{"id":43186,"date":"2025-11-12T01:15:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T01:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/43186\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T01:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T01:15:13","slug":"miami-dade-pauses-eviction-of-biscayne-nature-center-for-45-days-nonprofit-rejects-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/43186\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami-Dade pauses eviction of Biscayne Nature Center for 45 days. Nonprofit rejects it."},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Miami-Dade County paused the eviction of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center<\/a> from its Crandon Park facility for 45 days, an effort Mayor Daniella Levine Cava says is to negotiate a path forward with the non-profit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the center\u2019s executive director, Theodora Long, said the County\u2019s offer, made Nov. 7,\u00a0 is not evidence of acting in good faith.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been in the park for 40 years. How does a 45 day extension do anything,\u201d Long said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

It was in an August 22 County letter that\u00a0 Long learned that their programming partnership license agreement would be expiring<\/a> on November 23. The\u00a0 nonprofit was told it needed to vacate the building it now occupies in Crandon Park. The letter gave no reason.<\/p>\n

But since then, it has come to light that Miami-Dade wants to take control of the center\u2019s building because it believes it can generate $1 million in revenue<\/a> through kayak and snorkel trips through its EcoAdventures operation. That predicted revenue is helping to balance the County budget, which at one point suffered a $402 million shortfall this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mayor Levine Cava wrote to Long, saying officials wanted to talk. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis pause will remain in effect as we engage in a constructive dialogue to determine a mutually beneficial path forward for the Center, its educational mission, and its continued relationship with the County,\u201d Levine Cava wrote. \u201cOur goal is to identify a sustainable and transparent framework that preserves public access, supports expanded educational programming through mutual efforts, and honors the shared vision established when the Center was founded.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Aerial view of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center in Crandon Park, Key Biscayne (Biscayne Nature Center via KBI\/Facebook)<\/p>\n

The mayor also promised that her office and the Department of Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces would coordinate next steps and schedule follow-up discussions in the coming weeks. But Long has found the lack of transparency very disheartening.<\/p>\n

Calls and messages to the mayor\u2019s spokespeople for comment were unreturned on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The Independent obtained a copy of the mayor\u2019s letter to Long as well as a copy of Long\u2019s response.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe center rejects the characterization of this \u2018temporary pause\u2019 as constructive engagement. It is not,\u201d Long said in the letter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She makes clear the center\u2019s position, calling on the County to rescind the August 22 eviction notice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center Board of Trustees, we do not recognize the County\u2019s asserted authority to unilaterally alter, suspend or otherwise terminate the relationship that has governed our presence at Crandon Park for decades,\u201d Long said later in the letter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The nonprofit has been teaching children about the coastal environment for decades at the two-story building, which houses a collection of artifacts, a saltwater aquarium and a touch tank. The center is named after environmental pioneer Marjory Stoneman Douglas who helped create the program, which got its start in 1969 from inside a hot dog stand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The current facility was paid for and built thanks to a state grant and millions in donations raised by the nonprofit. The building was later gifted to the Miami-Dade School district,\u00a0 but it sits inside a county park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the legacy of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, this was her brain child to make this happen for the community and for the County to send us an eviction notice. I can\u2019t understand,\u201d Long said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jessica De Leon is a general assignment reporter at the Key Biscayne Independent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami-Dade County paused the eviction of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center from its Crandon Park facility…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[13578,588,113,1563,1252,589,3086,28450,123,125,124,28451,28452],"class_list":["post-43186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-biscayne-nature-center","tag-daniella-levine-cava","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-eviction","tag-featured","tag-free","tag-marjorie-stoneman-douglas","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-miami-dade-parks-and-recreation-and-open-spaces-department-director-maria-nardi","tag-theodora-long"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}