Worried about national and state events? Concerned about the chaos of executive actions and a silent legislature? Want to do something but can’t figure out how?
The League of Women Voters of Alachua County is preparing a series of action plans. They are intended to encourage you to respond to the daily breach of the rule of law and the separation of powers. That separation has nourished and guarded this nation since its inception. We are calling this the What You Can Do (WYCD) campaign.
These WYCD Action Items will appear regularly. They will be designed to provide concrete actions to give you a mechanism for doing something.Daily assaults on personal freedoms and institutions meant to serve American citizens can be
overwhelming. Ignoring the worst and retreating inward can seem like the only response. Fear is
understandable. But fear contributes to the dismantling. Action, because it is the right thing to do, helps us sleep at night. Action, regardless of outcome, makes a pillow softer.
The League suggests that you post each message in your kitchen. Grab your morning beverage, grab your phone, and take action.
To receive the What You Can Do actions directly, please email info [at] lwv-alachua.org (subject: What%20You%20Can%20Do) with "What You Can Do" in the subject line. Request to be added to the email list. Messages come out about once a week.
Action Items: Call your legislators and ask for answers. Some suggestions follow. We want our messages to be laser focused, please feel free to use some or all these questions or any others of your own choosing. Choose a couple questions for today, use others in the next couple days. Or, call them about a topic of your choosing and interest. Just call!
CURRENT ACTION TOPICS: 1) Alligator Alcatraz 2) Budget/Reconciliation Bill
STATE
1) Alligator Alcatraz (actual term coined by AG Uthmeier)
Gov. Ron DeSantis (850) 488-7146 (I was unable to get through on either #1 to talk with staff or #2 to leave a voice message. We should continue trying. Let the phones ring! governorron.desantis [at] eog.myflorida
Attorney General James Uthmeier (850) 414-3990 prompt #2 (got through to a human being)
https://legacy.myfloridalegal.com/contact.nsf/contact?Open&Section=Citizen_Services
On June 19 Attorney General James Uthmeier posted on X that there was going to be a detention center built in the Everglades at the site of an abandoned airfield. There was a protest on Sunday, 6/22. There were some inconsequential communications between officials in Collier and Miami-Dade leadership whose land would be affected but on Monday, 6/23, construction trucks moved in on the basis of an emergency. While the governor said there would be “zero” environmental effect, it doesn’t take much to consider the production of sewage and other waste, emissions from traffic to build and serve the 1,000 detainees, disrupted water flow to the Everglades with recharge water for nine million south Floridians. Both the state and the federal government have spent billions to restore the Everglades. The efforts would be negated by the detention facility.
I’ll leave the humanitarian aspects to you.
References: Florida Phoenix:
Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz Everglades prison ignores both environment and history. DeSantis dismisses environmental concerns regarding Alligator Alcatraz detention center
Action 1) Call and email the governor and the AG. Suggested verbiage below. For a phone message, leave out the details and point out the wasted restoration money and difficulty of evacuations during hurricane season.
The state of Florida and the federal government have spent hundreds of billions of dollars to restore the Everglades to preserve the water quality for over nine million residents in south Florida. That money will also restore fishing and tourism industries. Building a high-density detention center that will produce millions of gallons of sewage, require fresh water, will produce industrial waste and will create enormous traffic on a single road will negate the money and efforts already expended. It is hurricane season again. South Florida already has difficulty with evacuations, adding to that the detainees and employees will exacerbate the efforts to get out of the way of hurricanes.
A detention center in the Everglades makes no sense financially or logistically. Abandon the plan.
Action 2) Go to Friends of the Everglades: Take Action to Stop Alligator Alley and click the link to send a letter to the state. Here’s the link (maybe it will work?)
NATIONAL
The budget/reconciliation bill is still pending a vote in the senate. We need to keep voicing our objection to our senators.
National Legislators:
Senator Rick Scott: (202) 224-5274
Senator Ashley Moody: (202) 224-3041
Action: Call our senators.
Suggested verbiage: The budget bill passed by the House would harm your constituents and millions of Americans. While continuing to give tax breaks to the wealthy, the non-wealthy would get less health care, less food on the table and less services. It is a bad bill. I urge you to find a better way to fund our government by taxing the wealthy and giving services to your constituents who are not wealthy.
