Forgotten jewelry treasures for Mother’s DayFlowers fill ‘That BBQ Place’ reopening as community honors victims
As Lee County’s population grows so does the number of minorities moving in. The proof is in the census numbers. “We have tremendous growth in the Dunbar community as well as a Lehigh Acres community when it comes to minorities,” Lee County NAACP Political Action Committee Co-Chair Fredrick Morgan II said. Morgan and the NAACP want its representation to reflect that. It wants to combine Dunbar and Lehigh Acres to create a majority-minority district with the hopes of electing a minority representative. Morgan’s mother, Melvin Morgan, was the first and only Black Lee County Commissioner. “When it comes to employment, when it comes to jobs, when it comes to housing, of course, affordable housing is an issue nowadays, but there are a lot of issues and hopefully we will get someone to represent our community and address those issues,” Morgan said. To truly represent minority communities the NAACP said there must be a change in the way it votes for Lee County Commissioners. Right now, citizens vote for commissioners at large, meaning everyone votes for every commissioner. “When voting at large is done it dilutes all other people of color’s votes and so therefore it is the most discriminatory practice that’s done in voting,” Lee County NAACP President James Muwakkil said. So the NAACP wants to switch to district-based voting for all five districts and add two at-large commissioners. So more voices can be heard. “We need representation,” Muwakkil said. The Lee County NAACP will be hosting a Redistricting Training on Oct. 1 from 6 to 9 p.m. at 3210 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. This is the NAACP Lee County Headquarters, located within the Quality Life Center Building. The training is open to the public and is meant to educate community members on the redistricting process. Zoom link for Redistricting Training Meeting ID: 910 6970 7759 Passcode: 659592 Phone number to join: 301-715-8592 Meeting ID: 910 6970 7759 MORE: Lee County – Decennial Redistricting Lee County’s redistricting public hearings take place at the Old Lee County Courthouse, at 2120 Main Street, in Fort Myers. The hearings will take place the following dates: The first public hearing to review preliminary options is Tuesday, Oct. 5 at 9:30 a.m. The public hearing to review map options is Tuesday, Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. The public hearing to adopt a new map is Tuesday, Nov. 16at 9:30 a.m. The date to certify the agenda item for the Secretary of State is Tuesday, Dec. 7 at 9:30 a.m.