Chartering Peace on Earth and Beyond, the annual World Day of Peace, will be held January 1, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at St. Boniface Episcopal Church on Siesta Key.

The event is co-sponsored by the Church Committee and the SouthWest Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice. Jan Roberts, Director of Community Initiatives for the national Earth Charter, will deliver keynote remarks in the morning, and Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, will speak in the afternoon session.

In addition, the program will feature an inter-faith prayer service, display tables with refreshments, theme music, and presentation of the Duisberg Peace Award. Dancing and drumming on Siesta Key Beach will conclude the day.

The event is free and open to the public. This will be the eighteenth year that the peace program has been held at the beginning of the New Year. Earlier efforts were begun by the Englewood Peace Initiative Coalition. Since then, the World Peace Day observance has been promoted in Sarasota, Manatee, and Charlotte Counties by its 22 member organizations.

Those attending the Day who wish to participate in a guided bike tour to Siesta Key should meet at the Selby Library in Sarasota at 9:30 p.m. The ride is sponsored by the local Alliance for Responsible Transportation.

Further information is available on the website: www.swfcpj.org or

contact:Sharon Fitzpatrick 941-321-3072 or Carol Ann Breyer: breyerca@aol.com

Local Greens will be joining Code Pink in a Walk Across The Ringling Bridge... for Peace.

WHEN: Saturday, December 15, 2007 10:00am
WHERE: We will meet at the Downtown Farmers Market.
(corner of Main St. & Lemon Av.), in front of the Gator Club.
There is parking on State St., one block south.
WHAT: We will begin our peace walk at the Farmers Market
with a quick stroll through the market, head down Main St. and over
the Ringling Bridge ending at Bird Key.

We will have one van available to shuttle folks.

Bring your signs to END THE WAR and promote peace.
Peace signs and glittering doves will be available.

Sarasota County's anti-growth movement has rarely appeared stronger than it did at the polls Tuesday.

Ignoring strong lobbying from the business community, voters in the city of Sarasota and Sarasota County overwhelmingly approved supermajority measures. The new requirements will make it more difficult for developers to build in many areas.

The message was also unmistakable in Venice, where three City Council incumbents blamed by their challengers for the city's rampant growth lost by landslide margins.

County Commissioner Jon Thaxton said voters are responding to years of concerns about inadequate roads and diminished water supplies."Tonight is just a continuation of a really loud, clear message," Thaxton said.

Voters in the city of Sarasota also backed a plan to limit campaign donations in City Commission races to $200 per person and to ban donations from businesses. In the past, developers have been able to exceed campaign donation limits by writing checks from multiple business holdings.

Business leaders and developers tried to defeat the supermajority issues, saying they would do more damage to the region's economy by hindering future building. Voters heard the message. But at the polls Tuesday they said they were not buying that argument.

"A lot of people say it will hold back progress," Park East resident George Gan said. "But what progress is there?"

The anti-growth mood is not confined to Southwest Florida. It is becoming a statewide theme as voters begin to question years of explosive growth, said University of South Florida professor Susan MacManus. She said voters are angered by congestion, but also by increased costs that have accompanied recent growth. Many blame growth for rising home prices, property tax increases and now the collapsing real estate market, which has made it difficult to sell a home.

She said voters are looking for someone to blame and have set their anger on developers and the people in local offices who appear to be aiding them.

By JEREMY WALLACE published by heraldtribune.com November 7, 2007

Congratulations to Anthony Lorenzo and the Coailition for Instant Runoff Voting (www.cirv.org) for bringing IRV one step closer to Sarasota. The initiative, which the Sarasota County Green Party was supportive of from the get go, overwhelmingly passed by a margin of 78% to 22%.

Not only does this make Sarasota the first city in Florida to move towards implementation of IRV, but it also marks the first grassroots IRV initiative in the country to win on election day. The others have been put on the ballot via a local legislative body.

Way to go Sarasota!

The next step is the development and certification of the software. Once that is done, Sarasota has two years to implement IRV for all city counsel seats.

The Sarasota Green Party will meet at the Fruitville Library on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 6:30 PM, to discuss the issues that will be decided on the Nov. 6 ballot for Sarasota City and County. The Green Party will make recommendations on several of the issues.

We will also discuss the 2008 Green Party presidential candidates and campaign in preparation for our Green Party of Florida poll to all registered Greens, which will be held in February. The Green Party is not included in the major party primaries and must conduct our own poll.

Also on the agenda will be the organizing of carpools and caravans to attend the Oct. 27 - National Mobilization to End the Iraq War, demonstration in Orlando and 10 other cities around the country, being sponsored by United for Peace and Justice www.unitedforpeace.org and others.

For more information please call Julia Aires, 941-366-5008.