Protesters gathered on Tuesday in Miami-Dade and other parts of Florida to voice outrage at the state’s plan to install golf, pickleball, 350-room hotels and other attractions to various state parks.
At Oleta River State Park in North Miami Beach, a crowd of 120 or so people gathered to voice their opposition. Similar protests took place Tuesday at other parks and the state DEP headquarters in Tallahassee.
The plans for Florida’s Great Outdoors Initiative were released last week, instantly drawing a bipartisan public uproar.
Many opponents were left questioning why the Florida Department of Environmental Protection would propose such a bold, specific and organized campaign.
Amid the outcry, a golf course proposal at Jonathan Dickinson State Park was abandoned . The state department originally planned public hearings near the nine affected parks, but those hearings were delayed.
Condo towers loomed in the background in Miami-Dade on Tuesday as the crowd chanted, “Save our parks!” A proposal at Oleta includes plans for up to four pickleball courts, a disc golf course and glamping facilities.
Alexandra Maxwell, born and raised in Florida, moved to Miami a few years ago. “This is one of the last places in Miami-Dade County where you can truly come and see natural Florida as it once was, and as it should be,” she said.
When she and her husband visit the park they like to “get away from people. I don’t want concrete. I don’t want people. I want to go into the trees, I want to feel nature, I want to wade in the mangroves, I want to find peace.”
As for the potential pickleball courts, which would be built in the open field where the protest took place, she said, “We already have so many courts. … I don’t believe we need pickleball, glamping or disc golf here.”
Artist Susan Lee-Chun took her two sons to the rally. She said she loved the park because it gives her the ability “to just disconnect with literally what’s on the perimeter here,” pointing to the condo towers beyond the tree line. “This is an amazing escape. This is what Miami was, prior to all of us being inhabitants, so it’s nice to go back to the history of the land, and to share it with the boys.”
They go mountain biking, hiking and looking for insects on the ground. “They’re invested in the earth, the soil,” she said. “They know the world has more to it than just being an urban dweller.”
She fears greater changes in the park. “They take an inch, and it grows and multiplies. My concern is that the pickleball is one step in the direction of the park moving away from a nature focus. What’s gonna happen next? That’s a concern.”
People enjoy kayaking at Oleta River State Park in North Miami Beach on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel) Her aptly named son, Ranger, said, “I love going on hikes and seeing nature.” His dream is to become a park ranger.
Yaya Hernandez, who visits the park as an escape, said that adding the amenities would lead to more trash and less serenity. “There would be less preservation of the energy that’s supposed to be in this park. I think the energy would be wrong if there was something like that in here. The park is supposed to be about connecting to nature.”
Sam Van Leer, founder of the Urban Paradise Guild, has spent hundreds of hours there at the park removing invasive plants and planting native species.
He has restored native maritime hammock habitat near where the disc golf course would go, and is thankful that the park removed invasive Australian pines. But he said the area, which was off-limits on the day of the protest, floods in the wet season. He suggested putting disc golf in the open field where the protest occurred.
Though glamping may just seem like a high-end version of camping, it often includes air conditioning and catering.
It’s unclear if that would be the case in Oleta. Either way, he thinks it’s a horrible idea.
“If you’re going to turn it into glamping, you’re essentially saying you want this park to be a resort. … It’s so somebody can make money operating a resort,” he said. “Here, we’re in Miami (with hotels and short-term rentals). Why is the state trying to compete with the local economy?”
“Let’s persevere Oleta as natural as we can. That’s the unique thing. There’s nothing unique about a resort.”
The 1,033-acre park is wilderness within a city. It’s hemmed in by the bustle of Biscayne Boulevard and the condo towers of North Miami Beach and Sunny Isle. It feels, in some places, like a slice of the Everglades smack in the middle of a city.
Martin County protests In the Stuart area, 150 or so protesters gathered at Flagler Park on the banks of the St. Lucie River to voice outrage over a now-abandoned proposal that would have put three golf courses inside Jonathan Dickinson State Park.
A nonprofit group called the Tuskegee Dunes Foundation said it had teamed up with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to develop the proposal. But immediate and pronounced public outcry prompted it to withdraw the plan last Sunday.
Its one-page website, devoid of information on the group’s history or its board members, ran a statement that said, “We have received clear feedback that Jonathan Dickinson State Park is … not the right location. We did not understand the local community landscape and appreciate the clarity. We will not pursue building in the beloved Jonathan Dickinson State Park.”
Jennifer Parr of Palm City protests against the Great Outdoors Initiative proposal to add golf courses, hotels, pickleball courts, and other developments to nine Florida state parks at Flagler Park in Stuart on Tuesday, August 27, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel) The statement also said it believed the golf courses would be “enhancing the natural beauty of Florida’s beloved environment.”
At the protest Tuesday, Robert Rosa, who is part of the American Indian Movement, addressed a crowd.
“We are all natural beings, and when we lose connection to the grass, to the trees, to the insects, to the four-legged creatures, we lose a piece of ourselves,” he said.
Rosa also called out Gov. Ron DeSantis, asking why he hasn’t yet shut down the proposals.
DeSantis has a reputation for enhancing protection for the Everglades, and helping to add land to the Florida Wildlife Corridor, which is one reason some people find the whole thing so curious. DeSantis has yet to address the initiative and the controversy surrounding it.
DeSantis’ spokesman Jeremy Redfern last week said the proposal was intended to make the parks “more visitor-friendly.”
“No administration has done more than we have to conserve Florida’s natural resources, grow conservation lands, and keep our environment pristine. But it’s high time we made public lands more accessible to the public,” Redfern said Thursday.
The DeSantis administration has not answered additional questions about the initiative.
‘Not getting any answers’ Kathy Moore, 63, said she’s visited Jonathan Dickinson State Park at least a hundred times throughout her life. Though she’s never been much of a protester, she said she’ll demonstrate in opposition to the DEP’s initiative until the public gets confirmation, in writing, that the Great Outdoors Initiative isn’t happening and won’t ever happen again. Moore also said she isn’t convinced the Tuskegee Dunes Foundation’s withdrawal of the golf courses is a done deal.
“We’re not getting any answers,” she said. “Hopefully it can be stopped, and I’ll be out here sweating until they do.”
State Sen. Jason Pizzo, who represents part of Broward and Miami-Dade counties, is in agreement with Republican and Democratic state officials in that the Great Outdoors initiative is “inconsistent with the philosophy and ethos and use” of the state parks, he said.
He pointed out that state park lands would be alluring to developers because they could bypass land-acquisition costs. Currently, it’s unclear if developers are tied to any of these proposals.
Kathy Moore, of Jupiter, protests in front of Jonathan Dickinson State Park on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel) About 150 people gathered at a rally outside Honeymoon Island State Park along the central Gulf coast, many carrying signs with slogans such as “Save Don’t Pave” and “Parks Over Profit.”
“It’s just contrary to what our parks are about,” said Democratic state Rep. Lindsey Cross prior to the rally. Plans at Honeymoon Island include pickleball courts to be constructed near its unspoiled sugar-sand beaches. “It’s a place to slow down, to reconnect with nature,” Cross said.
Bonnie Malloy, a senior attorney at the Earthjustice Florida Office, used to work for the DEP as an enforcement attorney and in-house counsel, largely while Rick Scott was the state’s governor.
“There’s a lot of smart, great people (at the DEP) that are trying to help protect the environment, and that doesn’t necessarily make the agenda at the end of the day,” she said, adding: “There’s a lot of direction that comes from the governor’s office.”
Information from The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.
Originally Published: August 27, 2024 at 6:54 p.m.
1 comment:
The GOP plays all this shit off when things like this happen. People get "in charge" and start running things up a flagpole to see if people salute. That's no way to do things. You do surveys and figure things out that way. This country has become stupid and authoritarian. It's not a functional democracy because of all the stupidity. Just no standards being enforced. Any Billy the Bamboozler can get into power and start doing stupid shit.
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