Whether it’s the State government coming in and erasing our rainbow crosswalks (which are statistically proven to be safer for pedestrian fatalities than bland crosswalks) or threatening to remove local elected officials for their stances on specific policies; or the Federal Government coming into Apopka High School (traumatizing our children), our hospitals, places of worship, and jobs, or using IRS tax data to wage war on our local immigrant community and destroying the very symbols and foundations of democracy… When they go low, we will go local.

We will reinforce our power to dictate our own destiny, and that we the people set the terms of living in our local communities. We will have contingency plans to protect local officials who are targeted by overzealous state and local officials, we will enforce through litigation and other aggressive means cities’ and counties’ rights to free expression, and we will protect safe and sacred spaces from abusive raids we will not be divided by these policies intended to weaken us, we have more in common than what separates us. We share the same struggle, and will all rejoice in mutual liberation. We will do what is right to leave a better future for the next generation.

The county has a long history, and we need to take an honest look in the mirror at what effect our policies have had on the community, and particular members of the community. We need to have a reckoning with how our policies have at times intentionally hampered the progress, or actively harmed people. We must, together, confront that history (particularly in the unfair practices in zoning, financial loaning, and homebuying) and find ways to rectify those who are still impacted by those historical policies, so that we may heal together as a community. We must look forward, to a future where we value balance and harmony, not just with our fellow people, but with the world around us.

We must, in developing our infrastructure, appreciate the value a diverse and vibrant ecosystem plays to our own growth and protection, Floridians understand for example, how Mangroves protect us during hurricanes and from coastal erosion, and how corals support entire Marine ecosystems we depend on for food. We must always keep in mind that we share this planet, in a delicate ecosystem, and we must take steps to measure, and protect the balance of the biomes around us, whether that is protecting a species, stopping pollution, building raised roadways for animal crossings, building sustainably, or designating protected wilderness zones , we have the power to preserve the biodiversity around us and leave this planet better than we found it. The Wolf experiment at Yellowstone is a prime example of how we can rebuild, rather than tear down ecosystems, but at the very least, when developing our own cities, towns, and infrastructure, we need to plan for our environment, not just for ourselves. Then we need to measure, and replicate what works, and scrap what doesn’t to build a better future.