After the business coalition forum was over I was disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to bring up the issue of school uniforms especially after I witnessed the passion against new taxes from commission candidates and guests.  The school board recently mandated a uniform policy for all k-12 schools.  This policy is far worse than a tax though because not only is it putting an undue financial burden on families, it restricts freedom of speech and expression.

The policy was founded on misconceptions and false premises. The research (including studies from the Journal of Educational Research and a 4 year tracking study by the Miami-Dade school district) shows that uniforms do not lessen dress code violations, nor do they have a positive affect on attendance, behavior, performance, or substance use.  The main ‘issue’ as claimed by board members really comes down to enforcement of dress code standards already in place.

Some people say that uniforms aren’t that bad but for a public policy to be enacted that takes away rights, there has to be an overwhelming good to justify it.  In the case of uniforms there is none.  In fact there is no rational reason to have uniforms (and a million reasons against them but I’ll keep this post short).

In tough economic times parents will now have to buy a new wardrobe for their kids.  (Don’t believe the farce that uniforms save money, no student wears uniforms outside of school.  That means that the cost of uniforms is in addition to whatever regular clothes they buy.)

I couldn’t believe that the new policy was passed or that it was even brought up when there are pressing fundamental issues with education that actually affect performance in schools. (see my website)

There has been significant opposition to uniforms.  All 7 high school principals wrote a letter to the board urging them to not pass the policy and to let them continue to enforce the dress code already in place.  There have been a couple of protests already and a number of groups have been formed; legal action is anticipated.  Whether you have children or not we all need to fight injustice and I urge all of you to email the board, to join one of the groups via facebook, or to connect with parents and dissenters (you can email me at chris.smiley@gmx.com).

Elected or not I will continue to work to reverse this policy.

My website- Fleducationreform.com

Letter from principals-  http://notopolos.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/copy-of-the-letter-sent-to-school-board-from-alachua-county-school-principals/

Why am I doing this? Because the issues will continue to be the same: rapacious utility rates and mismanagement of the city government. I have also had every encouragement from friends and strangers alike, and this has intensified since I filed. Whereas most conservatives who have lost have gone back to their business and gotten politics behind them, I have decided to build on the support that I have, and to start early. I need you to do the same. I need your financial support, and the sooner the better. If we lay the ground work now, everything will go much smoother later.

Please limit your contributions to $250 per person or business entity. Contributions over $100 must also list your occupation. Please make out your check and mail it to:

The Marsh Campaign
3904 NW 15 St.
Gainesville, FL 32605

Circuit Judge Victor Hulslander started things off by asking if the plaintiffs were being represented by counsel. Mason Alley responded that they were represented by Sarah Rumpf, and that she would be participating telephonically, since she was in Orlando at the time.  The judge allowed Ray Washington to participate as a voter with an interest in the election. This turned out to be a big deal, since we scarcely heard from Lowe’s attorney, Cherie Fine, and Carpenter’s attorney, Daniel Nee. Indeed, it seems that Ray Washington was here to do all the heavy lifting, as he did all the questioning. But this only got started after a brief recess from 9:40 until 10:00 while Rumpf got up to speed with her clients in a private call.

This hearing did not focus on evidence, so much as procedure. The original complaint filed by Courson and Alley was flawed in many ways since they are not attorneys. They had copied and pasted from a similar filing and included me as a defendant. One of the first tasks was removing me as a defendant since I hadn’t actually done anything. Washington spent the bulk of his time challenging the plaintiffs for taking so long to get a challenge underway while Lowe is expected to be sworn in only six days from now. The disembodied voice of Alley’s attorney would periodically object to questioning on various grounds, like Alley was not qualified to offer a legal opinion.  Each of her objections were sustained, and this took a lot of steam out of Washington’s charge.

Alley’s most compelling response to the questions of timing was his testimony of how he was denied the voter history data he needed until after the deadline to file a suit contesting the election. He had been forced to use data from the March general election to see if there were irregularities there, so he could only hypothesize about the April data. Since then he has had a group of volunteers reviewing the voter history data he needed two weeks earlier than Pam Carpenter could give it to him. This is a very serious impediment to any investigation, and this is built into the system, whether it is intentional or not.

Pam Carpenter was questioned by the judge about voter data, and she said that this data was publicly available. She further explained that there was a difference between voter registration data, which is constantly in flux, and voter history data. Voter history data is each voter’s record of when and where they voted, but not how they voted. This was the data Alley needed, but could not get for 15 days. Someone (I don’t remember who) wanted to know if her office could not have found voter irregularities. She said that her office was, “not an investigative office, but an administrative office.” This leaves it up to plaintiffs to take the initiative of investigating.

Ray Washington questioned Alley about what he was trying to prove. Alley responded that anecdotal evidence about people coming from Tampa to vote lead him to want to examine the actual voter data to see if this was true. His initial investigation found that it was. When Washington asked for names, Alley said he was not prepared to give them up at this time. It was after this that Judge Hulslander adjourned the court. This hearing will likely turn to the evidence on Tuesday, when the next hearing is scheduled at 3:30 PM.

Our own toxic time bomb!

What kind of city official would claim to have saved a toxic waste disaster for just before an election? Craig Lowe is your man of action. He has been a city commissioner for 7 years, and now he wants to be your Mayor, Gainesville. Cabot/Koppers has been an EPA Superfund site since 1983. And it has still been allowed to stay in business since that time!

Koppers has been a wood treatment plant in Gainesville since 1916. For many years they maintained lagoons full of creosote. This industrial coal tar product has been sinking deeper and closer to the Florida Aquifer. This will eventually pollute our drinking water.

The EPA could have started cleaning this up in the 1980s, but for some strange reason, Koppers has been allowed to stay in business. No one has had the backbone to close them down so a clean-up could begin. Solid majorities of the city commissioners have persisted in letting these poisons run their course rather than shut down a documented polluter…IN GAINESVILLE!

Koppers has also been cited for air-born pollutants, which have been scattered up to a ten mile radius around the plant, which is located behind the Big Lots store at Main St. and NW 39th Ave. Dioxin has been found in the dirt around the Stephen Foster neighborhood and beyond.

Craig Lowe says that only he has the experience to clean up this mess. I guess he has been waiting until he has been on the city commission for 7 years to feel confident enough to know what should have been done 27 years ago. No thanks, commissioner! Your time is up!

Don Marsh, candidate for Mayor

VOTE APRIL 13th!

Although Gainesville Mayoral candidates  Craig Lowe and Monica Leadon Cooper disagree about biomass, they have this in common: they are the candidates of scarcity!

When Craig Lowe decided to give up the cheapest fuel source for biomass, he sentenced our city to a future of higher utility bills, more people moving out of Gainesville, more businesses struggling, fewer jobs, and less tax revenue. As utility bills climb higher, we will lose more homeowners, have more foreclosures, and more blight. It will be the beginning of the end. And if you think UF will save us from this, they are already looking at budget cuts and high tuition that will eventually cause students to go elsewhere…even online for an education.

Monica Cooper does not promise us anything better. She wants us to forget coal AND biomass and to limp along on solar energy and conservation and belt-tightening. Solar currently costs more than coal generated power and can only be had during the day. And it better be a sunny day. This will also lead to higher costs, fewer jobs, less tax revenue, and fewer reasons for anyone to stick around here.

I am Don Marsh, and I am the only candidate in this race that knows we need more generating capacity so we can have cheaper, more plentiful electricity, so that businesses will want to move here, and existing businesses can stay in business. Coal, although it will not last forever, is the only sensible fuel source until new technologies mature and become cheap enough to compete and produce power for the rest of the 21st century.

Remember: scarcity will cause prices to rise, and opportunities to shrink. Deciding to stop using coal is a decision to suffer lack. It is the error of politicians to distort the free market and create shortages with unnecessary, ideologically driven regulations. When Barack Obama said that he would bankrupt the coal industry, he set in motion false shortages as investments ran away from coal production. Then Florida stopped all coal plants and this lead to higher prices still. THIS MUST BE REVERSED. But first we must save the coal plant we have!

In the meantime, I will stop hiding Gainesville’s city taxes on your utility bill and cut the budget down to core services like police, fire, roads, and other basic infrastructure. I will get rid of the tiered pricing that punishes families. And I will stop the feed-in tariff that subsidizes solar panels on the homes of people who can afford them, while you are doing without!

Vote for me March 16 for sensible solutions and honest, transparent government.

Nathaniel Sperling for Gainesville City Commission

On March 16^th, the voters of the City of Gainesville will be able to send a glaring message to our local elected officials: we are sick and tired of the irresponsibility that seems to pass for governance these days. Right now, the City of Gainesville is current over $7 Million in the red with no end in sight.

Instead of cutting costs where possible (oh, Mayor Hanrahan has claimed that the city has tried cut all the fat off this year’s budget, but I will show where that is just flat out wrong), the city is just finding nifty little ways of getting our money into their empty coffers. For example, did you know that, since GRU is owned by the City of Gainesville, our utility company has become a giant cash cow to the tune of $34 Million (plus another $9 Million in collected utility taxes) in this year alone? Have your utility rates gone up in the past few months? If so, blame the City Commission and its continued mismanagement of the budget. Is this responsible governance? Oh, we have a shortage of funds…I know, we’ll just spend more and leave the citizenry to foot the bill? It certainly is not realistic…only in government can one legally seize other people’s money to make up for poor spending decisions.

Now, where is all this money going? How about $600k per year for Ironwood Golf Course (another $450K is being spent this year to renovate it…thus, over $1 Million this year is going to pay for a golf course). Approximately $900K per year is being spent so that city employees have access to three fully-equipped and staffed private fitness centers (these centers are only for city employees and their families, the general public who is footing the bill is not welcome) and Proclub services. Then there is half a million dollars being spent per year on a City Communications office. If this office is so indispensable, why did our City Commission function just fine for decades without it? Right here I have mentioned easy ways to eliminate over half the current deficit. I have not even touched on the Mom’s Kitchen boondoggle or the Biomass issue (high startup costs plus potentially high cost of “dead stuff” equals a hefty bill for the taxpayer to foot).

How about all that money that the city is going to waste on a one-stop homeless shelter? Instead of working with local charities (i.e. St. Francis House) and making use of existing social organizations, the city is going to spend a lot of money to put this one-stop center out in the middle of nowhere (how much is it then going to cost to get the homeless out there?) and likely continue to squelch private sector attempts to help alleviate the problem. How much do you think the lawsuits are going to end up costing when something goes terribly and tragically wrong at this one-stop center–what usually happens when you put single mothers and young children in a poorly supervised area with potentially dangerous derelicts?

As Mayor Hanrahan wastes our money on a golf course, she condemns our police and fire fighters for wanting to be treated fairly and the city manager wants to lay off a few dozen police officers. That seems like a fair trade: an unprofitable golf course but a more dangerous and crime-ridden city. Perhaps the only group to benefit from this cut in police officers will be the less responsible members of our college student community who will now be able to party and drink and play loud music because you can bet ‘party patrol’ units will take a hit in these foolish across-the-board cuts the city manager is proposing–sort of like doing brain surgery with a meat cleaver.

At the same time as we waste money, we scare businesses away with draconian regulations and an air of unfriendliness. Now, we have an even weaker tax base and serious underemployment problems. Unless you work for UF or Shands, it is very difficult to find a good paying job with benefits. Our city’s unfriendliness to business hurts our working families and professionals by denying them access to good job opportunities and forces small businesses out of business.

The City Commission shows a great disconnect to the people of Gainesville. It is time we change this. The irresponsibility of our local government seems downright criminal: endangering the welfare of young children by exposing them to dangerous elements of society in a poorly conceived one-stop center, endangering our residents with unnecessary cuts to public safety services, failing to address the Koppers Superfund site and putting the surrounding neighborhoods and the aquifer at extreme risk, even increasing congestion by narrowing major thoroughfares (it will be infuriatingly interesting to see if the number of accidents and road rage incidents increase as the number of lanes on Main Street and University Avenue decrease).

There are those who say that we need people experienced in the working of local government to serve as our new District 4 City Commissioner and Mayor, but I say we need individuals with common sense and a firm grasp of reality. Political experience just means they know how to play the game and we see where that has gotten us: HUGE deficits, underemployment, a severe environmental catastrophe in the making and burdensome regulations and fee.

The reality is that:

1) We need to stop wasting money on boondoggles (i.e. Ironwood Golf course, Mom’s Kitchen, etc.)

2) We need to strengthen our business community and promote greater job development through intelligent deregulation and ending the air of unfriendliness toward business that permeates our local government. The jobs and the businesses are there: look at the town of Alachua, they are doing quite well because their city government shows some common sense.

3) We need to live within our means and stop just increasing taxes and fees (i.e. through siphoning money from GRU)

4) We need to keep our city safe and functional by responsibly allocating our funds (i.e. for police and fire protection)

This is what needs to be done to make our city prosperous and safe. The City Commission needs to stop buying into the failed dogma of New Urbanism and instead listen to the concerns of the people: we want good jobs, we want government to stop wasting money and then hitting us with the bill, we want the government to show the same managerial responsibility that any head of a household or business owner must show in order to survive.

On March 16th, the voters of this city can send a message that even our City Commissioners (who seem to consistently have their head in a land of fantasy) will hear: WE ARE SICK AND TIRED OF IRRESPONSIBILITY AND UNREALISTIC GOVERNANCE AND WE WILL BE HEARD!

Call and e-mail your candidates and ask the tough questions and demand a straight answer. No circumspection, obfuscation or pontification allowed. I can be reached by phone at 352-214-3170 and my e-mail address is nathanielsperling@yahoo.com. Other candidates’ contact information can be found at the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections website.

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There are three ways to cast your ballot in the City of Gainesville elections:

1) Regular voting will occur on March 16th. You can find your polling place on the Supervisor of Elections webiste.

2) Early voting: March 8th-13th at the Alachua County Administration Building (12 SE 1st Street, Gainesville, FL). Hours of operation are 9 AM to 5 PM each day.

3) Absentee voting: Contact the Supervisor of Elections at 352-374-5252 to learn more and request an absentee ballot.

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If you want responsibility and a sense of reality back on your City Commission, if you want a person who will truly listen to your concerns and approach city government with an air of common sense, then please consider voting for me, Nathaniel Sperling, for Gainesville City Commission (District 4).

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Political advertisement paid for and approved by Nathaniel Sperling for Gainesviille City Commission District 4.

1. Will churches respond to such a call? First, I want to tell you that this is not a setup. I have not held any meetings with pastors to formulate how they would respond to my election. My presumption upon their good works potential comes from my own three decades of ministry work as a volunteer. There are many people in the church who are motivated to feed, clothe and shelter the homeless, visit the sick and incarcerated, and mentor the fatherless. Some of that is already getting done at the expense of those who do the work. It is hard to say how much worse things would be if they weren’t. But I know they could do a lot more if it were not for the ambivalence of both church and civic leaders. The evolving ethos of “church-state separation” has created a hostile environment for people of faith who are told that their faith is not welcome. My opponent, City Commissioner Craig Lowe, has been quoted as saying, “ Our community cannot afford to discard any talent or intellect due to discrimination.” Yet, we discard the talent and intellect of a vast number of Gainesville residents. This must be actively challenged.
2. Is it appropriate to do so? It is unjust to tell people, “You cannot participate as fully as anyone else in civic life and discourse because of the beliefs you hold.” A part of the American experience throughout history has been the need to demand the rights that you possess only on paper. It took almost 200 years for African Americans to begin to possess the promises of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, and it did not happen because they waited patiently to be called on. It had to be demanded. Likewise, the men and women in our churches, who have become timid under the disapproving glare of the Statists who have come to power, must make their demand to be included. It will be much easier for them, however. All they have to do is vote on March 16. Then they have to follow through by living up to the things they believe in.

Do not confuse my call to action with a desire to Christianize the local government. I am just trying to desegregate it. Anyone should be able to take his faith, whether you are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Wiccan or Atheist, with him into the service of his community. It’s also a good opportunity for us all to interact and learn from one another instead of isolating and writing each other off.

The good news is that is exactly what is happening. Neighbors across the city (with leadership from neighbors most closely located to the Koppers site) are banding together to spread the word about Koppers–and to demand action from all involved. All the time involved in the organizing is volunteer but definitely skilled.

And so far, in a relatively short time, it has been effective.

If you would like to have a citizen presentation on Koppers at YOUR neighborhood association, your fellow citizens at Gainesville United Neighbors will come to you! Please contact me at conexos@gmail.com or 335-8874 for more information. I will happily connect you with the valiant neighbors who are putting this issue on the front burner.

I hope the first thing you will do then is thank them.

Randy Wells, Candidate for City Commission District 4

1. Is there some legal barrier to a local governmental body that keeps them from shutting it down?

Answer: In essence yes, there is a legal barrier.  That barrier has to do with body of evidence necessary to declare the site a “public nuisance” and have it shut down.  In order to do this, we must have evidence that the current operations of the facility cause a public nuisance.  Such evidence might include codes violations from noise, or air, water or soil pollution caused from current operations.  We have asked for all citations, complaints or findings of evidence from the county health of environmental departments that would give us an opportunity to proceed in a court of law.  We have been provided with almost nothing that would help us make this case.  You may be able to help with this via your blog.  Encourage residents to call in noise violations and report all complaints to the proper authority.

In the future, if the county or state health department or environmental protection departments are able to show that the current operations are causing a nuisance we will move forward with shutting them down with all deliberate speed.  I have attached a memo from the city attorney describing some of what I have just relayed to you.

2.  Is there a statute of limitations for when that could be done?

Answer: Not really. Since the evidence must be related to current operations, the case would have to be tied to what is happening now, not what happened in the past.  Past activities and the resulting pollution are covered by the Superfund law and governed by the EPA.  This law was severely weekend under the previous administration, but has been injected with a renewed purpose under the current president.  I am hopeful that this will move the process along much more effectively.

3. Who has oversight of the problem?

The main person in charge of this process is Scott Miller of the Atlanta branch of the EPA.  His contact information is (404) 562-9120, miller.scott@epa.gov.

4.  Who is monitoring the spread of the pollution?

There are several entities involved.  GRU has been primarily responsible for monitoring the migration of the pollutants through groundwater system, mainly keeping an eye on migration towards our well field.  The Department of Health is investigating the surface soil migration and is continuing to determine the ultimate spread of contaminants.  The Water Management District issues their storm water permit and has asked Koppers to provide additional information to their most recent application before reissuing their permit.  I believe that the site has a grossly inadequate storm water infrastructure in place and it is my hope that the water management district shares this view.

Randy Wells, Candidate for City Commission District 4

I am THE candidate for neighborhood revitalization, with 20 years experience working to make great city neighborhoods–6 years here in Gainesville & 14+ years prior to that in Washington DC. Here in Gainesville, I have zeroed in on the special issues that make city neighborhoods great places to raise a family–the parks, schools, local business, events & activities–in part because we are raising our own kids here, but mostly because a great neighborhood for kids is a great neighborhood for everyone. I will bring that vision, passion & focus to the city commission. Please join me, and share your own ideas, time & talent to help make Gainesville an even better place to live!

Join Team Randy now, or contact me with your question or suggestion. — Randy

Randy Wells, Candidate for City Commission District 4
telephone: 335-8874 home / 328-2997 cell
e-mail: conexos@gmail.com
Facebook: Randy Wells for City Commission District 4