{"id":46790,"date":"2025-11-14T18:56:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T18:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/46790\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T18:56:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T18:56:08","slug":"podcast-mayor-apologizes-for-nature-center-eviction-threat-but-still-insists-on-more-revenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/46790\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast: Mayor apologizes for Nature Center eviction threat – but still insists on more revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Thursday a controversial letter directing the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center to vacate its Crandon Park facility was \u201cautomatically generated\u201d amid a budget crisis, and she regrets the threatening language used.<\/p>\n

Appearing on the \u201cAnti-Social\u201d podcast with Tony Winton and Jan Dillow, Levine Cava sought to calm community outrage over the directive, stating the County is not closing the center and is actively seeking a new contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re on a month-to-month basis. It\u2019s status quo as far as programming goes, while we sit down together to negotiate the future,\u201d Levine Cava said. \u201cThis is a key resource, not just for Key Biscayne, but for our whole community\u2026 and the team at the Biscayne Nature Center, headed up by Thea Long, has done a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier, Levine Cava had proposed a 45-day extension, prompting a rebuke from Long, a disciple of the nationally known environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The conflict began Aug. 22, when the County Parks Department sent the letter saying the license was about to expire. Later, the Department identified the building as a potential source of $1 million in new revenue from eco tourism packages, revenue needed as the County faced a budget crisis \u2014 and the approved County budget includes the revenue line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis all happened in the context of a budget storm. We were facing a huge budget shortfall,\u201d Levine Cava explained. The Parks Department, funded by what she said was a \u201cconstrained\u201d\u00a0 general fund, identified 49 positions to be eliminated\u00a0 and \u201cwere looking everywhere for additional revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levine Cava disavowed the August letter\u2019s tone.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo this was an automatically generated letter. We regret the language we\u2019ve said,\u201d the mayor said. . \u201cIt was a kind of a form letter which will be revised. We\u2019re not going to be using that language in the future\u2026 I was not aware that it was generated, but nonetheless, legally, the contract expires.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the dispute deepened, Levine Cava granted a 45-day extension. But in a Nov. 7 reply, the center dismissed the extension and said the history of the building\u2019s construction places its right to operate on firm legal ground. \u201cWe 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.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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When pressed that $1 million is a grain of sand in the County\u2019s nearly $13 billion budget, Levine Cava pushed back, noting the general fund is much smaller.<\/p>\n

\u201cA million dollars in the Parks budget is not insubstantial,\u201d she said. \u201cWe do have qualified staff. We do run nature centers and other parks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor said the goal is a new contract that expands services. \u201cWe do think there is the opportunity for increased programming in conjunction with the parks department,\u201d she said, suggesting expansion to private schools or more summer weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never, ever contemplated closing it down. And that was exactly what was said, which was misinformation from the start, and that is what created the upset,\u201d Levine Cava said. \u201cIt is our plan going forward to continue to operate this in partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Anti-Social, Levine also tackled several other subjects:<\/p>\n

The closing of Seaquarium and the lease of the property to Terra Company<\/p>\n

Efforts to manage the traffic on the Rickenbacker Causeway in the short term<\/p>\n

Replacing the Bear Cut Bridge<\/p>\n

The current vacancy on the County Commission<\/p>\n

Her future political aspirations.<\/p>\n

Invest in Local News for Your Town. Your Gift is tax-deductible<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A public affairs podcast where where we have a bit of fun while talking about current events and the foibles of social media. Originating from the Island Paradise of Key Biscayne but our topics and guests can be from anywhere.Subscribe with the podcast platform of your choice<\/a>\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Thursday a controversial letter directing the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[30523,30524,30525,589,590,123,125,124,2408,4990,30526,30527],"class_list":{"0":"post-46790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-anti-social","9":"tag-bearcut-bridge","10":"tag-daniela-levine-cava","11":"tag-featured","12":"tag-marjory-stoneman-douglas-biscayne-nature-center","13":"tag-miami","14":"tag-miami-headlines","15":"tag-miami-news","16":"tag-podcast","17":"tag-rickenbacker-causeway","18":"tag-seaquarium","19":"tag-terra"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46790","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=46790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}