Gainesville, Florida is a college town with a very liberal city government that seems more concerned about being trendy, cutting edge, eco-friendly and/or politically correct than exercising common sense. Some of the things they done or tried to do in the past defy reason. Once they developed a plan to control traffic on very busy street with round-abouts instead of traffic lights. Even though their own study showed that the round-abouts were not as effective and more expensive than traditional traffic lights. I think their justification was something about the citizens preferred round-abouts because they are prettier. This is also the same group of officials that have prevented new business from coming to the city because it would have a negative impact on the city’s trees. It seems some of our elected officials believe that their constituents are more concerned about protecting trees and do not want or need better jobs. I guess they are still impressed that several years ago Gainesville received the designation as “Tree City USA”.
This time our city commissioners have out done themselves. In January the city commissioners passed an equal-rights anti-discrimination transgender ordinance. The ordinance prohibits discrimination against individuals based on sexual identity. Gainesville is not the first city to pass similar ordinances. However, it is the inclusiveness of this ordinance that is getting attention and troubling. A very broad defenition of gender identity is used for the ordinance.
“an inner sense of being a specific gender, or the expression of a gender identity by verbal statement, appearance, or mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual with or without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth.” (Megan Rolland, “Transgender Ordinance Backlash” published in the Gainesville Sun 3 February 2008)
So according to this definition gender identity is based upon the way an individual feels or says they feel.
What really concerns me about this ordinance is that it includes restrooms and locker rooms. According to this ordinance a man may use a woman’s restroom if they “feel” female that day. Preventing someone from entering the bathroom for the opposite sex is considered discrimination. There is so much room for abuse of this ordinance. Think about this situation for minute: male sexual predator enters the woman’s restroom and if he states he feels like woman that day. Preventing him from using the woman’s restroom would be against the law. This ordinance is supposed to protect a “minority” group but it also protects criminals as well. Other cities with similar ordinances have include an exemption for restrooms and locker rooms. Unforunately not the city leaders of Gainesville.
In their concern with protecting a “minority” group it seems that the majority of the city commissioners checked their brains at the doors when passing this ordinance. How about protecting the majority of citizens from out of control politicians. There are many local groups who are trying to get the ordinance changed or rescinded.
The Dee Zone 
I am not sure how I feel about it…on the one hand many trans people have to live like a person of the opposite sex for a year before they can undergo surgery…so that would include restrooms and locker rooms…
However, I am totally with you on your point. What is to keep some psycho out of the ladies room because he gets kicks out of it or intends to kidnap someone…no one could question why he was going into the ladies room…
😦
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Time to start packing the brass knuckles and going to council meetings.
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For some reason, I couldn’t get the link to the ordinance to work. Do you by chance have the verbiage?
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We live in amazing times.
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Sandy: I’m more concerned that the ordinance is too board.
Lynn; That sounds good but remember you are in TX and this is in FL. The state that considers standing a kid in the corner facing a wall child abuse.
ENM: The link worked for me but here it is: http://www.gainesville.com/article/20080203/NEWS/802030312/0/news
Quinn: yes it is
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All I can do right now is shake my head in disbelief.
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Quinn,
Look for an update on this tomorrow.
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Why do you have to go on about how the Gainesville city commissioners are so liberal and mixed up? Gainesville Florida ranked #1 best city to live on a list of 400 cities in U.S. and Canada, in the highly regarded 800 page Sperlings Cities Ranked and Rated guide to the cities with the highest quality of life.
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070506/SUNFRONT/705060331
Much of this achievement is directly attributable to the work of the Gainesville city commissioners. Why do you insist on being a whiner instead of just getting to your valid criticism of the transgender issue? You come off as a bash, divide, bash, divide fox news conservative.
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Ya’ll need a redneck mama in FL to set those people straight. It is evident that common sense is not a part of the equation in making decisions that affect the population at large. Wish it was as simple as letting one’s voice be heard when wishing to effect change. Sorry.
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Jay,
Why complain? For starters this is my blog. Second, how do you I haven’t done anything to change the law?
Yes, I know Gainesville has won some awards. It is a nice little town. Especially, if you do not need a job, drive, or have children in public schools. The commissioners are elitists more concerned with winning external awards instead of bringing jobs into this town. The law of common sense exercised by the commissioners and the constant barrage of hair brained schemes amazes me. Look at how they try to solve traffic problems. By reducing the size of roads, making one-way streets and expensive roundabouts. Their reasoning is make it hard to drive & people with not drive. I have a better idea make the RTS more practical and maybe more people will use it.
This is the same city government that refuses to provide for the needs of the those in this little burg that are less forunate.
BTW, I prefer CNN to Fox. Based on your comment you sound like a bleeding-heart, tree-hugging, elitist liberal. My guess is that probably doesn’t describe you no more than your assumption about me describes me.
Lynn,
The problem is that the rednecks are not in control.
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Thx for the response DeeZone. I just wish you had got to the point faster. I agree with you on the transgender ordinance, but your post rubbed me the wrong way. You seem to me to be trashing the way the city is run in general, which i dont think is fair considering the city’s achievement as one of the best cities in which to live anywhere in North America. I have been everywhere in the U.S. and Canada (yes, everywhere!), and I can confirm the city of Gainesville is justifiably placed in the top 1%. Your statement “the problem is that the rednecks are not in control” I feel is the kind of thinking that brought us the Bush administration and the ensuing devastation to our county at home and its standing abroad. But now I am guilty of broad generalization, so I’ll stop here.
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Jay,
Yes, I am very critical of the inefficient way this little burg is run. It may have won some awards as a good place to live by people who don’t live here. Well, I have traveled quit a bit in the U.S. and do not understand how Gainesville is in the top 1%. It is ok but it really doesn’t have much to offer in the way of jobs or services for those who are not in the elite. The city government refuses to provide for those who are less fortunate. My comments about the rednecks is that they would at least not be so concerned about being cutting edge and trendy. Those in charge have lost touch with reality.
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I was unduly rude in my first comment to your post. I apologize. Thank you for your blog and, and on this issue, for your perspective as one of Gainesville’s non-elites. Regarding the “best places” rankings (they’re not awards btw), I too was at first surprised that Gainesville ranks so high on so many “best places” lists. And to rank at #1 on the granddaddy of all “best places” lists, Frommer’s Cities Ranked and Rated, to rank #1 out of 400 cities meticulously dissected and studied (and visited by the authors and publishing company), that is an astonishing achievement. Frommer’s Cities Ranked and Rated is the most highly regarded “best places” book in publication. I suggest that you and everyone lucky enough to live in Gainesville, or wherever you live for that matter, read the book to understand how and why Gainesville ranked #1. We need to cherish and preserve what placed us at #1. Our heavily treed “city in the forest” has more cultural attractions relative to its population than most any city of its size in the U.S. Gainesville is home to UF and its many museums, art galleries, and performing arts venues. Our area is an international ecotourism destination with some of the world’s largest springs offering swimming, snorkeling, and cave diving in gin-clear waters that stay at 72 degrees F year round. We have numerous botanical gardens, nature parks, and canoe trails, set in lush forests offering endless opportunities for camping, cycling, hiking, and bird watching. We have The Butterfly Rainforest, Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, Paynes Prairie, Majorie Kinnan Rawlings Homestead, and the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo. I guess that I am saying that I consider Gainesville much more than a little burg and that I think that living here we start to lose sight of why we are ranked #1 in North America (yes, #1 in Frommer’s as incredible as that sounds), flaky city gov’t and all.
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Jay,
Yes trees and all of those things are nice. However, it is hard for many people to just have enough money to live because of the employment situation and the anti-business city government. At the same time Gainesville was ranked the worst place in the country for homeless and poor.
As for Gainesville being a little burg, well it is. The city official’s and elite want to keep it a small time and resist change. I have lived most of my life in one of the largest cities in this country but I have also lived in a very small town. The city officials here act like they are in a little town of course it is.
It is time for the city officials to care as much for the citizens as they do their precious trees. People are more important that trees any day. People vote, trees don’t.
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Yes, about the botanical gardens & butterfly rain forest. They are nice but expensive. We moved from a city that had a very large, nice botanical gardens and most of it was free.
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Were not the people that vote for trees put in place by the people that voted for them? Your vote counts the same as the vote of a tree hugger, so were you not democratically out voted? Maybe not really because of the way the city council is run, but at least Gainesville is not run by a pro-sprawl good ‘ol boy network looking to cash out on their farmland and pastures like another place i lived in, Cumming Georgia. Go there to see the results of pro-sprawl city gov’t going for a quick-bucks cash out for the land-holding insiders.
I do have a feeling that the longer I live here, the more i will agree with some of what you are saying.
As far as the size of the city, the Gainesville MSA (metropolitan statistical area) has a pop. of 230,000 people and it is the biggest city in north central florida. I see it as being bigger than you feel it is. Anyway, I’m not sure i would want to see it get much bigger.
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I googled it cannot find the ranking for Gainesville being ranked the worst place in the country for homeless and poor. Who did that ranking? Do you have a link?
I found information on Project GRACE: The Gainesville/Alachua County 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, approved by Pegeen Hanrahan, Mayor, and Rodney J. Long, Board of Commissioners in 2005
Click to access gainesville-alachuacounty.pdf
Alachua county has a great health care plan for the working poor called CHOICES:
http://www.alachuacounty.us/government/depts/css/choices/
“CHOICES is a health services program offered by the Alachua County Board of Commissioners. The program is designed to help uninsured residents of Alachua County stay healthy. Through partnerships with local medical and dental care providers, CHOICES provides access to services that many working, uninsured people need but may put off due to a lack of adequate health coverage…
As an advocate for the uninsured in Alachua County, CHOICES strives to provide quality care to the medically underserved; helping to make Alachua County a healthier, more productive community.”
People with no car have a great, cheap bus system here.
Gainesville has the lowest unemployment rate in the state of florida right now.
Alachua county has a comprehensive social services program:
http://www.co.alachua.fl.us/government/depts/css/socialserv/services.aspx
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the Gainesville MSA (metropolitan statistical area) has a pop. of 230,000
Gainesville a metropolitan area? That is very humorous. Like I said Gainesville is a small town.
Anyway, I’m not sure i would want to see it get much bigger. That attitude is the same held by the city council that prevents good jobs coming into town
My source for Gainesville’s ranking in lack of care for the homeless comes from the local paper and TV station.
The problem is in Gainesville is underemployment.
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You’ve lived here longer than me and have seen a lot more of how the place is run than me. So I will just say thanks for your perspective and i will keep my eyes open for evidence of what you have told me. I will try to look outside my narrow view of “how great and wonderful” Gainesville is. and see where that takes me.
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Jay,
That sounds like a good idea. Yes, it is a beautiful city. The things like about Gainesville are the not provided by the city government. What I like about Gainesville are the people. I love being able to get fresh local produce, shopping at Wards, or getting some homemade ice cream from Sweet Dreams. We have also made some wonderful friends in this town.
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Jay,
Going through my blog archives I found 13 posts that related to Gainesville. Only 2 of them were critical one was about the education crises written in support of art/music and other electives. The other was this post.
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Fair enough – 2 out of 13 sounds like a good ratio to me 🙂
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2 more blogs featured Gainesville this week.
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Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. 🙂 Cheers! Sandra. R.
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