1. Pine View Changes Restroom
Policy
Nate Quinn, a
seventeen-year-old high school senior who identifies himself as a transgender
male requested to use the men’s bathroom. The principle denied his request
twice, and after the second time, thousands of people called Pine View to flood
their phone lines in protest. Eventually, Pine View changed its bathroom
policy, the first Sarasota County School to do so. Now, any middle school or
high school student can use whichever bathroom they identify with.
The problem presented in
this story was that Nate Quinn who identifies himself has a transgender, had no
place to go to the bathroom. He didn’t feel comfortable in the women’s bathroom
and was unable to use the men’s restroom. Pine View had the problem to change
its policy and deal with what some would call a “thorny issue”.
The transgender students
who were being bullied and not allowed access to the bathroom were the ones with
the problem.
2. Paradise Disrupted on
Siesta
In the early hours of January
17th a large tornado ripped through Siesta Key, doing thousands of
dollars of damage and injuring two. Siesta Key is a hot spot for tourist during
the winter months so many were unprepared for the storm. Almost al of the condominiums
in the area have hurricane and storm protection but not any precaution was
taken before the storm hit.
The problem was that many
of the residents staying on Siesta Key were tourists that had no experience in
dealing with these types of storms. The condominium owners also were unable to
put up the adequate protection for these types of storms.
The condominium owners on Siesta Key have the
problem. Repairing damages, ensuring safe measures will be taken the next time
the storm hits, and assuring new tourists that they condominiums are safe are
all problems the owners now face.
3. Nonprofit Forming to Focus
on Housing
Sarasota County has over
300 homeless people. Doug Logan, Homelessness Initiatives Director and three
other unnamed members are set to fix the problem of homelessness in Sarasota
County. Logan wants to run a Housing First approach, which would place 250 homeless
individuals in a shelter downtown. This is costly however, by 2020 Logan needs
to raise over thirty million dollars in order to fully solve the problem of
homelessness.
The problem is that
Sarasota County has a large population of homeless individuals, especially in
the downtown area. The city has not given these individuals a place to stay and
each attempt seems to fail.
Take Me Home the name of the new non-profit agency now has the
problem of successfully ending homelessness in Sarasota County.
4. Fewer Sales are Distressed
Distressed homes are
accounting for a smaller share of overall home sales in Southwest Florida.
However, Florida still leads the U.S. in the number of foreclosed properties
over the past year. The state accounted for 17.1 percent of all the
foreclosures nationwide in the past year. Even though the state’s foreclosure
inventory is down from 4.1 percent over the year, it remains double the U.S.
rate of 1.2 percent
The problem presented in the
story is that Florida still leads the U.S. in the number of foreclosures. In
fact, Florida accounts for 17% of all foreclosures nationwide.
The homeowners who purchased homes during the real estate
boom now face the problem of ensuring their home does not get foreclosed on.
5. Mental health high on agenda
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A604AA2ABF0DE0?p=AWNB
Enhancing Florida's mental health and substance abuse treatments are rising to the top of State Legislator this year. Two bills were passed that require more coordination between law enforcement and treatment centers. However, funding continues to be an issue. Also, questions have been raised about how efficient and effective each city's substance abuse centers are operating. A major focus if the House bills is coordinating the treatment of patients, both the patients who come to the care centers voluntarily or involuntarily.
The problem is that there is a weak source of funding for care centers in each community. Another problem is that house members are resisting to merger of the Baker Act and the Marchman Act.
The individuals who suffer from addiction and mental illness are the ones who have the problems. Lack of funding and disagreement in the House has created issues in regards to putting the people who need help on the right path.
Good job finding interesting articles. I wasn't able to access the actual articles but your summaries of them were helpful. They all seem relevant to today. Here's the link to mine if you want to check it out http://entopp.blogspot.com/2016_01_01_archive.html
ReplyDeleteMason,
ReplyDeleteI love how all of your local opportunities focused on real problems like transgender issues, mental health issues, and homelessness. Meanwhile, my post is about social media and hookah lol.
On a more serious note, I did post about voting rights as well as women's rights (which I think sort of plays into transgender rights.) Overall, I found it interesting as I am studying law and am intrigued by the civil rights field.
Here is the link to my post:
http://nataliem775.blogspot.com/2016/01/identifying-local-opportunities.html