Dear Editor:
On Tuesday January 14, I attended a meeting at Miami’s City Hall where a discussion about amendments to Miami’s Tree Ordinance took place with only one of our five commissioners deeming this issue important enough to show up.
This fact, in and of itself, should be alarming to anyone living in Miami, but at this point we have become so numb to the chicanery of our elected officials we barely notice that a convicted felon is now the President of our country and a man who violated the rights of the owners of one of the most historic bars in Miami because they chose to support an opposing candidate (thus costing Miami taxpayers about $12 million) is still allowed to sit on our City Commission.
Of course, Joe Carollo, the commissioner in question, did not attend the tree ordinance meeting. Damian Pardo of District 2 led the proceedings and tried his best to keep the angry residents from storming the capitol, as it were.
And why were the residents angry? Well, Frank Castaneda, the chief of staff for Commissioner Gabela, said in his opening remarks that a homeowner wanting to build a pool, who had a mango tree in the way, faced a big problem. Or a home owner who had a tree that was damaging the foundation of their house faced a big problem.
In case anyone was concerned about where Castaneda stood on the issue of trees and how important they are to this city and our planet, there was your answer.
Of course, these opening remarks were just the tip of the idiotic iceberg because our city officials then quickly ran through the new tree ordinance, explaining none of the possible ramifications and leaving most residents in the dark, a place we see increasingly little of as one property after another in Coconut Grove is sold to developers and virtually every tree that isn’t an Oak is removed and we get to witness just how much concrete is needed to build a 5,000-square-foot box that will require untold amounts of energy to keep its homeowners cool in a world that is now the hottest in recorded history.
As one resident after another stood to voice their dismay at an ordinance that will make our community less livable, I couldn’t help but think that this is how we got ourselves into this environmental disaster in the first place, by making the choice time and time again to prioritize money over mother nature.
Isn’t this really what this is all about? A swimming pool versus a mango tree? I still marvel at the example. First of all, because a mango tree in Miami has no protection under our current ordinance and, secondly, what benefit does a swimming pool have for our community or the wider world?
In most cases, swimming pools in Coconut Grove are created to add monetary value to a property that is being developed. Again, it’s money over mother nature. And once these pools are built, how many of them are actually used in an area known for its tree canopy so leaves are continually falling into said pool and mosquitos are also a continual presence?
The real issue here and the elephant in Miami’s room is not just the fact that the chief of staff of one of our absent commissioners doesn’t even understand that a mango tree is not protected under the current tree ordinance, it’s zoning.
About 30% of a residential property is currently set aside for planting, but this hasn’t stopped developers from installing plastic grass or pool decks, thus making this 30% even more negligible.
It’s hard not to look at all of this and scratch your head at just how misguided and unintelligent and, in some cases, criminal, our commissioners are. God help us.
Michael Langlois