Groveland, FL, Council Meeting
18 February 2020
Joseph Richardson (239 words)

Mayor, Ash, members of the council, staff and citizens.

It is an honor to be here today to represent the Central Florida Freethought Community and your atheist, agnostic, humanist, and other non-religious constituents.

Even though I am representing the non-religious, I hope my comments will resonate with every resident. Over the last 19 years, Groveland has been a fast-growing and increasingly diverse community. From a population of around 3500 in 2000 to around 15,000 today, such increases can strain all aspects of city management and the patience of residents.

But the diversity of people moving in help to make Groveland a vibrant and interesting community. And it is our shared similarities, our collective hopes and dreams, our mutual love for our friends and family, our desire to build a better future for all of our children, our common humanity that bring us together and allows us to cooperate to improve the lives of all our citizens. Each one of you, by your commitment of time, energy and resources, helps to make this vision real.

We have a bright future ahead of us in Groveland, individually and together as a city united. And we are counting on your abilities and integrity to lead us to that future.

May your decisions and actions today and every day be guided by our common goals, by a sensitivity to our differences, and by the words of Dr. Martin Luther King who said: “The time is always right to do what is right.”