22 May 2021
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) administration took aim at the City of Gainesville after Gainesville City Hall required proof of vaccination prior to allowing individuals to remove their masks on the premises, stating the action violated “the spirit of the Governor’s Emergency Order 21-81 which prohibits vaccine passports and protects the fundamental rights and privacies of Floridians.”
The city came under fire this week after requiring individuals to show proof of vaccination prior to taking off their masks. According to WCJB, individuals who provided proof of vaccination received an orange sticker that identified them as vaccinated. City Manager Lee Feldman described the sticker as “just a visual cue that would allow anybody who was enforcing the mask requirements inside the room to know whether you needed to be wearing a mask or not.”
TV20 EXCLUSIVE: Teneeshia Marshall resigns as Gainesville’s Director of Equal Opportunity Ruelle Fludd
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) -Teneeshia marshall has been the Director of the Office of Equity and Inclusion within the city of Gainesville since 2018 when the office was created. Marshall submitted her letter of resignation on April 30 with her last day with the city set for May 28. It’s a decision Marshall said was no easy choice.
“I feel terrible to be honest with you that I feel that I have no choice but to kind of walk away.”
A former Gainesville fire station soon could become a community cultural arts center.
The project, a collaboration between the University of Florida and city of Gainesville, could push out the many homeless people who have been pitching tents outside Old Fire Station No. 1 at 427 S. Main St., which is next door to St. Francis House.
Gainesville and UF officials say the center is just what the neighborhood needs.
City Commissioners endorsed the concept of the arts center last week, instructing City Manager Lee Feldman to come back with cost estimates for renovating the building, including the cost of bringing it up to code.
A week after getting a major pay raise, the city’s director of Equity and Inclusion has submitted a resignation letter, saying she has been treated with disrespect.
Teneeshia Marshall, who has been a city charter officer for two years, submitted the letter on April 30.
In her job, she evaluates discrimination complaints and evaluates Gainesville city government programs and policies for equity in gender and race.
“I have not had the greatest experience here, so I just decided it was time to move on,” she said Wednesday. “I have experienced some things that for me were deal breakers, professionally. Disrespect was one of them. Interference with my work was another.”
Three Gainesville charter officers who are among the city s highest-paid employees will get hefty raises as part of the city’s efforts to compensate women and minorities fairly.
But critics say the city has gone too far, arguing that singling out higher-paid employees for raises is hardly fair to those at the lower end of the pay scale.
The raises followed a heated City Commission discussion last week. The pay increases were approved 4-2, with Commissioners Reina Saco and Adrian Hayes-Santos dissenting. Commissioner Gigi Simmons was absent.
The three female charter officers will receive the pay increases retroactive to Jan. 1 when commissioner Gail Johnson raised the issue.