Update on River Zurinsky

My name is River Zurinsky and I am asking for your vote for Florence City Council District 2 on August 25, 2020. I was born at ECM Hospital in District 2 and have lived in District 2 all my life. At 21 years old, deciding to run for Florence City Council was not an easy decision for me to make, but when I saw our current city council deny Room at the Table the right to feed the hungry out of their building, I knew it was the right decision for me to run. This decision was reinforced when our current city council recently allowed a carnival to keep their permit and set up in Florence in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic after denying Room at the Table a permit. Allowing the carnival to come to Florence during COVID-19 may have resulted in hundreds more cases of the virus than we would have had if the carnival had not been allowed to set up. If I am elected to the Florence City Council, I promise to never put profits over people. I will look out for the health and well-being of the people of Florence. One of the first things I will do if I am elected is meet with Room at the Table and negotiate a deal which will allow them to feed those in need without costing the taxpayers of Florence court costs and legal fees. I will also quickly introduce legislation to buy cyber insurance for the City of Florence's computer systems. I think it is unacceptable after being warned that our current city council took no action to protect information in our computer systems, then unanimously voted to give internet hackers a $290,000 ransom.

The Times Daily has reported that Muscle Shoals is paying their police officers more than Florence is. I want to raise the salaries of Florence firefighters and police officers to make sure they are being paid an equitable amount. I also want to add the phrase "In God We Trust" to our fire trucks and police cars. Another thing I would like to do, which I mentioned in my previous Shoalanda Speaks interview is to work with Florence Fire to build a sixth fire station on Darby Drive. While I will look out for the needs of District 2 in particular, I believe part of the job of city council member is to look out for the needs of everyone in Florence. I know in the event of a fire every second is critical. Building a fire station on Darby Drive will give residents of that part of the city a quicker response. Riverhill School is located on Darby Drive and I believe it is important for the safety of students attending there to build a fire station nearby.

During the COVID-19 pandemic many of our local businesses have struggled to make ends meet. I would like to offer our local businesses several tax-free days in 2021. Getting money back in the hands of local entrepreneurs will save jobs and reduce closures, and that is critical right now since we don't know how long COVID-19 will pose a threat to our city. The State of Alabama already hosts a "Back to School Sales Tax Holiday Weekend" where parents can buy school supplies for their child with no added sales tax. My proposed tax-free days would remove the city tax on items sold at all our locally-owned businesses, whether you are buying clothing, fuel/gasoline, groceries, hardware/tools, jewelry, pet supplies, or a meal from one of our many local restaurants.

For many years I have had the idea of building an aquarium in Florence. I think that having an aquarium would bring more family tourist groups to Florence. An aquarium would also be a great educational tool for our local children. The aquarium would have local freshwater fish found in the Tennessee River, but would also have popular saltwater fish species such as Blue Tangs, Clownfish, and Jellyfish. It would also have a Touch-A-Ray Tank which would give children the chance to interact with Manta Rays after COVID-19 restrictions have ended. Local hotels and restaurants would gain additional business from tourists who visit the aquarium. The aquarium would also create jobs for Shoals residents.

I think another way to attract more tourists, create new jobs, and improve the lives of residents of District 2 would be to use the old McFarland Park golf course area to build an amphitheater, dog park, skate park, and splash pad. Several local bands already play in McFarland Park and having an outdoor amphitheater would provide them a much nicer place to play with a seating area for the audience. In 2012, I watched a group raise $900,000 to build a city-owned dog park which never got built. The proposed location for the dog park was part of the old McFarland Park golf course. There is still high demand for a City of Florence owned dog park today. The dog park would provide a place for dogs to get exercise and play with other dogs. Teenagers living in District 2 could benefit from a skate park as it would encourage them to be physically active outside. They shouldn't have to travel all the way to Cox Creek Parkway just to skate. Having a splash pad in McFarland Park would be a great way for residents of District 2 and tourists to beat the heat and cool off on hot summer days. I also propose building a canoe/kayak storage facility on the part of the old golf course adjacent to Cypress Creek and the Tennessee River. TVA recently awarded Florence a grant to build a canoe/kayak ramp at the north end of Cypress Creek. Building a canoe/kayak storage facility at the south end of Cypress Creek would give people a place to store their canoes and kayaks after floating or paddling down Cypress Creek. Being located in McFarland Park, people on the Tennessee River could dock and use this facility as well. Building the canoe/kayak storage facility would help bring more events to McFarland Park and the Tennessee River. This facility would also help to pay for the improvements that I propose for McFarland Park. I think that revitalizing McFarland Park will encourage new business development along Highway 20/Savannah Highway and in downtown Florence, creating even more local jobs.

Since the safety of the citizens of Florence is a major concern to me, if I am elected to the Florence City Council, I will immediately introduce legislation to fix the many broken pedestrian signals on Court Street. Right now, six of the seven intersections on Court Street that have pedestrian signals are not in fully working order. None of the pedestrian signals at the intersections of Alabama Street and Court Street and Court Street and Dr. Hicks Boulevard light up, half of the pedestrian signals at College Street and Court Street don't light up, and the intersections at Court and Mobile, Court and Tombigbee, and Court and Tuscaloosa have no buttons for a pedestrian to push to signal that they need to cross the street. It shouldn’t take someone getting hurt or killed for this problem to be fixed. My legislation would also propose the addition of pedestrian signals to the intersections of Mobile and Pine, and Pine and Tombigbee so that residents of Courtview Towers can safely cross Pine Street to get to our local restaurants and shops in downtown, as well as adding pedestrian signals to the intersection of Pine Street and Tuscaloosa Street so UNA that students will be able to safely walk down Pine Street to downtown.

I love Florence and with your vote for Florence City Council District 2 on August 25th, together we can make Florence an even better place to live! I’ve set up a campaign e-mail address electriverzurinsky@yahoo.com and I have an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/riverzurinskystar/ where I post daily about my campaign. You can also watch my live campaign broadcasts on Instagram every Friday at 6:30 PM between now and the election. Please DM me on Instagram or e-mail me any questions you have about my campaign/platform. If you live in District 2, look for my flyers in your mailbox on August 11th or August 12th! I encourage you to read my previous interview with Shoalanda Speaks if you haven't already done so at http://shoalandaspeaks.blogspot.com/2020/06/see-dicks-opponents-run-part-i.html. Thank you for reading this and voting for River Zurinsky on August 25th. Together, we can create positive change!

Voters can contact me at electriverzurinsky@yahoo.com or by DMing me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riverzurinskystar/

During a time when public campaign events cannot be done, I think it is important to be available daily online for anyone with comments or questions. It's the least I can do. I enjoyed reading the comments I received on the first interview I did with your blog, looking forward to reading the comments I receive from this one.