 | Dear League Members and Friends,
We have a number of events that need your attention, so I'm asking you to sign up for whatever you can. Most importantly, we have 4 in-person events that we need members to sign up for. They are:
Nov 12: Native Rhythms festival, in Wickham Park. We are only doing this on Saturday, to request signatures on ballot initiatives for Clean Water and for expansion of Medicaid. These are 2 initiatives approved by the State League. Of course, we will also register people to vote if any show up, but you don't need to be approved to register voters to sign up.
Dec 3: Ocean Reef Festival, at Pelican Beach Park, Satellite Beach. Same as above but different event.
Dec 10: Holiday luncheon. This one is just for fun. A good meal, great company, a chance to just socialize before the holidays get too crazy. You must sign up on our website and pay for your meal in advance. See the flyer on the website, or click the calendar link for more info.
Jan 12: Monthly meeting at Iron Oak Post, Melbourne Downtown. We are going to try a monthly meeting, combined with social time and a presentation. Please plan to join us and invite as many people as you wish. Not limited to members.
We also have several committee meetings in the next month; please attend any you are able to attend. I strongly encourage all members to show up to the Fundraising and Publicity/Events committees especially. We need to raise money and have some events in the planning stages, and could use more hands.
Nov 9: Voter Services Zoom meeting, 5 pm
Nov. 10: Fundraising Zoom meeting, 3 pm
Nov. 12: Social Justice Committee coffee,
in person at Kathy Ebersberger's house, 10 am
Nov. 14: Publicity/Events Zoom meeting, 5:30 pm
Nov. 15: International Relations meeting,
1:15 pm, in person at Suntree Library
Nov. 16: Education Committee Zoom meeting, 10 am
Nov. 21: Social Justice Committee Zoom meeting, 6 pm
Nov 30: Sustainability and Natural Resources
Joint Zoom meeting, 5:30 pm
Please go to the website for more info/links/contact person. Now that the elections are almost behind us, we need to focus on fundraising and getting our affairs in order so we are in better shape to handle the rigors of the 2024 election. Thanks for being a member and doing what you can!
Suzanne Taylor
President
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LAST CHANCE TO VOTE ...
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH
AT THE POLLS | | Still making up your mind about how to vote this year? Take a look at the home page of our website for a myriad of information. Here's what you can find:
VOTE 411 - This link takes you to information regarding
- Judges
- Voting Status
- What's on the Ballot
- What to do if You Encounter Ballot Problems
- Questions Regarding Mail Ballot
Brevard Ballot Questions
a written explanation of what "yes" and "no" mean as a response to each ballot question
Candidate Forums
Videos of a variety of candidates... the US House; Judges; FL State Representatives; and Information on the School Millage Rate.
Free Rides to the Polls
Who to call if you need a ride to the polls | | | |
Voter Services Committee
Suzanne Taylor, Chair | | | Volunteer Opportunities
Please sign up for a session at one or both of the Native Rhythms and Ocean Reef Festivals so we can ensure these events are attended by LWVSC. To sign up, go to our website, choose Meetings and Events, click Volunteering, then Volunteer Yourself. If you have any issues doing this, please email/text Suzanne Taylor the date/time you want and she will add you to the schedule.
Contact: Suzanne J Taylor
321-213-3264
sjtaylor1@yahoo.com
Native Rhythms Festival
Engage with public to secure petition signatures
for Medicaid and Clean Water
Wickham Park, Melbourne
Saturday, November 12th
14
SPOTS
LEFT
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Required
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Assigned
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10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
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4
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12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
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4
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0
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02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
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4
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04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
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4
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Ocean Reef Festival
Engage with public to secure petition signatures and register voters
Saturday, December 3rd
Pelican Beach Park, Satellite Beach
10
SPOTS
LEFT
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Time
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Required
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Assigned
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10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
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4
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12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
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4
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1
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02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
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4
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1
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|  | | Award Winning Performers, Shelley Morningsong & Fabian Fontenelle, are two of the many performers at the Native Rhythms Festival.
|  | Celebrate Beach Lifestyle at the Ocean Reef Festival. Vendors and other fun things... maybe you'll even catch sight of Johnny and His Bird... while you talk with people to obtain signatures on petitions and register voters. | | |
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Social Justice Committee
Kathy Ebersberger, Chair
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Education Committee
Hilah Mercer, Chair | | | Teachers’ Licenses Threatened Under New Rules Related to Recent Legislation
The LWVFL has cautioned that recent legislation including:
- HB 1467: K-12 Education Imposes severe restrictions on instructional materials that can be used and how public input must be enhanced through specific policies. The censorship overreach of this bill discounts the experience and true cultural history of minority students.
- SDHB1557/S1834 (Similar) Parental Rights in Education (dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill) Imposes severe restrictions on the kinds of discussions teachers may have with students, preventing children from seeking assistance with issues that cause them distress.
- SB 148/HB 7 (Similar) Individual Freedom – “Stop WOKE Act” Prohibits public schools and private businesses from inflicting “discomfort” on people during lessons or training about discrimination and places limits on instructional materials. Breaches of this law could lead to expensive lawsuits against the employer or school board.
On October 19, 2022, the Florida State Board of Education, meeting to develop rules aligned to three controversial new laws, signed off on a separate rule that could lead to teachers losing their licenses for violating two of them, specifically HB7 and HB 1557. Related to the Parental Rights in Education and the Stop WOKE Act, the rule updates state code of conduct to make clear that teachers could have their licenses suspended or revoked if they provide instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity to students in kindergarten through third grade. Representatives from Equality Florida, an LGBTQ-advocacy group, counter that “teachers shouldn’t be punished or silenced for acknowledging and valuing every family.” Rin Alajaji, with Equality Florida, further states, “This board is putting careers of educators in jeopardy and intensifying the harmful and chilling effects that the don’t say-LGBTQ law has already had in providing safe, inclusive and welcoming schools.” Accusations that the rule has been violated can be brought by parents to trigger an investigation. The method of recourse for teachers to defend themselves has not been specified.
According to Ryan Dailey, News Service of Florida, the rule also will carry out a measure that Gov. DeSantis dubbed the “Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act,” The measure takes aim at a variety of race-related concepts that, if taught in classrooms, would constitute discrimination. The law would deem instruction discriminatory if it “compels” students to believe that they “must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the person played no part,” committed in the past by members of the same race or sex. Again, investigations can be triggered by parental accusations while teachers' methods of recourse have not been defined.
| | At the October meeting, we took in a surprising number of teacher supplies, including 2 large boxes of copy paper. An attendee dropped off file folders at my house on another day. We have generous members.
My car was loaded, and with the committee's approval, I dropped the supplies off to Saturn Elementary in Cocoa. They are listed as a high needs school and will make good use of the supplies! Several hundred students from nearby Cocoa schools, Endeavour and Cambridge, were rezoned to Saturn a few years ago and the school needs help meeting a myriad of needs.
Thanks to all who contributed!!!
Hilah Mercer
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GOAL
LWVSC MEMBERS
ATTEND SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS
TO SHOW SUPPORT
OF STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND STAFF
and
BE INFORMED
ABOUT SCHOOL RELATED ISSUES
| | | BREVARD SCHOOL BOARD MEETING DATES
Nov 22
NOTE SPECIAL TIME
MEETING BEGINS: 10:00 a.m.
Purpose of Meeting: Organization of Board/Oath of Office
Dec. 13
GATHERING: 5 PM
LOCATION
Educational School Facilities (ESF)
2700 Fran Jamieson Way
Viera, FL
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Natural Resources Committee
Susan Little & Maureen Rupe
Co-Chairs | | | | COMMITTEE HAPPENINGS...
CHANGE IN MEETING DATE
Our last Natural Resource Committee meeting was on Oct. 26, 2022 at 5:30 PM. At that time we decided to have subsequent meetings on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Of course, there are always exceptions to every rule. So, next month our meeting will be on the 5th Wednesday of the month and will be a joint meeting with the Sustainability Committee. This timing is so that our meetings do not interfere with the Thanksgiving holiday. We are tentatively planning an in person meeting with 2 speakers so keep an eye on the League calendar to see any updates.
NEXT MEETING DATE AND TIME:
WEDNESDAY, NOV 30
5:30-7:00 PM
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OPPORTUNITY TO HELP HERE IN TOWN: We are taking the lead on the Ocean Reef Beach Festival which is Dec. 3, 2022. It is an all day event with music and food and usually, great weather in Pelican Park in Satellite Beach. We will need at least 10-12 volunteers to break up the work but this event attracts many people and is a great outreach opportunity for the whole League. Registering voters, having petitions signed, and just distributing information about the League in general makes the day go by fast. So, please volunteer for a time slot as soon as they appear on the Volunteer spot on the home page of our website.
LWVFL (Florida State League) PETITION DRIVE:
An event of interest is that the Florida League of Women Voters has endorsed the proposed amendment, Florida Right to Clean Water. In order to place this on the ballot in 2024 we need 225,000 signed petitions by the end of February. For more information, please go to floridarighttocleanwater.org & read through the material which explains the amendment. Then, you can either download a copy, sign it and send it to the address on the site or wait until you attend a League event as we will have petitions available to sign. |
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| OUR HANDS HELP CLEAN UP AFTER THE ELECTION:
After the elections are over in November, the League is partnering with several other agencies in Brevard to keep election signs out of our landfill. The signs will be sent to a recycler in Winter Park. Donna Born has been the main promotor of this project and she has done an awesome job. Marcia Booth is allowing signs to be stored at her facility in Rockledge to await pickup. She will need some help with collecting the signs so keep an eye out for calls for help. This is being done in conjunction with the LWV in Volusia County, Seminole County and Orange County.
If you have any questions about the Natural Resource Committee my email is ergajn88@gmail.com and the LWVSC homepage is located at www.lwv-spacecoast.
Susan Little
Natural Resource Co-Chair |
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Report from the Marine Resource Council LID/GSI Conference
by Maureen Rupe
The Marine Resource Council (MRC) held the second of three conferences to inform elected officials, developers, builders and the Public at Large, the necessity of requiring Low Impact Development (LID) and Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) in all new developments. The Second Conference was excellent and heavily attended by County and Neighboring County Elected Officials, City and County Engineers, and Environmental groups, as well as our State Senator Debbie Mayfield, who is the majority leader and Clean Waterways Act Sponsor.
The Conference included detailed accounts on overcoming LID and GSI design and maintenance, new stormwater rules plus updating code to allow for LID and GIS. Questions from the audience were readily answered by Agricultural and Biology Professors from State Universities, Department of Environmental Protection, and other prominent Scientists.
LID Strategy: LID is an approach to land development that uses various land planning design and construction practices to simultaneously conserve and protect natural resource systems while reducing infrastructure costs. LID stands apart from other concepts through its emphasis on cost-effective strategies at the lot level. Designing an individual site to replicate predevelopment hydrology can reduce the project’s impacts on natural systems.
LID strategies move away from a centralized method of collecting, conveying, and discharging water to one that minimizes both impervious areas and stores and treats stormwater in a more distributed fashion, sometimes even on the individual lot level.”
“Some of the common LID practices include vegetated swales, buffers and strips; streets without curbs and gutters; curb cutaways for median storage; end-of-island bioretention cells; permeable pavers; green roofs; rain gardens, bioretention, rain barrels or cisterns; tree or natural area preservation; in-ground infiltration and storage; and green build programs such as Florida Water StarSM.”
Worth noting, the Department of Defense (DoD) now requires Lid on all its installations worldwide. The next and final Conference will be in April 2023, which will include the invitation of Developers and Builders to participate.
Stormwater coming from natural lands is not the problem; it is when the natural lands are converted into other land uses, especially urban where when soil is paved over, we create impervious surfaces and then the rain causes stormwater runoff, which is normally polluted, which kills marine life in our lagoon and pollutes all our waterbodies.
At the rate of development in Florida it must be realized the current system does not work and if LID and GIS is not put into our codes for mandatory installation, we are on a road to disaster that will affect every aspect of our Environment, Economy, Health and our overall quality of life. | International Relations Group | |
International Relations Committee
Martha Bradshaw
and
Diane Conaway
Co-Chairs
| | | International Relations Group
The members of the LWVSC International Relations Committee would like to encourage all members and friends of members to attend our monthly meetings where we learn about and discuss various topics related to politics and problems around the world. We meet on the third Tuesday of each month at 1:15 at the Suntree library. This month...
Tuesday, November 18
1:15 pm
Suntree Public Library
Topic: US Foreign Policy in an Age of Strategic Competition
Diane Conaway presenting
We hope many of you will come and join in the lively discussion. Non-League members are also welcome.
Topics for 2023
Energy Geopolitics
War Crimes
China and the US
Economic Warfare
Politics in Latin America
Global Famine
Iran and the Gulf States
Climate Migration
Contact MargeeSmith2@gmail.com for more information.
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Sustainability Committee
Susan Little, Chair | | Our Sustainability Committee is in its third year of existence and adding projects all the time. Here's a taste of just a few...
- Of course, most of you have heard of our Sustainability Book Club which met November 5 at 3:30 PM to discuss Them: Why We Hate Each Other and How We Can Heal by Ben Sasse. Please go to our home page at www.lwv-spacecoast.org to register for the discussion.
- An exciting part of our work is a project entitled "A Tree Grows in Brevard" where we highlight the work of many organizations who are trying to increase our tree canopy in Brevard County. We are hoping to have a speaker from one of these organizations at our next meeting on November 30, 2022. Updates will be available on our home page.
- Two members of our Sustainability Team attended the Low Impact Development Conference in Rockledge last week and Maureen Rupe prepared a report for us. See the Natural Resources article above for her report. This conference is the second in a series of three sponsored by the Marine Resource Council of Brevard. The focus of this one was how to craft local ordinances to encourage Low Impact Development ---
| | a technique to use when developing land to make sure the rainfall does not flow off that land. One way to do this is to keep most of the existing tree canopy. Swales can also be used to slow water flow and allow it to percolate down through the ground. Rainwater can also be captured as it falls off roofs and stored in rain barrels or above ground cisterns. All of these lessen the need for large underground drainage systems and retention ponds that begin to deteriorate the moment they are completed.
- Finally we have a project to study Green Investment and what impact it is making on the market. This is a complicated issue and a bit controversial but that makes it all the more interesting. Internationally, there is a committee trying to develop standards for "Green" values that can be used to evaluate a company before investing in it. This will be a welcome advance as it is tough now to now if one is truly investing in a fund that is just advertising one good thing but ignoring any other bad practices in which they are engaged. We could use some knowledgeable people to join us in this quest. If you are interested, please email me at ergajn88@gmail.com.
Susan Little, Chair
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Save The Date!!!
Happy Holiday LWVSC Luncheon and Party
@ Tuscany Grill
6630 Colonnade Ave.
at The Avenues of Viera
Saturday, Dec. 10th
Begins: 1 pm
Special Menu includes choice of salmon, lasagna, eggplant rollatini, and chicken parm
with salad, bread, and cannoli
soft beverage
$26.50/person
Cash Bar
Fun Raffle and a 50/50 !!
RSVP by Dec. 5th on www.lwv-spacecoast.org | The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
Click on one of these options to support us or learn more:
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