Category: Activism

Mariella Smith speaks for Sierra Club against Urban Sprawl

Citizen victory against urban sprawl

Citizens won a major battle against costly urban sprawl at a public hearing last Tuesday when County Commissioner Pat Kemp led the board to deny two proposed changes to our Comprehensive Plan. The proposals would have paved over rural areas with urban subdivisions, impacted wetlands, undermined community plans, and burdened taxpayers with the transportation costs that come with adding suburban commuters to far-flung rural areas.

My sign at the Women's March

Photos from the Women’s March

I marched with over 20,000 women, men & children in the Women’s March in St. Pete — one of the many sister marches around the country that marched simultaneously in solidarity with the marchers...

Proud to be on this list

I’m very proud to find myself listed among these citizens I admire so much. It’s a great bunch of community advocates, listed by Kelly Cornelius — a woman who would herself be at the top of the list, if any of us had written it.

Bye bye, bypass

Citizens won a major battle against sprawl Tuesday when the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) voted to remove the Brandon Bypass from the last planning map bearing the stain of the road which has also...

EPC wetlands division saved in hybrid form

Commissioners voted 7-0 yesterday to save their jobs, the EPC wetlands division, and implement Dr. Garrity’s compromise Hybrid Proposal. After receiving about 3 inches of e-mail from an outraged public (Rose Ferlita held up...