Resolution to stop the Everglades prison.
No airports. No rock mines. No prisons. No incinerators. Only Everglades.
The stated mission of the Village of Islamorada Council calls for us to “preserve our community; its people, natural resources, and pride.”
So, in preserving our natural resources, it is our job to speak out in opposition to a hastily constructed 5,000-person detention camp in the heart of the environmentally sensitive Everglades.
As a backcountry fishing guide I witnessed firsthand just how fragile our waters are when 40,000 acres of seagrass suddenly died off ten years ago in Florida Bay.
For decades we’ve fought for Everglades restoration because the storied “River of Grass” is the backbone of our local economy. In fact, a recent study by the Everglades Foundation found the Everglades contributes “$31.5 billion to real estate, tourism, and other sectors of the local economy” and “over the next 50 years, that value will add up to more than $1 trillion.”
That’s why I am introducing a resolution that, if adopted by the Village Council, will urge “the State of Florida to immediately suspend the operation of the Alligator Alcatraz Facility.”
The resolution states the "construction and operation of the Alligator Alcatraz Facility has been undertaken without meaningful environmental impact studies and has the potential to cause damage and disruption to the critical wetlands and wildlife habitat, with the potential for causing harm to the Everglades and Florida Bay, upon which the economy of the Village of Islamorada (Village”) is so dependent..."
Further, it calls on Florida to "identify and select an alternative more suitable location and environment for the construction and operation of a detention facility."
So, we need your voice at the next Village Council meeting, Tuesday, July 22nd, 5:30pm, Founders Park Community Center, 87000 Overseas Highway, Islamorada.
If you cannot attend, you can always watch on YouTube.
We launched our campaign last year vowing to protect our waters and guard against overdevelopment. Well, a hurried tent encampment in the middle of the Everglades will harm our local waters, so we must act upon that vow!
Once again, it's #NowOrNeverglades.
Stay vigilant,
Capt. Steve Friedman
Village of Islamorada councilman
Everglades updates:
All eyes are on the Everglades.
In a staggering series of events that began unfurling four weeks ago, the state of Florida joined forces with the federal government to build a massive detention center in the middle of Big Cypress National Preserve.
Pavement has been laid. Industrial lighting installed. Endangered species habitat encroached upon. Tribal communities disrupted. Construction is continuing. All without a single environmental study. — Eve Samples, Friends of the Everglades
As Alligator Alcatraz adds more pavement, environmentalists add to legal complaints, Miami Herald
... “With each passing day, we see visible environmental impacts on this site. We are very concerned and filed this additional legal action to ensure the law is being complied with,” said Eve Samples, head of Friends of the Everglades... Aerial photography revealed fresh patches of asphalt, including several short stretches of roads and an 11-acre patch of new blacktop. The lawsuit accuses the state and federal government of failing to get the proper permits to “dredge and fill” those formerly open, grassy areas...
Does Alligator Alcatraz have ‘zero impact’ on Everglades? | Fact check, Tampa Bay Times
... Gov. DeSantis did not provide evidence showing how state agencies or officials determined the facility has zero environmental impact...
Alligator Alcatraz may see up to 50 mph winds, hail from thunderstorms, Miami Herald
... “Seek shelter in a safe building until the storm passes,” forecasters wrote. Alligator Alcatraz is comprised of tents and trailers... Hundreds of people are already being detained...
More water news: Restrictive SB 180 signed into law.
Legislature’s latest gift to developers, The News-Journal
... Florida legislators passed a bill (SB180) that was supposed to be about hurricane recovery... but it somehow turned into a measure to forbid local governments from getting in the way of developers. Smooth move, Florida legislators...
... Under the cover of aiding disaster recovery, the bill, recently signed into law by Ron DeSantis, prohibits counties and municipalities listed in the federal disaster declarations for Hurricanes Debby, Helene or Milton (most of the state, really) from adopting building moratoriums or passing more restrictions on their land development regulations and comprehensive plans. All retroactive back to Aug. 1, 2024, and extending to Oct. 1, 2027. A moratorium on moratoriums. A restriction on restrictions.
Rural development boundaries to address sprawl and flooding? Can’t do those. Take it back, Orange County. Enacting building moratoriums to give areas time to study flood patterns and react accordingly? Absolutely not. Higher impact fees? No. New wetland buffers? You have to be kidding. New stormwater rules to make neighborhoods more resilient? Sounds suspiciously “restrictive or burdensome.” Developers could sue and get taxpayers to pay their lawyers...
... I don’t know why Florida voters keep electing and re-electing candidates with Tallahassee-knows-best attitudes and a disregard for the communities that sent them to the capital. The locals know there’s a problem here with runaway growth in the wrong places, but they sure don’t vote like it. — Mark Lane
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Kionne McGhee (D) proposes trash incinerator at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport site.
According to the Eco Preservation Project, Commissioner McGhee said: “Well, if the state and federal government have already decided that that site may be used for other purposes, then we should consider it as well...”
