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had any suggestions that could accomplish the same purpose. But they basically were suggesting 
a statement that said “We support the Everglades,” without saying what we had to do about that.”
The naysaying commissioners probably got the same calls Levine Cava got after she mentioned she would do this in her newsletter.
“Numerous people called to tell me I shouldn’t do this, that there would be retaliation or that it wouldn’t pass anyway, that it was a waste of time,” Levine Cava said.
The waste of time may be referring to Tallahassee, where legislators ignore this mandate also in return for helicopter rides from paid “water farmers” and campaign contributions, but now our state electeds will get the message from the Miami-Dade County Commission urging them to take care of the business of Amendment 1. The amendment passed in November calls for the purchase of agricultural land for the collection and cleaning of polluted agricultural runoff, mostly from Big Sugar, to help restore the Everglades, which is dangerously being depleted of what would be natural runoff from Lake Okeechobee.
These polluted waters are diverted to the east and west so they don’t hurt the country’s first national park. But that has the negative side effect of polluting other rivers and waterways, affecting Florida tourism and fishing. And because the water does not run south, like it would naturally, the Everglades is drying up and species unique to this part of the world are dying. Besides that, risking adversely affecting the source of drinking water for one out of every three Floridians.
“We need that water to come south,” Levine Cava said. “But the water has to be clean we need to capture and fill the water in reservoirs so it can be part of our Everglades reservation plan.
Commissioners got to see a video featuring the River of Grass and to hear directly from Parks Services Superintendent Pedro Ramos who tried to impart what a special place the ‘Glades is. It is the only national park that is a World Heritage site, a biosphere reserve and a “wetland of international importance” all at once.
“The world is watching in terms of what we do in being good stewards and good neighbors to this place,” 
Ramos told the commissioners.
“We cannot live without the drinking water supply the Everglades provides us all,” he said, defending the need to set aside dollars to purchase lands. “While there is no silver bullet to restoring the Everglades, that is an important element. We need more areas to store the water and to treat it so that we can move it south.”
In the video, Ramos is quoted as saying that restoration is “critical to our water supply” and “if we do not protect the water resources we have in Florida and restore the system to what it should be, our livelihood can not be sustainable for the long run.”
Voters recognized all that Nov. 4 when they said enough is enough 
and voted to take 33% of real estate transaction fees and use them to fix the Everglades. Levine Cava — who has already shown a growing obsessions with the Everglades, a lot of which abuts her distsrict — and those who voted with her Tuesday recognize all that.
But perhaps Zapata and Diaz and the others recognize the dollars that Big Sugar can provide to their future campaigns. There is no other logical explanation for them voting against their constituents and our drinking water.
Floods? We can make plans for that. We put the safeties in motion, Commissioner Diaz. That’s why you’re there.
Mixed messages on priorities? What could be more important than our drinking water — and the people’s mandate. How much more of a priority can you get than 75% of the vote?
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Daniella Levine Cava defends Everglades — and democracy added by Ladra on
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