Which leaders in Fla. are green?
Maxwell: Sierra Club grades lawmakers on environment.
Today we’re talking about when students should return to schools and college, the latest black eye for Florida’s unemployment system and this week’s Only-in-Florida headlines.
But first, I wanted to talk about something that hasn’t received much attention since the pandemic began — the environment.
A month ago, when most of us were watching virus counts climb, Florida’s Sierra Club released its annual scorecard showing which legislators care the most and the least about the environment.
Unfortunately, there were more of the latter than the former … which probably helps explain why we have so many environmental problems in this state.
And also why we spend keep spending so many tax dollars cleaning up land and lakes that we should’ve protected in the first place.
Lawmakers who earned high marks from the club, which has 240,000 members, voted against bills that tried to make it harder for counties to manage sprawling growth or protect their own natural resources.
Perhaps not surprisingly, more Democrats displayed green credentials than Republicans. But not all Democrats earned high marks from the club. (Orlando Sen. Linda Stewart, for instance, earned more thumbs-down than up.)
But for voters keeping score, the Central Florida lawmakers who earned top marks included Democrats Anna Eskamani, Carlos Guillermo-Smith, Joy GoffMarcil and Geraldine Thompson.
The local Republicans who voted against every single environmental issue the Sierra Club graded included Dennis Baxley, Randy Fine, Mike LaRosa, Scott Plakon, Rene Plasencia, Anthony Sabatini, David Simmons, David
Smith, Kelli Stargel and Jennifer Sullivan.
You can read the full report card at sierraclub.org/florida.
99 minutes
That’s the average wait time that laid-off Floridians faced Monday when calling the state’s unemployment office to find out where their benefits are.
That was the cringeworthy statistic shared this week by the head of the division that handles the state’s messy system, who also revealed the office had 1 million calls … on Monday alone.
It’s tough to understand how those statistics gel with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ oft-touted claims that the state has satisfied 97.6% of eligible claims.
If you have 1 million calls with an average wait time of more than an hour and a half, that sounds like an awful lot of unsatisfied people. Corpses, cops & kissing
This week’s Only-inFlorida headlines:
“‘I don’t feel dead’: Seminole County woman struggles to get stimulus money after being wrongfully listed as deceased” … “Florida woman who tried to kiss strangers calls 911 about lack of social distancing” … “Florida man dives into Bass Pro Shop fish tank, posts video on Facebook, deputies say”
The most interesting detail from that last story: “Bass Pro Shop will have to spend $3,000 to decontaminate the water.”
Back to school?
Orange County is trying to decide how to go back to school, and, as the Sentinel reported yesterday, the district is asking parents for their thoughts on reopening.
I like it that the district is soliciting perspective from parents.
I’d like it even more if school officials actually paid that perspective a lick of attention.
As you may recall, the district previously asked parents for their opinions — on the issue of moving start times later for high schools — and then completely ignored the results.
The Sentinel wrote about that survey in a January, 2017 piece: “Most parents, students want later start times for Orange high schools.”
But then nothing changed.
In fact, after the district decided it didn’t like those results, it conducted another survey two years later where all of the alternatives for new times stunk — including two options where middle-schoolers wouldn’t even start school until after 10 a.m. That allowed the district to then say: See? Parents like the status quo.
So, if school officials actually plan on listening to these latest survey results, it will be both a good idea and a refreshing change. College needs classes
Speaking of restarting schools, the Sentinel also reported this week that Florida’s university system is hoping to resume regular in-person classes this fall.
As the father of an incoming freshman, I hope it works out. Because the idea of asking a bunch of 18-year-olds to start their college experience without giving them a place to go each day doesn’t seem like much of a college experience at all. In fact, it seems like a recipe for trouble.
Heck, I remember my freshman year. I barely managed to drag myself to class when there actually
were classes. I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like if I wasn’t ever expected anywhere. I probably would’ve majored in Old Milwaukee.
Obviously the health experts should make the final call. And if classes shouldn’t happen, then they shouldn’t happen. But if that’s the case, I think many parents and students will be rethinking the value of “distance-learning” at a university and reconsidering the value of a gap year, a job, community-college classes or some combination of the three.