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Visitor Center will receive up to $25,000 from the town for payroll reimbursements.
The request was approved unanimously by the town commission during its meeting on Oct. 27. Previously, the commission had already approved $13,000 for the center, which was increased at this latest meeting. The money will be given on an as-needed basis.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t get used, because if it doesn’t get used, it means that life’s getting better,” said Eva Marissa, chair of the Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Chamber of Commerce.
The center is jointly run by the chamber and the town. However, as the town does not fund the chamber, Marissa emphasized that the funds will only be used to pay the staff who work in the building. She also offered to provide a monthly report for transparency.
Town Manager Bill Vance noted that the additional funds will “create some additional flexibility for the operations of the chamber.”
In a September letter written from Marissa and the chamber’s vice chair, Howard Goldberg, without the town’s assistance, funds for the center “will likely run out” by March 1, 2021.
They explained that they received less money from the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau this year, have lost about $20,000 in revenue since they can’t host events and another $10,000 due to lower membership renewals.
“As you know the town and the chamber have partnered for many years for the operation of the Visitor Center which is at the heart of driving tourism, supporting our local merchants and economy,” according to the letter. “The pandemic we are all working through is currently destroying our budget.”
The center is located off A1A and has served the community and its visitors with information on activities, dining specials, hotel recommendations and transportation assistance. Typically open six days a week, the center has been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Small-town Lauderdale-By-The-Sea is getting hit hard and we need to do everything in our power to get going when things start opening up,” said Mayor Chris Vincent.
Other news
The Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Farmers Market will be returning to El Prado Park on Sunday, Dec. 6. In a proposal to the town, the market will follow CDC guidelines by spacing out vendors, only allowing one customer at a time to a booth, mandatory masks, hand sanitizer at each booth and other measures.
The commission approved a request by Chabad Lauderdale-By-The-Sea to host a Chanukah menorah lighting on the beach. The event will be socially distanced with a limited number of guests who will be wearing mass, and the event will be streamed online.
The town is partnering with GUG Underwater to take underwater photos and videos of Lauderdale-By-The-Sea to be used on the town’s diving landing page on the discoverlbts.com website.
As the town discusses the future of El Mar Drive, there is a growing contingency of people with a firm opinion: “Save the Median.”
Since the beginning of this year, the city has been looking at proposals from a local design firm to upgrade the historic road. However, locals who walk, run or bike the drive daily don’t want it to lose its charm.
“It’s original from the 1920s for the most part, very little has ever been changed,” said Cristie Furth, who owns and lives at the Blue Seas Courtyard with her husband. “But we didn’t want a lot of change – just fix what needed fixing.”
Furth has been leading the charge to preserve El Mar; in particular, its grassy median. Locals had originally proposed that the city fix the sidewalks, swales and add more lighting.
In the latest proposal at the end of September, Fort Lauderdale landscape firm EDSA showed decreasing the median from 22 feet to 9 feet to accommodate larger sidewalks and clear zones [the space needed for a vehicle to safely reverse]. And It would decrease the street from four to two lanes. It also shows three different plans for pull-offs where trucks will park for deliveries.
According to the proposal, these changes meet the Florida Department of Transportation’s requirements.
EDSA has created lbtselmar.com for residents to see updates, copies of presentations and renderings. The city is being charged $37,500 for these design services.
Those against the proposed plans have zeroed in on saving the median, notable for its manicured bushes and palm trees.
“They decided to make the beautiful, green median, which has been there since the 1920s, into mini truck parking lots,” Furth said of the plan. “Nobody came to the stakeholders, nobody came to the neighborhood. We were told, ‘This is a plan, a one-lane plan.’”
EDSA conducted two surveys with those in the neighborhood. According to the surveys, 71 percent of the more than 600 residents who participated – a large turnout, Jeff Suiter, principal at EDSA, said at a meeting in August – were in favor of having one driving lane; 84 percent wanted dedicated bicycle lanes; 61 percent primarily used El Mar Drive for walking and running, and 71 percent wanted wider sidewalks.
“It’s not what we asked for,” Furth said.
To make her point, she made a shirt to wear while walking on the drive that reads, “Save the Median.” Then a friend she met walking, Sally Musser, noticed the shirt and had an idea. As the account manager at a specialties company, she used her experience to design and print 25 shirts in bright green for people who are in support of saving the median.
A resident of neighboring Sea Ranch Lakes, Musser said she and her husband walk the drive daily.
“It’s printed on the front and back so people could literally see us coming and going,” Musser said of the shirts. “The more we walked and talked to people, the more people wanted shirts. I think now we’re up to 100 or 150.”
They also collected phone numbers and email addresses from those who take a shirt to keep them posted on the project’s progress. During the last commission meeting on Oct. 13, Furth questioned the methodology for people filling out the surveys and said most of the questions were very general.
“When I wear my green shirt and talk to El Mar users and neighbors, I tell them what I just told you,” she said in her video presentation. “They listen and invariably shake their heads and say ‘Why don’t they just leave it alone? It’s beautiful. It works great. We love it. Just fix the sidewalks.’” Nineteen other people wrote in public comments with the same message: save the median.
A few wrote in favor of some of the proposals, including one resident who said the sidewalks desperately need to be fixed to avoid injuries.
Musser is also asking for more information on how many trucks utilize El Mar Drive to justify the pull outs as well as asking for a fourth plan to the three already proposed – one that saves the median.
Said Musser, “We don’t want to make a change and spend all this money and get rid of all this green.”
Originally published in The New Pelican
QAnon’s ‘SaveOurChildren’ Slogan Has Long Anti-LGBT History
Courtesy of Stonewall National Museum and Archives.
Model and cookbook author Chrissy Teigen recently shared devastating news with her social media followers: she and her husband, singer John Legend, had lost their child halfway through her pregnancy. She shared heartbreaking black-and-white photos of the couple at the hospital, including her clutching a tiny blanket bundle holding their son, who they named Jack.
Most of the comments were of condolences and heartbreak, including women sharing their own experiences with miscarriage and stillbirth.
“Doesn’t change the fact that you’re [devil emoji]. God doesn’t like what you’ve done.”
“It’s called karma. Bad things happen to bad people.”
“Look at it this way you can eat him now.”
“What a joke. After everything you were accused of. You thought you’d be blessed with another soul.”
Teigen, who has two children, is one of a swath of celebrities who has been accused and attacked on social media as being a part of an underground circle of Hollywood pedophiles, including Oprah Winfrey, Hilary Duff, Justin Bieber, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Bill and Melinda Gates, and more.
The theory was started by right-wing conspiracy theorist group QAnon, which believes that the celebrities control the U.S. and have ties to Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender who killed himself while in prison.
With each accusation on social media comes the hashtags #SaveTheChildren and/or #SaveOurChildren — a slogan that has been heard, and used against the LGBT community many times over the last 100 years.
“When I saw those things happening, I thought, this is the same kind of nonsense,” said Hunter O’Hanian, the executive director of the Stonewall National Museum & Archives. “It’s the same silliness that happened mid-20th century and then it was repeated again by Anita Bryant in the ‘70s and then it was repeated again in the early part of the 21st century around the issue of [same-sex] marriage.”
In the 1950s, alongside the Red Scare of hunting for alleged communists was the “lavender scare,” where homosexuals were targeted.
The Johns Committee in Florida was founded in 1956 and investigated those they believed to be homosexuals, and even pulled students out of classrooms to be interrogated. In the notorious “purple pamphlet,” a report by the committee, they noted the dangers of homosexuality and how it would negatively impact youth.
“The plain fact of the matter is that a great many homosexuals have an insatiable appetite for sexual activities and find special gratification in the recruitment to the ranks of youth,” according to the pamphlet.
In comparing the differences between child molesters and homosexuals, the pamphlet explains that the homosexual, “prefers to reach out for the child at the time of normal sexual awakening and to conduct a psychological preliminary to the physical contact. The homosexual’s goal and part of his satisfaction is to ‘bring over’ the young person, to hook him for homosexuality.”
The fear-mongering against LGBT people returned in the 1970s with the Save Our Children campaign by Christian singer Anita Bryant. She used her platform to fight the battle against “homosexual militants” when Miami-Dade County passed an ordinance protecting gay people from workplace discrimination. Again, she brought up the dangers of homosexuals and their impact on children and the American family.
In an ad in the Miami Herald, her group wrote, “The other side of the homosexual coin is a hair-raising pattern of recruitment and outright seduction and molestation — a growing pattern that predictably will intensify if society approves law granting legitimacy of sexual perverts.”
Finally, the concern for children and families returned in the early 2000s when equal rights groups fought for marriage equality and the overturning of the Defense of Marriage Act. Those against same-sex marriage argued that it would deteriorate the sanctity of marriage, and later, they feared for children adopted by gay people and couples.
“People have been using the family and the children’s excuse for a long period of time when they want to demonize homosexuals and gay people,” O’Hanian said. “If it weren’t so serious, it would be laughable because it’s so far removed from any kind of factual underpinning. It’s meant to make people afraid.”
QAnon and the people who are convinced by their #SaveTheChildren and #SaveOurChildren theories believe that Hollywood and elites are at the heart of child human trafficking rings in the United States and have turned to social media to raise awareness.
While human trafficking is and has been a massive problem — Florida ranks third in the nation for trafficking cases — unfortunately their good intentions to “save the children” are rooted in misinformation.
Somy Ali, the founder of No More Tears, which assists victims of human trafficking and domestic violence, says she has not come across any Hollywood human trafficking rings in her 14 years of experience. In fact, most human trafficking cases are not initiated by kidnappings, but rather, children and adults are groomed for months to lure them into trafficking.
“The myth is that human trafficking involves kidnapping or physically forcing someone. In reality, traffickers use psychological means,” she said. “The myth is that it’s people you don’t know. Many survivors, they’ve been trafficked by romantic partners, spouses, family members, including parents. That’s been my experience.”
One of her most recent cases involves a woman who fled New Jersey because her husband was pimping out their 5-year-old son to friends and “customers” while she was at work. In the past, Ali has worked with teenagers who were lured by pimps online when they saw them post that they were unhappy or hated their parents.
A few years ago, she assisted in rescuing a 2-year-old who was being sold on the dark web by her father — people paid $500 to watch sexual acts performed on her.
“We don’t have the white van grabbing the girl from the mall and putting chloroform on her face,” Ali said. In response to the conspiracy theories, she said the allegations are “preposterous.”
“You’re providing false information, you’re misleading people, you’re misleading the public, and you’re misleading innocent people who want to do good,” she said. “Whoever is coming out with this propaganda, they are taking away from the good work that many of us are doing and it’s appalling.”
In recent rallies, people have called for an investigation into “Pizzagate,” a debunked theory from 2016 that alleged Hillary Clinton and other Democrats were a part of a child sex trafficking ring and a Washington, D.C. pizza parlor was one of their meeting grounds. The rumors led to a man driving from North Carolina and shooting into the restaurant.
Polaris, an organization that runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline, was inundated with calls in July when rumors spread throughout the internet that online furniture company, Wayfair, was secretly trafficking children.
“While Polaris treats all calls to the Trafficking Hotline seriously, the extreme volume of these contacts has made it more difficult for the Trafficking Hotline to provide support and attention to others who are in need of help,” Polaris said in a statement. “What we can say is that none of the reports we have received involving Wayfair contained any information beyond what has been widely shared online.”
As the internet provides seemingly endless access to information at the click of the button, it’s also a breeding ground of misinformation and “fake news.” With that, the mission to “save our children” from false prey has returned.
“It is disappointing to see that certain groups are bringing [the slogan] back as a weapon,” O’Hanian said. “I suspect that we’re going to continue to see this as a weapon for a while.”
Trump Supporters Show Up at Holy Mackerel Despite Canceled Event
Trump supporters at Holy Mackerel (Photo by Carina Mask)
Even though their reservation was canceled at Holy Mackerel, a group of Trump supporters still arrived at the brewery ready for the show to go on.
The Hawaiian-themed event, hosted by the Trump Victory Leadership Initiative, was canceled by the venue after an uproar from the community. Staff claims they didn’t know it was a political event, which they would not have allowed to be hosted at their venue.
Still, a white van owned by Tama’s Polynesian Show with two Trump/Pence signs on the back window was parked in front of the brewery at the time of the reservation.
“I guess these guys are seeing everything that we’re seeing on social media and they probably said to themselves, ‘Well, we’re going anyways,’” Ehab Atallah, the director of operations for Holy Mackerel, said.
He said a small group from the party showed up but was turned away by the general manager on site, who reminded them that their reservation had been canceled. They said they knew that, but they want to come have a drink and eat anyway. When that request was denied, they asked if they could have a drink or even a bottle of water.
Across the street, a few Biden protesters waved flags and signs to coincide with the canceled event. The city requested Wilton Manors Police officers to keep tabs on the area, according to Atallah — officers escorted the Trump event attendees from the brewery. No one was agitated or got aggressive.
“The other side is seeing … this happening and the first thing they’re saying is ‘See, you guys lied,’” Atallah said.
The Trump Victory Leadership Initiative had planned to host a Champion Patriot Challenge at the brewery, where they invited the public to “connect with great people and like-mind conservatives.” The event organizer did not respond to an email or call from South Florida Gay News.
A second event was planned for Oct. 13, hosted by Team Trump Broward. The private event was the group’s Fourth Annual BBQ & Brew, where they were hosting local candidates and organizers encouraged attendees to “proudly wear your TRUMP and Republican candidate gear!”
Word spread through social media, with some feeling that the events were not appropriate in LGBT-friendly Wilton Manors, while others said it was their right to host events wherever they wanted. Others criticized Holy Mackerel for agreeing to let the events take place at their establishment.
The brewery, which opened at the end of January, was bombarded on social media criticizing them for hosting the events. After shutting down their pages, Atallah wrote a post explaining the situation and providing his personal cell phone number.
He told SFGN Wednesday that staff was not aware that the two reservations made were for political events with outside food being brought in. That would not have been allowed if they knew, he said.
“Here we are caught in the middle of this for no reason,” he said. “I want it to end. Enough is enough.”
On Wednesday Atallah also told SFGN their business was not political.
“We would not push our political views towards the business in any way,” he said. “It wouldn’t do the staff any justice.”
Some people in the community though pointed out there was a sign in their window supporting one of the Wilton Manors mayoral candidates.
Trump Events Canceled at Holy Mackerel, Staff Responds
Holy Mackerel in Wilton Manors
Holy Mackerel, a small-batch craft beer spot in Wilton Manors, was the target of social media after it came out that two Trump events were being hosted at the brewery.
Ehab Atallah, the director of operations for Holy Mackerel, said that they were not aware that the parties making the reservations were affiliated with a political group until seeing their posts online. Their social media was filled with backlash, and they shut down their pages while the staff figured out what happened.
“From my understanding, I think they actually went in, talked to a manager, from that point they told them they needed to make a reservation,” Atallah explained.
Holy Mackerel staff only asked for a contact name, their number, the date and time of the reservation, and how many people were coming. Both events were under 100 people, which is allowed under Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan.
On Oct. 8, the Trump Victory Leadership Initiative had planned to host a Hawaiian-themed Champion Patriot Challenge at the brewery, where they invited the public to “connect with great people and like-mind conservatives.” The event organizer did not respond to an email and call from South Florida Gay News.
The second event was planned for Oct. 13, hosted by Team Trump Broward. The private event was the group’s Fourth Annual BBQ & Brew, where they were hosting local candidates and organizers encouraged attendees to “proudly wear your TRUMP and Republican candidate gear!” Typically closed on Tuesday, Holy Mackerel was allowing them to use the space for a larger event that still met social distancing rules.
Then word spread through social media of the two events and opinions clashed — some felt that the events were not appropriate in LGBT-friendly Wilton Manors, while others said it was their right to host events wherever they wanted. Others criticized Holy Mackerel for agreeing to let the events take place at their establishment.
“For us, there would have been no signs there to trigger us to say this is an organization or political event,” Atallah said. “We would not push our political views towards the business in any way. It wouldn’t do the staff any justice.”
After reopening their social media pages, Atallah posted a statement from the brewery and posted his personal cell phone number should anyone want to discuss the situation with him.
Had they known it was a political event, either Republican or Democrat, he said they would not have accepted the reservation as it’s “just not something in our business model to do.” Neither event organizer got approval from Holy Mackerel to use their logos on their event fliers, and the brewery is working with Eventbrite to have it taken down from the BBQ & Brew event. Atallah also said he found out Team Trump Broward was planning on bringing BBQ from another restaurant — Holy Mackerel does not allow outside food to be brought in.
Holy Mackerel opened its doors at the end of January, just weeks before the state was shut down due to the pandemic. Even so, they have given free meals to firefighters and other first responders and been trying to be a part of the community.
“We were caught in the middle of this crossfire and we really took the brunt of it,” Atallah said of the event controversy. “I felt like nobody took the time to really want to find out what happened. And that was the only disappointing part. But listen, we’re strong and we’re going to get through this and I hope no one truly thinks we did this intentionally to hurt anyone.”
The staff has also learned its lesson and the brewery has a new policy: any reservations with more than six people have to go through Atallah.
“Lesson learned,” he said. “We definitely won’t make the same mistake twice, I promise you that.”
Repeal a Woman’s Right to Vote? Some Republican Women Have Called For It
Abby Johnson, who advocates for head-of-household voting, spoke at the Republican National Convention this year. (Photo via the Republican National Convention)
Nov. 3 is a big day for the nation — Americans will take to the polls to decide who they want to occupy the White House.
It will also be 100 years and one day from the first time that women in the U.S. were allowed to participate in a presidential election. Perhaps even more serendipitously, Florida’s primary elections on Aug. 18 coincided with the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave (some) women the right to vote.
“If a woman was single, she probably was paying taxes but still wasn’t allowed to vote. Whereas if she was married you essentially didn’t have any rights,” said Monica Elliott, the president of the League of Women Voters of Broward County.
Women having the right to vote was a radical idea — women weren’t seen as educated or emotionally stable enough to do something as important as vote. Plus, they had their husband to speak for them, so why would they need to vote anyway?
The 19th Amendment was a major moment in women’s suffrage, but it was just the beginning. Women of color would have to wait a few more decades until they could vote, and even today there are still less obvious barriers keeping people from casting their vote.
However, even 100 years after the first big step in women’s suffrage, there are those who think that maybe we had it right back then — including women.
During the second night of the Republican National Convention in August, the GOP gave the stage to Abby Johnson, a woman who left Planned Parenthood in 2009 and has been fighting against abortion ever since. This same woman, who was given such a prominent spotlight, has openly said she believes in head-of-household voting.
Back in May, she tweeted a question to her followers: What’s the most controversial thing you believe? She answered her own question, saying she believes in head-of-household voting. She then explained that means one vote per household.
When criticized for her belief, she replied, “Yes. So shocking! A husband and wife who are in agreement and a wife who honors her husband as the head of the home. Gasp!! What a weird, biblical concept!!”
(How this idea would play out for same-sex couples is yet to be seen).
Ann Coulter, a far-right pundit and author, has also shared her wish that the 19th Amendment had never happened. In more than one interview, she has made jokes about how the Republicans would be a shoo-in if women weren’t allowed to vote.
“If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president. It’s kind of a pipe dream, it’s a personal fantasy of mine, but I don’t think it’s going to happen,” she said in 2007. “And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.”
In 2012, during an interview with the Jackson Free Press, Central Mississippi TEA Party President Janis Lane scorned the day women got the right to vote.
“Probably the biggest turn we ever made was when the women got the right to vote,” she said, then explained, “our country might have been better off if it was still just men voting. There is nothing worse than a bunch of mean, hateful women. They are diabolical in how [they] can skewer a person. I do not see that in men. The whole time I worked, I’d much rather have a male boss than a female boss. Double-minded, you never can trust them.”
These women join the ranks of generations of women who are against equality and women’s suffrage. While suffragettes marched, smashed windows and made bombs, other women stood up to say they didn’t want the right to vote — they were too busy running the household to keep up with politics.
You can even buy a shirt on Amazon to show your disapproval of the 19th Amendment (although, there are complaints about the quality of the fabric).
“This isn’t the first time that we’ve had to deal with this,” said Elliott from the League of Women Voters. “I’m of a certain age where I remember Phyllis Schlafly and her argument against the Equal Rights Amendment, which we still don’t have passed.”
A noted conservative activist who died in 2016, Schlafly opposed feminism and proudly stopped the adoption of the ERA, which would have put men and women on the same plane in legal matters. She believed that it went against gender roles that benefited society and protected it from “homosexual privileges” and abortion.
“News flash: one reason a woman gets married is to be supported by her husband while caring for her children at home. So long as her husband earns a good income, she doesn’t care about the pay gap between them,” Schlafly said in 2015.
Today, these women’s beliefs seem outlandish, and frankly, they’re in the minority. However, they’re loud members of a minority who are consistently given megaphones to espouse these views.
Unfortunately for them, American women voters tend to turn out to vote at higher rates than men. At the local level, there are 643,730 women registered to vote in Broward County, out of the 1.2 million total — that’s more than half.
Commission votes for small millage increase; officials present demolished Holiday Inn as one of this year’s accomplishments
The town commission this week voted to increase the millage rate to 3.5 percent, up from the rolled-back rate of 3.3781 percent.
“We take the great pride in keeping our millage rate as one of the lowest, and again this year, we are in the running as the lowest in the county,” said Vice Mayor Buz Oldaker. “There’s not a lot of fluff in our budget. You can’t have a lot of fluff when you’re 3.5 [percent].”
The commission unanimously passed the proposed $24 million budget as well as the fire assessment rate – $129.85 for each residential unit and 21 cents per square foot of non-residential units.
The final vote that will adopt the rate will be at the next meeting on Sept. 21.
Finance Director Lucila Lang said the proposed millage is the second-lowest in Broward County. If approved, it could be the lowest and generate $9 million in ad valorem taxes. The town’s taxable value increased 3.61 percent over the last year.
The budget proposal includes no salary increases for the town manager and staff. A major personnel increase was for health insurance premiums, up 17 percent.
“Staff did have conversations with a few other brokers, and one broker actually came back with a higher rate,” Lang said during the meeting. “A second broker actually said this increase was on average with the industry this year.”
Commissioner Edmund Malkoon was the single dissenting vote on the millage rate. He suggested keeping it at the original rolled-back rate, but staff said they would have to overhaul the entire budget with a one week deadline before the final vote. Mayor Chris Vincent told him, “we’re on borrowed time here with this.”
Malkoon responded, “I think we have the ability to complete everything in the budget . . . I think it could be accomplished with the budget we already have.”
Commissioner Elliot Sokolow disagreed, noting that the town can afford the slight increase to get projects done. “I would prefer that while the funds are here and we’re still fiscally sound, we go ahead and get these long-term projects that have been here for a long time, done,” he said. “. . . It’s a slight increase, does not cost anyone in town a whole lot of money, and I think it’s the appropriate way to deal with our situation.”
Oldaker also brought up funding the budget with parking fund revenues.
“We need to know and address the fact that we are plugging a gap with parking fund monies. If we want to do that and we all agree on that and we vote on that, I’m fine with that policy, but I think it’s a policy direction the commission should take,” he said.
“At the end of the day, we have no debt and that’s a claim that not many municipalities in the county can make.”
Lauderdale-By-The-Sea looks back
Neysa Herrera, assistant to the town manager, presented the commission a look back at the town’s accomplishments in the current year.
Holiday Inn settlement and demolition
Perhaps the most highly anticipated action was progress on the Holiday Inn site. The property owner paid $1.65 million in negotiated fines and will pay $390,000 in demolition costs and $83,750 in site restoration work.
Initiation of designs
The designs for the Palm Club septic-to-sewer project have been completed. Construction begins in Spring 2021. The Terra Mar stormwater improvement project is set to begin four-to-six-months of construction in November if commissioners approve it at the next meeting. Finally, a design proposal for El Mar Drive has been presented to the commission.
Upgrading Town Hall
Town hall’s antiquated phone and IT systems were upgraded and a new security system and panic buttons installed there and at parking services, development services, the visitors center and the community center.
Improved infrastructure around town
Lighting was installed at the West Commercial Plaza and the Bougainvillea parking lot. The town installed a bike repair station, electric vehicle charging station, and three new bus shelters. The Jarvis Portico was improved with new tiling, railings, paint on walls and ceilings and new ceiling fans. The new Friedt Park courtyard got lighting, pavers, upgraded landscaping and seating areas. In the works are the construction of the A1A Hibiscus crosswalk, landscaping at South A1A and dune maintenance.
Dealing with COVID
The commission touted its response to COVID-19 which included increased online services, partnering with the LBTS Chamber of Commerce during reopenings in Phase 1, as well as increased signage and a Broward Sheriff’s Office presence in the downtown area.
Other notes
During public comments, multiple residents asked the town to consider moving back to Jarvis Hall for town commission meetings. Mayor Chris Vincent noted that the town has to follow the governor’s orders to hold remote meetings. He especially hopes to be able to meet with citizens soon on the El Mar project.
Barricades erected during COVID-19 on A1A cost the town $14,000 a month. Town Manager Bill Vance said if they are up for more than a few more months, it would pay for the town to purchase them.
Rendering of The Residences at Equality Park (Courtesy Behar Font & Partners, P.A.)
Even with the coronavirus, the Pride Center is abuzz. Seniors are moving into the newly opened Residences at Equality Park, improvements are being made around the campus, staff members continue to connect with the community via Facebook Live, and by the end of the month, a 3,000 square foot mural will be erected.
Steven Teller, originally from Fort Lauderdale and now living in St. Augustine, was selected to create Equality Park’s new murals, chosen from more than 90 artist applications.
“There’s a lot of impact in public art and what it can do in the community and the message it can create,” Teller said. “A lot of my stuff is using nature and bright colors and harmonious color schemes.”
Teller found out about the call for artists through friends and the art community, and he was drawn to how open the Pride Center and ArtServe — who are collaborating on the project — were to hearing ideas from artists. In his application, he shared his vision for a mural that would showcase growth, positivity and hope.
It resonated with the team.
“I am so incredibly excited to witness the positive and uplifting impact that Steven Teller’s signature style of bright and imaginative creativity infused with deep meaning will bring — not only to this space, but to the entire community,” Pride Center CEO Robert Boo said in a statement.
With the nation fighting against racial injustice and the White House’s attacks on transgender people, Teller feels it makes the mural he is working on even more important. Ever since his proposal was accepted, he has been interviewing members of the LGBT community locally and across the country, as well as board members at the Pride Center, to help guide the mural. He said that as a straight man, he wanted to hear from the community who would be most impacted by the mural.
From sharing coming out stories, societal stigmas, and self-esteem, Teller found that something that resonated with everyone was the feeling of self-acceptance and acceptance by others for being yourself. This guided the use of flowers, inspired by the colors of the rainbow and progressive flags. With help from the community, the flowers can be nurtured and continue to grow. He also is including birds flying free in the mural.
“I want that first emotion, the first impact, to be really representative of a welcoming, loving space for someone who has never been to the Pride Center before,” he said of the mural.
At 30, Teller’s work has been showcased in murals across the country, from Jacksonville and Orlando to Chattanooga, Memphis, New York City, Colorado and more. He’s especially proud of a piece he created in Chicago last summer outside of the Cornerstone Community Outreach transitional shelter for homeless families. In “If Only You Knew,” a young Black woman with beautiful dreads hanging to her waist looks out into the distance, surrounded by bright blue flowers.
While he’s gotten used to the pressure of creating public art, Teller says it doesn’t minimize the importance of the work he does.
“Some of the first walls that I ever painted that were upwards of 50 feet tall in the middle of a city, there definitely is that moment of an ego check where it’s like, ‘Is what I’m going to say worthy of this space and to see all these other people see and receive this work? Is what I’m saying worthy of impacting their day?’ A few years ago, I probably would have been crippled with pressure.”
For the Equality Park project, he will be painting the panels in his studio in St. Augustine, which will then be printed onto metal panels for longevity. The mural is expected to be installed at the end of September.
Teller has been given a stipend or $5,000 for the mural project, funded by the Community Foundation of Broward.
On Tuesday, Sept. 15 from 4 to 5 p.m. ArtServe Live will present a virtual meet and greet with Teller. More info here.
Florida Rights Restoration Coalition Raises Funds to Restore Voting Rights
From left, Neil Volz and Desmond Meade (Courtesy of Neil Volz)
Desmond Meade and Neil Volz are counting down the days to Aug. 18 — it’s the midterm election, and it will be the first time both men have been allowed to vote in decades.
That’s because the two have felonies on their record, and even though they’ve long since served their time in prison, volunteered with charities, been members of boards, and even graduated from law school, they have been barred from voting thanks to Florida’s voting rights laws.
“I am looking forward to having my hand sanitizer and mask and going to actually vote in person,” Volz laughed.
Meade is the executive director and CEO of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and Volz serves as deputy director. Founded in 2003 as an email campaign, the organization was officially incorporated in 2011 and it has fought against voting disenfranchisement, particularly restoring the voting rights of returning citizens.
For years, Florida was one of four states that had lifetime voting disenfranchisement for people with felony convictions — they had to apply for the chance to have their voting rights restored. Former Gov. Charlie Crist wanted voting rights to be automatically reinstated for people without murder or violent sex crime convictions, but he was not able to get it passed. Still, he restored the rights of more than 155,000 people. The leniency was reversed during former Gov. Rick Scott’s administration, which only restored voting rights to 2,000 people.
It wasn’t until the passage of Florida Amendment 4, or the Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative, in 2018 that felons — or returning citizens — were given back their right to vote after serving their time. That meant 1.4 million people in Florida were suddenly allowed to vote. And Meade and Volz were both active participants in promoting Amendment 4, which passed with almost two-thirds of voters voting in favor of it.
Meade said he spent his life in and out of jail, and in 2001 he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was released after four years, and he remembers sitting at the railroad tracks, homeless and contemplating suicide, but “of course the train didn’t come.” He took this as a sign and checked himself into a drug rehabilitation program then enrolled in school.
In May 2014, he graduated with a law degree from Florida International University. Even though he had done everything to turn his life around, his past still haunted him — he was not allowed to sit for the bar exam. When his wife, Sheena, ran for a position in the Florida House of Representatives in 2016, he was not able to vote for her.
“I’ve always believed that there’s nothing that speaks more to citizenship than being able to vote,” he said. “Until a person regains the right to vote, they’re really relegated to being a second-class citizen.”
Volz also had a felony conviction and served time in Washington, D.C. After his release, he started working with the homeless and now lives in Fort Myers. He met Meade in 2014 and found that getting involved in FRRC “was an opportunity for me to take my past pain and turn it into something positive.”
During the campaign for Amendment 4, Volz drove all over the state and visited almost every county to educate voters about the bill. He also joined Meade on shows like “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” and “Tucker Carlson Tonight” for interviews about their mission. They found that most people had no idea about what voting laws were in place for Florida residents with felonies on their records. Volz said all he needed was 20 minutes and a cup of coffee — in that amount of time with someone, he could explain the importance of Amendment 4 and voting rights.
“We knew deep down at the end of the day, if people saw us as people, we were going to win. If people saw us as something else, then we were going to lose,” he said.
That all changed on Nov. 6, 2018. The two men did television interviews in Miami and then Orlando, where they watched the results come in with their wives. Although they were confident it would pass, seeing it on the television made it all real: almost two-thirds of voters voted in favor of Amendment 4.
In an instant, Meade, Volz, and 1.5 million other Floridians suddenly had their rights restored.
“It was not votes based on hate or fear, but rather votes based on love, forgiveness and redemption,” Meade said. “There is a way that we can move major policy issues without having to tear each other down.”
However, the fight is still not over. A stipulation of Amendment 4 requires that returning citizens must pay off all their legal and court fees before their right to vote is reinstated. This has proven to be difficult, as people struggle to find jobs willing to hire them while also caring for their families and paying probation fees.
At FRRC, they believe that a person’s economic status should not stand in their way of being able to vote. In response, they created the Fines and Fees Fund where supporters can donate to help returning citizens pay off their fees. FRRC is also working to help those who are eligible to register to vote.
“The ability to take the anchor off of them, that $1,000 or $1,500 that they’ve been living with and unable to pay, is a very life-affirming process,” Volz said.
And with every dollar, more and more people are able to register to vote. Meade and Volz get text messages or see Facebook posts of people they’ve helped proudly holding up their registration card, ready to vote — not only next week, but in November.
“This is an important election, a very pivotal election, and it’s very important that every voice gets heard,” Meade said. “To know you have a voice in how your community or your country is being run is empowering.”
