Nail in the Coffin.

http://www.tcpalm.com/franchise/indian-river-lagoon/health/sfwmd-board-to-discuss-likely-reject-us-sugar-land-buy_14943889 “WEST PALM BEACH — As expected, the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday rejected the proposal to buy U.S. Sugar Corp. land south of Lake Okeechobee.

Board member Kevin Powers of Stuart made the motion to “irrevocably” terminate the option to buy 46,800 acres of U.S. Sugar land by Oct. 12. The motion was approved unanimously.”

“The deal, set to expire in October, had been fiercely championed by environmentalists as the best option for storing water from Lake Okeechobee. They envisioned the land being used to ease pressure to release polluted water into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, allowing water managers to instead hold it until it could be moved south to Florida Bay. Parts of the bay have become far too salty, killing sea grass that provides critical habitat for marine life and driving down the number of sea trout, a fish used to measure the health of the bay.”

There are really and truly constraints out there. For me, the biggest one is financial,” said board member Sandy Batchelor.”

This is what Eric Draper had to say about her when she was reappointed

http://audubonoffloridanews.org/?p=12233

Director Eric Draper:

“During her service Sandy has always put the Everglades first. She does her homework, is careful with tax dollars, and shows up to make the right decisions. Governor Scott made the right call.”

Good Call Eric Draper

Apparently, she has never heard of Amendment One.

“Our frustration comes from the fact that you do not have a Plan B,’’ said former Martin County Commissioner Maggy Hurchalla. “You keep telling us what we can’t do, not what we can do.”

Well this is it isn’t it. This entire time we’ve been going no one from SFWMD has ever suggested what they would do about the issues.

Michael Grunwald at the Elliot Museum

May14

Last night, with a sold out crowd,

Sold out At Eliot museum listening to @MikeGrunwald #theswamp pic.twitter.com/zq3isRyJks

— cyndilenz (@cyndilenz) May 13, 2015

Michael Grunwald came to talk to us all at the our new and improved Elliot Museum. The event was sponsored by BullSugar and anonymous supporters. It was first of what I hope will be many lectures we can attend at Elliot.

"So you're getting dumped on again. You must be kind of pissed off," @MikeGrunwald tells crowd at @elliottmuseum #IndianRiverLagoon … Yup.

— Eve Samples 🌊 (@EveSamples) May 13, 2015

The video taken will be available at Elliot and also from Bullsugar so other’s will be able to watch.

I bought my third copy of this book last night. I have no idea where the first copy went and the second is out there somewhere. This one is signed so it stays in the bookcase.

This is one of my top ten favorite books ever. It’s not an easy read not because it’s hard to understand. There is a huge amount of detail. In order to understand the sad sad story of Everglades you have to understand the detail. You have to understand the plumbing. The Universe created The Everglades. Man screwed it up. We screwed up the plumbing

"Everglades restoration was suppose to be a storage project" with @MikeGrunwald

— cyndilenz (@cyndilenz) May 13, 2015

This was suppose to be a storage project yet there is no storage.

and he also said “There is no Plan B”

Which is correct. I think I said the same thing yesterday because we never asked (or maybe we did and they just never answered) them what was their plan to stop the discharges, recharge the aquifers, send water to the Everglades, stop salt water intrusion and prevent sea level rise. What are the people who are in charge of the plumbing doing to protect our water and deal with these issues?

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/05/13/if-its-thursday-its-sfwmd/

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/04/10/so-here-i-am-telling-the-board-of-govenors-about-my-trip-to-the-beach/

Also noted Rober Coker was in the house. Robert is Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, of United States Sugar Corporation. He serves on the board of directors for the Florida Sugar Cane League, the Board of Trustees of BIZ-PAC of Palm Beach County and is a member of the Board of Governors for the Florida Chamber of Commerce. He lives here. He is also a trustee on the http://www.stuartmartinchamber.org/trustees.asp

(That’s interesting)

People got frustrated at the end because they felt Michael was defending big sugar by saying they had a right to be a business, and they have cleaned up their act. (you’ll have to watch the video when its released).

I think at the end it got a little mooshed up and Michael does not quite understand what our particular issues are here right now.

Yes, big sugar has a right to be a company, but most companies have to live and die by their own devices not on subsidies created by Corporate Wellfare. So Big Sugar pull yourselves up by your bootstraps. We don’t get Medicaid Expansion why should you get corporate subsidies.

Next, we went out there to talk to talk to these guys and they vilified us.

When this whole thing happened in 2013 we were told we had to have discharges to protect the people south of the Lake. What has been done to fix this particular spot so these people will be safe and the lake can hold more water? Why is this not fixed two years later?

The Big sugar corporation is the one behind us not getting the land to build the reservoir. It’s their influence in Tallahassee and SFWMD that is in the way of stopping our discharges, recharging the aquifers, stopping salt water intrusion, and sea level rise. Big Sugar is standing in the way of fixing the plumbing.

I could write forever and bore you all to tears but the bottom line is the bottom line.

The plumbing has to be fixed and what is the plan to do so?

Thank You Michael for coming! Hopefully one day you can come back and bring your family and go swimming in our lagoon.

Everyone else be sure to look for this video on Bullsugar.

May the fourth be with us! Toxic algae, discharging St Lucie locks. We must keep going!

May5

@JaxStrong

@BarackObama

@joenegronfl

@RepMurphyFL

@SteveCrisafulli

May the fourth be with you! Toxic algae, discharging St Lucie locks.

On May 4th our friend Katy Lewey, river warrior, founder of the River Kidz of St Lucie and Indian River County put together a gathering so we could all be there when the locks open.

st lucie locks may 4, 2015

They have been open but were recently closed due to the discovery of Toxic green algae at Port Mayaca.

In the past few years we are blessed to have great news teams that show up and we show up for them.

In between, the new’s cycle we decided to take a ride to Port Mayaca to see the green toxic algae for ourselves.

When we got there we found Ben, an employee of SFWMD. I have lots of friends who work or worked for them. Good People. Dedicated Scientists.

He was taking water samples of both sides of the locks.

This is what we saw on the inside of the locks.

Slime crimes.

We all documented.

Algae buster mammas.

Then we went to the overpass for a nice wide shot.

you can see the green by the gates. There is also a section off to the right that is not in the photo.

I was not there last week so I have no basis of comparison but I can say the weather has been cooler and this stuff thrives on two things according to my ORCA friend and past Indian RiverKeeper George Jones : Heat and nutrients. So I have no idea what will come next because of the the cool weather. Will it come down and just hang stagnant until it gets hot and then bloom? George said it sucks the o2 out of the water and at night it goes underwater so it just doesn’t sit on the top it goes to the bottom and it sucks the o2 thus killing everything underneath.

Everything.

A big green blob.

kinda like this

Harmful algae Blooms

A harmful algal bloom (HAB) is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms via production of natural toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means.

armful algal blooms have been observed to cause adverse effects to a wide variety of aquatic organisms, most notably marine mammals, sea turtles, seabirds and finfish. The impacts of HAB toxins on these groups can include harmful changes to their developmental, immunological, neurological, or reproductive capacities. The most conspicuous effects of HABs on marine wildlife are large-scale mortality events associated with toxin-producing blooms. For example, a mass mortality event of 107 bottlenose dolphins occurred along the Florida panhandle in the spring of 2004 due to ingestion of contaminated menhaden with high levels of brevetoxin.^[8] Manatee mortalities have also been attributed to brevetoxin but unlike dolphins, the main toxin vector was endemic seagrass species (Thalassia testudinum) in which high concentrations of brevetoxins were detected and subsequently found as a main component of the stomach contents of manatees.^[8]

Immune system responses have been affected by brevetoxin exposure in another critically endangered species, the Loggerhead sea turtle. Brevetoxin exposure, via inhalation of aerosolized toxins and ingestion of contaminated prey, can have clinical signs of increased lethargy and muscle weakness in loggerhead sea turtles causing these animals to wash ashore in a decreased metabolic state with increases of immune system responses upon blood analysis.^[10] Examples of common harmful effects of HABs include:

the production of neurotoxins which cause mass mortalities in fish, seabirds, sea turtles, and marine mammals
human illness or death via consumption of seafood contaminated by toxic algae^[11]
mechanical damage to other organisms, such as disruption of epithelial gill tissues in fish, resulting in asphyxiation
oxygen depletion of the water column (hypoxia or anoxia) from cellular respiration and bacterial degradation

so when we get upset there is good reason.

Toxic Algae is also harmful to humans.

This is from the cdc.

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hsb/hab/default.htm

Algae are vitally important to marine and fresh-water ecosystems, and most species of algae are not harmful. Algal blooms occur in natural waters used for drinking and/or recreation when certain types of microscopic algae grow quickly in water, often in response to changes in levels of chemicals such as nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizer, in the water. Algal blooms can deplete the oxygen and block the sunlight that other organisms need to live, and some can produce toxins that are harmful to the health of the environment, plants, animals, and people.

Please also see this blog post about pets and toxic algae.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/05/03/preview-of-coming-attractions-toxic-algae-and-your-pets/

When all else fails. When everyone has closed their doors to us. The legislators, the Governor’s Board of South Florida Water Management.

Rick Scott himself.

What choice do we have then to defend our selves and the creatures of the Indian RIver Lagoon?

Chalksy, the Eco Terrorist

May4

#buytheland

#sendcleanwatersouth

#saveflwater

#stopsaltwaterintrusion

#acoe

This is my friend Ezra.

I met him at our first rally. He was “Mista Big Sugar” You can see him here in this video and you can also see that the locks were closed that day and they have been closed every single time we go out there.

Except for when Rick Scott was there ( we were not allowed in but he was) and when we did the “Keep them closed “protest.

The issue of “civil disobedience” comes up every one in a while. It usually results in all of getting upset. I personally think if people want to do this then its a issue of free choice. If you want to do this then you tell people about it and you give them a choice of what they want to do. I can’t. I won’t. Because I think if you want to do this, really want to do this ,then you have to be prepared to go to jail. I’m not. I cherish my nursing license too much and I couldn’t do what I do every day with out without it. All of us that are credentialed have worked to hard to be able to stay credentialed. For those of those don’t believe me you can go read the nurse practice act.

I also wonder about why anyone would want to do it. I just get never got it as a viable way to do things. I think its born out of frustration and we have so many incredibly smart creative people that are so supportive of each other that we can think better smarter ways to do things as we have in the past. JMHO You have yours. i have mine. RESPECT.

Except this time.

The best things that happen to us happen organically.

Ezra keeps chalk in his car.

So on Sunday, May 3 ,he went to the locks and he wrote

“Buy the land along with his fish symbol that he created.”

Boy did he get in trouble. This upset the policeman so much (our babysitter which is so funny because we have never ever ever ever done anything close to civil disobedience and really insist on being well behaved.

Here he is on government land drawing away with chalk.

photo by Darrel Brand

Photo by Darell Brand

Photo by Darrel Brand

photo by Darrel Brand

A Discussion ensued. It’s Government land. It’s Graffiti.

It’s hysterical. and its ironic if its anything.

The chalk will wash away when we get huge amounts of rain tomorrow. (It would wash away with a little sprinkle)

The green toxic the ACOE is going to send us. Well that’s another story.

This is what Ezra said.

“ I was told to stop what I was doing or face being arrested, as it was considered graffiti on Federal Property. Using sidewalk chalk to draw an image of a fish and the words #SENDTHEWATERSOUTH is apparently a no no. Meanwhile toxic algae was deliberately released into our rivers today. Yet for over 60 plus years, no arrests or fines have ever been made: 1972 Clean Water Act, 1996 Fl Polluters Pay Amendment, Our “Lost Summer” of 2012, dying marine life and sea grass beds, real estate values plummeting and economic losses in the millions. Okay I get it. Next time I’ll just draw images of $ and sugar cane fields!”

So today we went out there because the discharges were starting and someone at ACOE actually had to gall to say that the gate was locked due to yesterdays “Eco terrorist” activities. Seriously. Are you kidding me?

apparently there is an issue with sidewalk chalk. Who knew?

http://www.care2.com/causes/the-american-war-on-sidewalk-chalk.html

While these charges are clearly political (chalk, after all, washes off sidewalks harmlessly) – a scary article from Mother Jones reported recently that at least 50 people have been arrested across the US in the last five years for drawing on sidewalks.

Many of these aren’t political protestors. They’re the parents of four and six-year-old children engaging in fun and harmless summer activity. One mom in Richmond, Virginia was arrested and sentenced to 50 hours of community service for letting her child draw on rocks in a local park – and reports that her daughter is now “very nervous around cops” and “very scared of chalk.”

Apparently writing with Chalk is a gateway crime. Please people keep the chalk away from your children.

Thousands of us have been at these locks. We have had numerous events,

renting out the campgrounds, leaving it cleaner than what we found it, and like I said before the locks have been closed to us every time but once. Which really sucks because the best shot it from the other side. Camera shots people. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.

Toxic Algae Eve : Protest: Buy the land! May 3. St Lucie Locks

May4

@JaxStrong

@SteveCrisafulli

@JoeBiden

#buytheland #sendcleanwatersouth #nomoredischarges #saveflwater #savetheeverglades

On May 3 we had a protest.

https://www.facebook.com/events/831962766840242/

***VIDEO CHALLENGE AND PROTEST*** DEMAND CLEAN WATER! Meet us at Phipps park and we can all stand together! Ask your elected officials to CANCEL THE DISCHARGES and BUY THE LAND! This Sunday, make a video on your phone, make sure to include those two messages in a peaceful video and submit it on to FB. Tag 3 of your friends and ask them to make their own video and do the same about why we want to stop the discharges and buy the land. Time is running out! Enough is enough!

We came! We Marched! We uploaded video all at the same time.

Why? To create awareness because apparently even after we were dumped on, had our estuary and economy destroyed, had multiple protests with up to 7,000 people, went to DC, went to Tallahassee, had dozens of events, took thousands of hours of video, took a gazillion photos, wrote hundreds of letters, emails and tweets we are at this moment in time right back where we started from at the very beginning.

Toxic Algae Eve.

Why?

Because the ACOE thinks this stuff will dissipate when it hits the brackish water because that worked so well before. We have been rejected by our own legislators, our water management district. Everyone. Poisoning us is ok with everyone. Except us.

The Speaker of House

@SteveCrisafulli

does not want to buy any conservation land. He won’t even discuss it. He won’t even let us know if he understands why this particular piece of land is important. Senator Alan Hay, the same thing. We’re paying attention.

@SteveCrisafulli

You want to make all the people behave and listen then you are responsible for the destruction of the St Lucie River and the Indian River Lagoon. This is on you.

@JoeBiden

We need you. Please come quickly

@JaxStrong

The lake is at 13 ft. Seriously are you kidding me.

Two years ago I bought that we had issues with dike. Millions of dollars later how can there be an issue?

This is whats coming.

This is what we need to do.

Here we are today.

Green Toxic Algae. Poison Poised and ready to kill us.

May2

@BarackObama

@joenegronfl

@RepMurphyFL

@SteveCrisafulli

@JaxStrong

Green Toxic Algae is poised and ready to be sent down our water ways that will result in the horrible destruction of our Estuary, our sea grass, our oysters, our health and the health of all life that lives in the St Lucie River and the Indian RIver Lagoon.

You can go back and read this blog especially here.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2014/11/03/a-river-warrior-gets-out-the-vote

I brought the issue up to date and included the video from the Sugarland Rally when we went to Clewiston with open hearts and the Sugar Rulers instead of seeing that one day we would need a solution to this issue basically blackballed our good efforts. Maybe if back then the people would have come and thought for themselves we could have come up with a solution.

and you can go here and read our documentation of this issue for the past 2 1/2 years

https://www.facebook.com/SaintLucieRiverofLight

and you can go here and read Jacqui’s blog

http://jacquithurlowlippisch.com

and you can go here and get some incredible insight into why this is happening. I think between these three blogs you can read all you need to know.

http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com

We have truly done everything possible. We have confronted the ACOE, Rick Scott, the South Florida Water Management District, our legislators. All have fallen on deaf ears.

On a positive note we have educated thousands of people to this issue.

We have documented these issues so no one can say this never happened.

We could write a book. ( and then leave town lol)

We, not being one or two individuals but an entire community of the most dedicated people I have ever met. We are all part of one big puzzle. No one greater than the other. Without the pieces we are incomplete. We all have our jobs. Organically. Not manipulated. And hopefully we’ll stay that way.

We all sit here today and worry about what’s going to happen on Monday when the locks open up.

I come back to my original question when this happened in 2013. How can the intentional destruction of the most diverse estuary in North America be legal? How is the intentional poisoning of our St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon allowed in the United States of America?

This has got to stop.

We have two events. One on Sunday and one on Monday.

Sunday:

https://www.facebook.com/events/831962766840242/834768046559714/

Sunday 2 pm Phipps Park

Monday:

Say No to the Toxic Flow 7 am 2175 SW Locks Rd, Stuart, Florida 34997

https://www.facebook.com/events/1563265363925897/

http://www.tcpalm.com/franchise/indian-river-lagoon/health/orca-bluegreen-algae-in-canals-poised-for-big-blooms_47535634

Thank goodness for Orca and the Killroys and Edie Widder.

“Lead scientist Edith “Edie” Widder noted that high concentrations of algae are being found in canals that stretch into agricultural areas of western St. Lucie County but not in the creeks that run from suburban areas into the river and lagoon.”

Lake O May 1 facts:
1) 581 million gallons a day released to the St Lucie River.
2) 1.3 billion gallons a day released to the Caloosahatcee river
3) The discharges waste water that would replenish the Everglades.
4) The discharges strips our basic human right to clean drinking water.
5) The discharges will destroy water quality by moving a toxic into our homes resulting in massive fish kills and making the water unsafe for human contact.

Other things that you can do. Thank goodness for our wonderful Maggy!

http://contextflorida.com/maggy-hurchalla-keep-fighting-until-legislature-buys-land-for-everglades-restoration/

Every one of us here needs to:

1. Call YOUR legislator. They mostly don’t care if you don’t vote in their district. Other than grabbing them and shaking them, nothing is more effective than a phone call. You can get the phone number of your representatives and senators from several websites – Audubon, cleanwater.com, the Everglades Foundation. The message is simple. Use Amendment 1 money to buy land. Exercise the US Sugar option.

2. Get two other people to do the same thing.

3 Send emails to your legislators. That’s not “instead of.” Call them AND send them emails. Get two other people to do the same thing.

4. Get the Dade County Commission and the Dade legislative delegation to take a strong public stand.

4. Email and call the governor, the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House.

5. Sign every online petition you can find that says, “Buy the land. Send the water south.” Get two other people to do likewise.

6. Go to rallies and wave signs.

7. Write letters to the editor.

8. Take names. Most legislators care only about their home district. Those running for higher office are aware that the rest of us matter. They think we are forgetful.

and sign these petitions:

If you haven’t signed all these petitions, sign ’em and pass them on to others.

PETITIONS

http://www.sccf.org/content/298/Sign-the-Everglades-Trust-Petition.aspx

http://www.evergladestrust.org/petition

http://act.progressflorida.org/sign/everglades/

http://www.savingflwater.com/

https://www.causes.com/actions/1777289-sign-the-petition-to-florida-state-governor-scott

https://www.flsenate.gov/Media/Topics/wlc

If you call a politician a vulture isn’t that an insult to the vulture?

May1

Here is the fabulous Sharon Lux from the Treasure Coast Progressive Alliance.

I love Protest Art!

I also love Vultures!

Vultures are defenders of the Environment. These are birds that have a job.

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-beneficial-buzzard-clearing-the-air-about-vultures

One of the main misconceptions about vultures is that they spread disease. This is absolutely untrue. In fact, the opposite is true… vultures actually prevent viruses, bacteria and other pathogens from spreading in the environment. A vulture’s stomach acid is a unique compound that not only allows the bird to ingest disease processes, but also removes said disease from the environment. Once a virus, bacterium or other type of disease goes into the vulture, it never comes back out! Vultures help stop the spread of rabies, anthrax, cholera, brucellosis and many other pathogens that could otherwise harm other wildlife and even humans!

Fun Fact: The Cherokee name for vulture means Peace Eagle – because unlike most meat eaters, vultures do not kill for food.

They don’t kill the alive. They only eat the dead.

Vultures are my spirit birds.

http://www.linsdomain.com/totems/pages/vulture.htm

The Vulture is the symbol of death and rebirth, the mother symbol,
and represents purification.
For those with this totem,
you will be noticed more for what you do than how you appear.

Vulture or Condor
teaches us how to soar above our limitations.

The Vulture promises us that no matter
how difficult things are at the moment,
rescue and change are imminent.

http://seeingmiracleseveryday.blogspot.com/2009/11/behold-turkey-vulture.html

“I learned that the turkey vulture’s wing span is approximately 6 feet wide (I can vouch for their incredible size from this animal soaring within 10 feet of me on my deck!). Their task in life is to clean up the mess, but an even more interesting aspect of the turkey vulture is that it is the only bird (or presumably only animal) whose feces is disease free. So the turkey vulture kindly cleans up dead carcasses or rotting flesh, then purifies them from any bacteria – making them perhaps nature’s most perfect cleansing animal. They struggle with take off and appear awkward in early flight, but once they are off the ground, they soar like eagles (often mistaken as such at a distance), and can fly for hours without ever flapping their wings, riding thermals and currents. The turkey vulture that appeared to me did absolute acrobatics around me, looping effortlessly in glorious flight.”

http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/birds/raptors-and-vultures/vultures/

“Vultures are under state protection, therefore it is unlawful to shoot or harass them without a permit from the FWC. If however, the vulture is tearing up a screen porch, or chewing up shingles or roofs, then you may want to consider scaring them with Pyrotechnics. The Wildlife Services group of the United States Department of Agriculture at 352-377-5556 can provide more information.”

So in this video RIck Scott came to the locks and while he was there the vultures showed up and when he left they left.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjcgdTvgTB0

Post Earth Day Press Conferance (Video) Stuart FL April 29

Apr30

Press Advisory

STUART EVENT: Contact Cara Capp, (305) 546-6689, cara@evergladescoalition.org,
Mark Perry, 772-486-3858, mperry@floridaocean.org
CAPTIVA EVENT: Contact David Jensen, 239-470-5389, dave@gocaptiva.com; Rae Ann Wessel, 239-246-0100, rawessel@sccf.org
Two Coasts, One Message:
Buy the Land Now
Rallies to support State Senator Joe Negron for his efforts to open the door to a sugar land purchase and call for further action
When: Wednesday, April 29, 2015
East Coast *** THERE WILL BE VISUALS ***
Where: Flagler Park, 201 SW Flagler Ave, Stuart, FL
Time: 11 a.m. to noon (11 30 a.m. Press Conference)
WHO & WHAT: Elected officials, Everglades Coalition, Rivers Coalition, and River Warriors will laud Florida Senator Joe Negron (R) for planning on introducing legislation asking for $500 million for land purchases, money that could buy U.S. Sugar lands. Will present “Buy the land” letters to Governor, House Speaker, Senate President from 19 local elected officials and resolutions from 11 local governments. Florida Realtors’ water quality/home values study. People will sign a giant poster saying, “With Joe we stand. Let’s buy the land.”
West Coast *** THERE WILL BE VISUALS ***
Where: Jensen’s Twin Palm Resort & Marina, 15107 Captiva Dr, Captiva, FL 33924
Time: 10 to 11 a.m. (10:15 a.m. Press Conference)
WHO & WHAT: SW FL business leaders, Realtors and Chamber of Commerce officials. Boaters, fisherman, kayak and paddle boarders will take to the water in support. Singer/songwriters: North Captiva’s Bob Hipkens and Austin Church from Cocoa Beach. Florida Realtors’ water quality/home values study. Videotaping of messages to the Governor and Leadership will also be captured and Queenies ice cream will be served. Banners, posters. Painted fish.
Background: There is broad public support for exercising the 48,600 acre purchase option in the US Sugar contract, but water managers must take action now for the process to begin. As polluted water is dumped to the coasts, the Everglades multibillion dollar restoration project, is starving for water. The solution, according to the scientific community, is to pursue 48,600 acres of sugar land to store and clean the water.

Bustor Brown and his human Jennie Pawlowsky.

Mark Perry, Florida Oceanographic

Jason Totoiu, Everglades Law

Ed Fielding, Martin County Commission

Irene Nethery Gomes and Takeata King Pang

Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch Commissioner Sewells Point, Blogger, Tireless River Advocate, Plume Chaser

Mark Perry and Troy Macdonald, former mayor of Stuart, FL

Drew from Palm Beach Soil

Rebecca Fatzinger

Celeste De Palma, Audobon, FLorida

Mary Perry 2

Chris Dzadovsky, St Lucie County Commissioner

Celeste De Palma’s Speech in Spanish

Florida Leader of the House finally makes a decision “Screw it. Let’s go Home!”

Apr29

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjournment_sine_die

http://m.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/breaking-news-florida-house-shuts-down-for-this-ye/nk47M/

“I don’t think it’s healthy for the process (for us) to stay here and continue to talk about something that neither side is changing their view on,” Crisafulli said.

“Hopefully, the Senate president and I can sit down and figure out how to determine when we’re going to come back and hold a (special) session,” he added.”

We don’t think it healthy to have green toxic algae at our doorstep. Its defiantly not healthy. We know that for sure.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/why-did-the-florida-house-adjourn-early-answering-your-questions/2227395

“Why?

There are two main reasons the House and Senate budget proposals were so different: a $2.2 billion federal-state hospital funding program known as the Low Income Pool, and Medicaid expansion. The LIP program provides funding to hospitals that treat large numbers of uninsured and Medicaid patients. It is scheduled to end June 30 under an existing agreement with the federal government. The Senate proposed a successor program and assumed the money would come through. The House did not include any LIP money in its budget. What’s more, the Senate’s proposed budget included $2.8 billion in federal Medicaid expansion money to provide health care coverage to more than 800,000 low-income Floridians. The House has long opposed that idea, likening it to an endorsement of Obamacare. Over the course of the session, the two sides refused to back off of their positions. They dug in even deeper this month when the federal government said it was more likely to approve a LIP successor if Florida expanded Medicaid.”

“What happens in a special session?

During a special session, the only legislative business allowed must be restricted to what was stated in the proclamation filed with the Secretary of State, in a communication from the governor, or in the consent approved by three-fifths of both chambers. Because this upcoming special session must address the budget, it will touch on many issues that are tied to state funding. That should make it more of a mini-regular session than a special session. Unrelated topics — such as how much will lawmakers steer into land acquisition from the use of Amendment 1 dollars — won’t get resolved now until special session. It also means lawmakers can negotiate anything into the session using the umbrella of the budget.”

Don’t worry! They’ll just come back to do their job.

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/special-session-special-costs

at a great cost to all of us. Crimany! What if Rick Scott takes our 49 bucks back?

Maybe instead of fishes we need to send:

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/state/house-adjourns-session-three-days-early_33936987

TALLAHASSEE — The House quit session three days early, likely killing a controversial water bill while putting in limbo discussions on environmental spending under Amendment 1 and whether to buy land to send Lake Okeechobee water south.

Here’s a little music to read by.

With budget negotiations with the Senate stalled because of an impasse over health care funding and Medicaid expansion, Speaker Steve Crisafulli sent surprised members home Tuesday.

Lawmakers will reconvene this summer to pass a state budget before June 30, when they have to also decide how to use more than $740 million available through Amendment 1, approved by 75 percent of voters last year to buy, restore and manage land and water resources.

http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/Florida-House-Session-Adjourns-3-Days-Early-301574831.html

Republicans in the two chambers are at odds over healthcare funding. They also disagree on who’s to blame for the deadlock.

“We sent them multiple offers last week they were not willing to negotiate. We made legitimate offers. They didn’t counter with anything reasonable,” house speaker pro tempore Matt Hudson told us after the house adjourned.

Later, Senate President Andy Gardiner accused the House of refusing to cooperate.

“I think we have offered many times to get together and try to come up with solutions,” Gardiner said.

So we’ll see what happens. Please get some rest legislators.

And soon perhaps a permanent vacation.

Here is our Minority Leader, Mark Pafford. He was ready to work.

http://thefloridachannel.org/videos/42815-press-availability-with-house-minority-democratic-leader-mark-pafford/

so here’s something we can do while we we’re waiting. surfs up!

Who’s going to be the party of clean water and no more discharges?

Apr27

@BarackObama

@joenegronfl

@RepMurphyFL

@SteveCrisafulli

@MaryLynnMagar

@Gayle_Harrell

To our legislators in Tallahassee who do you represent? Because your not representing us!

Here is a video of 7,000 citizens of the Treasure coast marching to the locks after we were decimated in 2013. I don’t see anything about party. I do however see a lot of people that want this to stop.

It’s really painful to write this stuff. We have an awesome clean water movement. Its made up of a great group of people who never ask about party. Because clean water is for all not just for some. The toxic discharges affect all the people.

Here is party breakdown for Martin County. Republicans: 51,031 Democrats 26,292

MARTIN

51,031

26,294

5,437

20,630

103,392

So this year the Republicans have a super majority and they think they are so well organized that they leave and go out of the sunshine to talk and they bully members of their party to follow “leadership.”

In Tallahassee people are cut off at the knees if they don’t vote as leadership intended and we all suffer. We’re certainly not represented.

I feel like the Republicans in Tallahassee are not even representing their own base. Because their base needs clean water.

So who are you representing when you do this stuff?

Seem’s like Big sugar is totally represented. Because if you represented us the land would be bought and the discharges would stop.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/legislature/as-us-sugar-flexes-muscle-amendment-1-supporters-fret-about-less-money-for/2226965

One thing these guys are really good at coming up with a message and repeating it over and over again until you yourself can’t remember whats true. That’s why excellent documentation is so important.

This is an excellent article written by our own Tyler Treadway. Thank goodness for him and our incredible journalists at the Stuart News.

As a reminder Sen. Joe Negron wanted the UF Study and he found the money to do so. Sen Negron waited for this study before saying anything. After all, he insisted it get done. So it comes out and instead of reading it people glom on to what they want. Which is natural.

The problem is the people who are making decisions about our discharges and our clean drinking water are glomming on also.

This article needs to be read by people who are REPRESENTING the citizens of Martin County.

http://www.tcpalm.com/franchise/indian-river-lagoon/health/uf-water-study-cherrypicked-to-suit-arguments-for-against-us-sugar-land-buy_59243768

“Statement: Water district board member Kevin Powers at the April 9 meeting noted that none of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan’s 68 projects has been completed and said, “Nobody wants (the discharges to stop) more than me, but we’re not going to get there if we don’t complete some of these projects.”

Fact: The UF study does call for accelerating “the funding and completion of existing and federally authorized CERP projects designed specifically to provide relief” to the estuaries. It also states those projects won’t stop the discharges. That’s going to require “enormous increases in storage and treatment of water both north and south of the lake.”

Statement: A March 28 Miami Herald editorial stated the study determined the sugar land is “among the must-have pieces of land that a winning environmental strategy requires.”

Fact: The study states reducing discharges and meeting the Everglades’ need for more water will “require between 11,000 and 129,000 acres of additional land” between the lake and the national park, but it doesn’t identify what land. “The U.S. Sugar option land may or may not be the right land, but additional land will be needed to achieve restoration,” Graham said.”

You all still have time to listen and learn and turn this around for the people you represent.

#buytheland #sendcleanwatersouth