Florida, Tampa bay area

[Cyvaris]

I guess you could call this less of a meet-up and more of a call to action. If you have seen any of my posts in the environmental issues forum you know I am an active member of Sierra club. Now on to the issue at hand.

Tampa city council will be voting on a fertilizer ordinance this Thursday(6/23/11). This is the third, final, and most important hearing. We have faced some opposition from corporate interests, and expect the opposition to be much greater this time. We need anyone who is available to attend. The vote is going to be held at the Tampa city hall building. We are meeting around 8-8:30 as the meeting begins at 9. It is really going to come down to the number of supporters we have. If we have enough people we should get this ordinance passed.

Here is the facebook page for the event.
Log In | Facebook

[Advent]

/me is currently in an overseas location.

[Aketuan]

I wish that I could...unfortunately I'm stuck in CO at the moment...

[Cyvaris]

Hey even distant support is appreciated. If you know anyone who lives in the area pass this along though. Its a pretty big deal.

Also as an interesting side note. I know a lot of people bash on Avatar for having villains that are not realistic. Well the Fertilizer corporation supporters who have turned out to oppose us act exactly like Selfridge. They openly mock the blatantly obvious facts and have openly claimed that they are only here to make sure we don't hurt their profits. Its really surreal.

[GhostTiger]

Ugh! Wish I could be there in person, but an email or something will have to do.

[Cyvaris]

Darn you GhostTiger we need the support! Ehh email is good, send it to the Tampa city council. If you have any friends tell them about the even, we REALLY need the support. Also inform them that there will be a free lunch afterwards.

[GhostTiger]

Wish I could be there!

[Cyvaris]

Well we won, overwhelming majority to 6 to 1. We spent at least 4 hours on Tuesday night phone banking. We had close to 50 people show up. There were so many people at the meeting some of us had to go to an overflow room.

The ordinance that was passed will set a sales ban, basically it is now illegal to sell Nitrogen and Phosphorus rich fertilizers during the Florida rainy months. That should help to cut down algae blooms in the gulf/Hillsborough river as well as cut pollution.

[Cyvaris]

Okay I hate double posting but I am going to do it anyway. Coming up on August the 24th there will be a rally event for clean air in Tampa. This will be a major Sierra Club event and there will be a large amount of media coverage. The exact details are not set in stone yet but if anyone is interested send me a PM and I will send you the information when I get it(I hate being an intern lol).