On this Monday, July 6, episode of Sundial:
Broward County COVID-19 Response
It was a muted Fourth of July weekend, as most fireworks displays and festivities were disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. The state and the country continue to break record totals for new coronavirus cases.
As of Monday, Broward County has more than 21,000 cases and a total of 414 people have died from the virus since the pandemic began.
The county shut down beaches and overnight restaurant service in response to the growing number of cases. There’s also a new countywide dashboard where you can see businesses that have received warnings or citations for not following coronavirus guidelines.
Broward County Mayor Dale Holness argued the county was following CDC guidelines, but the reopening may have been too soon. “We probably opened too fast, based on the data that we had, we acted accordingly. Now we are having to debate whether we not only have a slow opening, but perhaps we reverse the opening.”
Petitions To Rename Broward County And Plantation
As a nation, we are facing a reckoning with the racist parts of our history. Part of that reckoning is how we remember that history. South Florida has its fair share of street names and monuments that commemorate historic, yet racist figures.
There was a push earlier this year to rename Dixie Highway which runs through Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Kyle Hill started a petition to change the name of Broward County and Dharyl Auguste started a petition to change the name of the city of Plantation.
“When these petitioners like Kyle and myself show-up, we are asked to fix all of the problems in the world and we can’t. We are taking the avenue we can as citizens. We are getting on the right side of history,” said Auguste.
Hill and Auguste joined Luis Hernandez on Sundial to discuss their petitions. Broward County Mayor Dale Holness stayed on and explained the challenges facing the county commission before any name-changing resolutions could be passed.
Elevate Prize
What if you were given at least $300,000 to develop solutions for some of the biggest problems facing our planet? The inaugural Elevate Prize includes $5 million in funding going to 10 applicants with projects from around the globe. Proposals from South Florida include educating communities in Latin America about climate change, building a dedicated greenway throughout Miami-Dade and serving Black communities impacted by the economic shutdown caused by COVID-19.
The Elevate Prize Foundation is a new nonprofit based in Miami, Carolina García Jayaram is the executive director. Prize winners will be given institutional support to make their projects a reality, a team to build their social media platforms so they can reach a larger audience and networking opportunities with fellow social entrepreneurs.
The deadline to apply is July 13.
