Gulfport’s all-women metropolis council
FOX 13’s Jennifer Kveglis stories on the Metropolis of Gulfport, which is ushering in Girls’s Historical past Month by swearing in Florida’s first ever all-women metropolis council.
GULFPORT, Fla. – This Girls’s Historical past Month, the Metropolis of Gulfport has rather a lot to have a good time.
It’s going to quickly make historical past as having Florida’s first ever all-women metropolis council. Town will even have a feminine mayor for the second time because it was based in 1910.
“What I didn’t know was that we had been going to make historical past. I didn’t know,” stated Mayor-elect Karen Love. “In Florida’s historical past, there has by no means been an all-five-person feminine council, in order that was my first information. Then, my second bit of reports that morning was that it solely occurred 5 occasions in america, interval.”
What they’re saying:
Come April 1, Gulfport’s Metropolis Council will comprise Love, April Thanos (Ward 1), Marlene Shaw (Ward 2), Cosi Jackson (Ward 3) and Nancy Earley (Ward 4).
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Mayor-elect Love is a 15-year resident of Gulfport.
The Metropolis of Gulfport’s all feminine metropolis council.
“There’s a saying in Gulfport, ‘You don’t discover Gulfport, it finds you,’ and I actually resonate with that,” stated Love. “There may be only a completely different high quality of individuals. Someway, we’re all related right here.”
Love stated when she first ran for mayor, she turned to town’s first feminine mayor, Yvonne Johnson.
“We had already had a feminine mayor in 1972, and she or he was mayor, I imagine, till ’97,” Love stated. “I went to her, and I stated, ‘You led the best way. You had been our first, and I want to introduce myself and inform you that I’m going to be the second.’”
Dig deeper:
Love stated she revisited Johnson on Tuesday.
“I stated, however at the moment, I didn’t notice what a historic second this was going to be. I stated now that I do,” stated Love. “It’s so vital so that you can be there; you led the best way within the ’70s. She goes to be there on the swearing-in. I’m actually happy about that.”
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Marlene Shaw secured the Ward 2 seat. Shaw is a 30-year resident who labored for town for 5 years, managing the on line casino and theater.
“I believe there was an actual power for some change,” Shaw stated. “It is a large win for Gulfport. It was not about me, that I could not do it alone, and that it was all as much as the neighborhood.”
Large image view:
Each girls stated it was not about one gender over the opposite however equality.
“I have no idea the entire individuals on the council, however what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard is it isn’t solely about being all-female,” stated Love. “It’s about sensible, business-like, energized, able to get to work, and I’m so excited to work with all these people.”
Town’s swearing-in ceremony will occur at Metropolis Corridor on Tuesday, April 1, at 6 p.m.
The Supply: FOX 13’s Jennifer Kveglis collected the knowledge on this story.
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