{"id":63390,"date":"2025-11-28T12:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T12:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/63390\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T12:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T12:04:08","slug":"podcast-nature-center-vows-to-stay-says-it-has-legal-high-ground-in-dispute-with-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/63390\/","title":{"rendered":"PODCAST: Nature Center vows to stay, says it has legal high ground in dispute with County\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/kbindependent.org\/give\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"KBI Email banner 600\u00d7105 \u2014 light\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/KBI-Email-banner-600x105-\u2014-light.png\" alt=\"\"   class=\"no-lazyload\" width=\"900\" height=\"158\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center faces a precarious future after months of legal and political wrangling over its right to remain on Crandon Park, leaders of the nonprofit told the Anti-Social podcast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to move forward, but we\u2019re hesitant,\u201d said Executive Director Theodora Long, who said many harmful things have happened. \u201cIf the mayor [Daniella Levine Cava] really liked us, why did she send the letter in the first place?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Long described the day she learned about the County\u2019s attempt to evict the center after more than 50 years of community service. \u201cI received a registered letter. I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh my goodness. What could this be? Big, heavy, heavy envelope.\u2019 And I opened it and said, \u2018Oh, my goodness gracious,\u2019\u201d Long recalled.<\/p>\n<p>Unable to immediately share the news with colleagues, she said, \u201cI have an emergency at my house. I have to leave right away.\u201d At home, she contacted environmental leader Bruce Matheson, whose family gift decades ago created Crandon Park. : \u201cI\u2019ve just been evicted\u2026 I\u2019m going to email you the letter as soon as I get home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Levine Cava apologized for the letter sent by the Parks Department, and it was eventually rescinded. But the nature enter\u2019s leaders say the damage has already been done \u2013 and now the onus is on the County to show good faith.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The first step, says center\u2019s president\u00a0 Mark Diaz, is for the County to come forward with an actual proposal.\u00a0 \u201dWe\u2019re a small nonprofit. What are we here to negotiate and, and the second point is, what are we negotiating to?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A lease between Miami-Dade Public Schools and the County runs until 2039.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Long said her hope is that another 40-year sublease will extend the Nature Center\u2019s programs \u2014 and the legacy of its namesake until 2080.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m hoping,\u201d Long said. \u201cMarjory Stoneman Douglas lived to be 108, you know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>  Never miss a story! Sign up for our FREE newsletter<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"m-a-box-avatar-url\" href=\"https:\/\/kbindependent.org\/author\/anti-social\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Revised-Anti-Social-SQ-1-150x150.png\" class=\"attachment-150x150 size-150x150\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"image\"  \/><\/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.<a href=\"https:\/\/anti-social.buzzsprout.com\/share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Subscribe with the podcast platform of your choice<\/a>\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center faces a precarious future after months of legal and political wrangling&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[588,589,3086,590,38033,123,125,124,1718,28452],"class_list":["post-63390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-daniella-levine-cava","tag-featured","tag-free","tag-marjory-stoneman-douglas-biscayne-nature-center","tag-mark-diaz","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-nonprofit","tag-theodora-long"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63390","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=63390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}