Riverfront parks overview
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Riverfront parks push gets Sierra's
enthusiastic support
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A new group designed to promote riverfront parks, potentially using the endangered Metropolitan Park as an anchor for a chain of parks along the river, received the unanimous endorsement of the club’s Executive Committee at its July meeting.
The group,
Riverfront Parks Now
seeks to showcase the city’s riverfront, not as a series of high-end apartment and condo buildings, but as a series of green spaces that provides a welcome for all, using existing parks and vacant riverfront land as its basis.
“Great cities have great parks,” the group says.
ExCom members emphasized the need to affiliate with existing organizations that have goals and ideals similar to Sierra’s. This includes not only preservation but the idea of environmental justice, which hopes to provide downtown and often isolated neighborhoods easier access to green spaces.
Excom also voted to oppose an ordinance filed a year ago (2019-0555) to repay a federal grant of $1.7 million that allowed the city to construct Metropolitan Park. If the ordinance is approved, the park land reverts to city control and may be sold to a private developer.
Janet Stanko, the chair of the Northeast Florida Sierra group, said she urges members to contact their council representatives and urge its defeat.
“Although the proposal has been deferred in City Council, we suspect discussions are ongoing behind closed doors and it will re-emerge later,” she said. “We need to communicate our opposition to this change.”
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JaxPort dredging money approved; Sierra remains opposed
In other club news, the group voted to oppose Jacksonville City Council’s use of $70 million in local money for the St. Johns River deepening project on the basis that it contained virtually no money for mitigation. The council, however, was not convinced and
approved the bill
unanimously.
"W
e are so disappointed that no mitigation funding was provided despite many council members' statements of support for mitigation during the 2019 City Council election," Janet Stanko, the group's chair, said.
At the same time, the council does have a
resiliency committee
, and two ExCom members have been appointed to sub-panels there.
• Barbara Gubbin is on the Education, Protection of Local Neighborhoods and Community Outreach subcommittee.
• Logan Cross is on the Environmental Planning sub-committee.
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JEA, FP&L agree
to shut coal-fired plant
The JEA and Florida Power & Light have agreed to shut down their jointly-owned unit at a Georgia coal-burning power plant.
A Sierra Club
news release
noted the shut-down was made due to the plummeting cost of renewables and fracked gas that made coal-generated electricity too expensive to produce.
The Scherer electric generating station in Juliette, Ga., operates four huge coal-burning units.
Scherer Unit 4, owned by FP&L and JEA, had become the most expensive unit among JEA’s generating sites. The shutdown will occur in 2022. The other three units, however, will keep burning coal.
Janet Stanko, chair of Sierra Club's Northeast Florida group, said, “We are happy to see JEA's unanimous decision to divest from the nation's largest coal plant. We are particularly happy to see that there is the option to increase JEA's solar potential."
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Meetings & hikes:
Appalachian Trail,
climate top the list
August 6, Thursday, 7 p.m.
Hiking the Appalachian Trail on Zoom. Register through
Meetup
or
here
. Our outings chair, Bill Armstrong, presents his experiences (and lots of photos) on this iconic trail.
August 10, Monday, 7 p.m.
Adding Climate Change to Your Life. Climate change is this century’s great threat to mankind. The Sierra Club is a lead advocate for state and national action by governments. Dr. Todd Sack will talk about actions that each of us can take in our personal and professional lives to address climate change. Register
here
.
Bill Armstrong’s video series of hiking on our area parks and of his other hikes on the John Muir Trail, of Yellowstone and Glacier national parks, and the C&O Canal.
Check out the same list for guides on mindfulness and nature, on getting started in hiking and on the gear you need.
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Sierra founder John Muir circa 1910
Sierra acknowledges
racist past, vows to emphasize equality
The national Sierra Club last month made a full acknowledgment of the overt racism and elitism in its past, especially on the part of the club’s revered founder, John Muir. It pledged a major emphasis on equality and environmental justice as it moves ahead.
Michael Brune, the national executive director,
wrote a searing post
that looked hard at the racial history of the club: “In these early years, the Sierra Club was basically a mountaineering club for middle- and upper-class white people who worked to preserve the wilderness they hiked through…The Sierra Club maintained that basic orientation until at least the 1960s because membership remained exclusive. Membership could only be granted through sponsorship from existing members, some of whom screened out any applicants of color.”
The club evolved slowly on matters of race, equality, and environmental justice, Brune said, but now is moving faster: the club is beginning “a years-long process to reckon with our history, regain trust from the communities we have harmed, and create a diverse and equitable Sierra Club for the 21st century.”
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Club endorses Hicks
in Florida House District 11
Joshua Hicks, a candidate for Florida House District 11, has been endorsed by the Sierra Club Northeast Florida Group.
Hicks is running against incumbent Cord Byrd in the district which includes the Jacksonville beaches up to Fernandina Beach and goes west to include Hilliard.
“I’ll seek common ground, while fighting to empower young people, support workers, expand healthcare access, protect our environment, ensure equality for all, and stop gun violence. Together, we’ll build up our First Coast community – and take on those who seek to divide us,” he said in a campaign statement.
Those interested in supporting Hicks’s candidacy may contact
Candice Rue
for more information.
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About the Sierra Sentry
The Sierra Sentry is the newsletter of the Sierra Club’s
Northeast Florida Group
. It is published every month with environmental news and activites of interest to area residents.
Contributions—photos, essays, and poems—from readers are welcomed. Questions and comments? Write to the editor,
Robert Blade
.
Not a member of Sierra?
Go here
to join and receive a free tote bag.
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