Open letter to Mayor Daniella Levine Cava: Veto Calusa zoning change

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Here’s some ammunition (read: facts) to avoid an override

Dear Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, AKA La Alcaldesa:

Add this to the mounds of emails and letters from residents who urge you to veto the commission’s vote last week to change the zoning at the property that used to be the Calusa Golf Course from park and recreation to high density residential.

The county charter gives the mayor 10 days to veto any legislation. That gives you until this Saturday, by the calendar.

Yes, we know it’s a longshot hail Mary attempt to save the naturally overgrown green space, which has become a habitat for endangered and threatened Florida species. After all, the commission voted 10-2 (Commissioner Rebeca Sosa was absent) to bulldoze it and make way for yet another gated community of 550 cookie cutter homes in Kendall. And it takes nine votes to override any mayoral veto, so she really only has to convince two people or three people.

But it’s the right thing to do.

And who knows? Maybe some commissioners have had time to think about it. Maybe you can talk some sense into some of them. You used to wear a superhero cape and call yourself the Water Warrior. Channel her.

Want some ammunition?

Read related: Miami-Dade Commission votes to kill Calusa preserve for Kendall developer

You can tell commissioners they’ve been misled, scratch that, lied to about the so-called supporters. Explain that the red shirts in the audience were all there to make sure they got upwards of $300,000 per homeowner (and their families) in a secret legal settlement (read: buy-off) with the developer — which they don’t get without a zoning change approved. The approval should be vetoed on principle: It was fraudulently presented.

In comparison, the hundreds of people in green shirts and the 2,500+ who have signed the online email petition for you to veto this stupidity are not being paid for their opposition. Ladra is not paid for this position. Zoo Miami Ambassador Ron Magill, your very own nationally-recognized wildlife expert, is not being paid to vehemently oppose this development. In fact, he is risking his longtime county job by defying his bosses. Why would they listen to a developer’s paid shill and not their own trusted expert?

You can tell the commissioners that you simply want to give the environmental agencies more time to assess the property’s viability as a rookery and habitat for endangered and threatened Florida wildlife. Tell them the applicant had their surveys done outside of peak nesting season and encourage them to ask themselves why that was. It’s not a coincidence. That was intentional to, again, mislead them.

Read related: Developers plan to build 550 homes hurts imperiled birds, endangered bats

You can tell them that this is the wrong message to send. Speculators will sit on such land acquisitions until they get a positive commission so they can maximize their profits at the cost of nature and the neighbors’ quality of life. Assessments show there will be 540 more vehicle trips at rush hour and that police and fire services will be affected negatively. Explain that they are providing improvements at four intersections because they know the impact is going to be enormous.

You can tell them that this is a chance to put their words on fighting climate change into action. Maybe shame them a little for talking the talk and not walking the walk on resiliency and preserving green space. Yes, the applicant tap danced to the tune of private property — purchased with the restrictive zoning in place — but we all know that green space on this Earth is green space, whether private or public, and it benefits the environment to stay green. Period.

Should it be made public? That’s another conversation. Perhaps there was once an opportunity to buy the property from the original owner who let it deteriorate by neglect, intentionally, because that’s the trend with suburban golf courses. But since Facundo Bacardi sold the 168 acres to GL Homes for $32 million, it’s a challenge to find something they’d be willing to trade for.

Read related: Miami-Dade Commission could wipe out Calusa preserve for 550 homes

You can negotiate with the commissioners. They each want something from you. Use your leverage. Don’t waste your time on Commissioner Raquel Regalado, who wants your job and seemingly can’t admit when she’s wrong. So much so that she hasn’t called Ladra back in weeks. She seems to be digging her heels in.

But there are other low-hanging fruit who aren’t as sold to the idea of the development.

Focus on Sosa. Her vote may be worth two because Commissioner Javier Souto nearly always looks to her for guidance.

You can remind your own replacement, Commissioner Daniella Cohen Higgins, that you had voted against removing the covenant and that these county residents (read: taxpayers) deserve at least as much time as the Broward developer. She’s already losing points on the 87th Avenue bridge. She doesn’t want to be associated with this project. Tell her to choose her battles.

You really only need to turn two votes. Maybe three. If you can’t do that, then maybe you shouldn’t be mayor.

This is a chance to be an actual hero and, perhaps, start to regain some of the trust of voters who are woefully disappointed in you.

This is the time to dust off that cape.

  Calusa, Daniella Levine Cava