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Smart Growth or Planned Chaos: The Great Contradiction of Daniella Levine Cava. Words may sound reassuring, but reality is much harsher.
By News Miami Dade – Investigative Editorial
The article published by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava on July 24, 2025, titled “At a Crossroads for the Future of Miami-Dade County”, tries to sell the idea of a government concerned about the environment, housing, and sustainability. But the facts tell another story.
While concepts like “smart growth” and “environmental protection” are promoted, the truth is that the mayor and the 13 commissioners have supported, with their votes, the conversion of countless acres of agricultural land into residential zones. Currently, there are multiple projects already approved and many more in process to continue this trend. At the same time, there’s a tendency to prioritize ornamental and high-profile projects over the county’s basic needs, which has contributed to pushing Miami-Dade into a critical financial situation, with a historic $403 million deficit.
💰 Balanced Budget or Financial Make-Up?
Just days after publishing her defense of “smart growth,” Mayor Levine Cava presented the proposed budget for fiscal year 2025-26. The official narrative is clear: “a fair and balanced plan,” “protection of critical services,” and “an unchanged tax rate,” all this despite a projected $402 million deficit. Words sound reassuring, but reality is much harsher.
The administration itself recognizes a “perfect storm of fiscal challenges”: new state-mandated constitutional offices, loss of federal and state funds, rising operating costs, and increasing demand for public services. However, what is not openly stated is that much of this chaos is a direct result of decisions made in recent years: accelerated rezonings, mega ornamental projects without social impact, superfluous spending, and lack of effective control over growth and the budget.
Even though executive pay cuts and department consolidations are announced, most of the deficit falls on services that affect all residents. Added to this is the sale and “optimization” of public assets to fill holes, instead of real change in management.
And who decides the future of this budget? The same commissioners responsible for supporting the loss of hundreds of acres of farmland and prioritizing concrete over rural life, sustainability, and orderly planning.
Critical Analysis: What They Don’t Tell You About the “Fair Budget”
The $403 or $402 million deficit is not the result of chance or fate: it reflects years of mismanagement, misplaced priorities, and complacency with special interests.
Supposed government efficiency does not translate into better services: thousands of vacant structures remain unrestored, projects in rural and environmentally sensitive areas continue to be approved, and residents pay higher insurance premiums due to increased flood-prone and contaminated areas.
The rhetoric of “protecting essential services” clashes with the reality of substandard animal shelters, mobility chaos, abandoned agricultural communities, and the negative impact on Section 8 housing assistance and other vulnerable populations.
Transparency remains a debt: Public hearings are scarce, with only 60 seconds to raise questions and suggestions—later questionable—and citizens worry about possible lawsuits and reprisals. Most relevant decisions, in many cases without review by any committee, are made behind closed doors, far from real public participation.
Between Propaganda and Reality
Neither editorials full of promises nor last-minute budgets can hide the result: Miami-Dade is on the brink of financial and environmental collapse due to years of wrong decisions and lack of planning. The administration may gloss over the numbers, but cannot hide the deterioration of rural life, the displacement of working families, or the growing mistrust of residents.
True smart growth begins by listening to the people, respecting the land, restoring what exists, and acting with honesty and responsibility. Miami-Dade doesn’t need more speeches: it needs a change of direction now. #ActionsNotWords
A Betrayal of the Elderly and the Farmers
The most vulnerable are paying the price:
- Seniors forced to sell due to tax and speculative pressure.
- Farmers displaced by the advance of developments that destroy what little remains of rural Miami-Dade.
- farmers and working families with decades of farming and cattle-raising, now cornered between ambiguous laws and institutional silence.
This image is the x-ray of a silent emergency in Miami-Dade: dozens of agricultural and rural lands are in the process of Zoning Hearing, the last step before allowing zoning changes. If approved, these lands can go from agriculture or green areas to urban, commercial, or multifamily developments.
Why is this alarming?
Because each highlighted square is a parcel at risk of losing its agricultural use and becoming concrete.
It reflects an open-door policy to development without sustainable planning or real protection for producers and traditional residents.
The map shows how the county is allowing, at an accelerated pace, the irreversible transformation of its rural and ecological heritage.
Do you see this map? Each box “in Zoning Hearing” is a piece of our agricultural land on the edge. Dozens of rezoning requests move forward quietly. If we don’t react, if the community does not rise up, in a few years Miami-Dade will lose forever its agricultural character and its ability to feed its own people.
The interests of concrete and speculation advance with the approval of those who should protect us. Wake up, Miami-Dade! Every public hearing is an opportunity to say NO to the disappearance of our rural lands.
A Government Entrenched in Power
The same commissioners who have allowed this chaos have been in office for years, even decades. And the longer they remain, the less effective and more corruptible they become. Unlimited tenure ends up creating networks of influence that no longer respond to the citizens, but to the interests of developers, lobbyists, and hidden agendas.
What Solution Do We Propose?
- Immediate freeze of all rezonings outside the UDB or inside questionable areas.
- Mandatory rehabilitation of abandoned structures before allowing new construction.
- Public and independent audit of the $403 million deficit.
- Real protection of agricultural lands with a record of protected agricultural property.
- Review and revocation of public contracts signed without bidding or that caused harm.
- Total political renewal with term limits for commissioners.
- Binding citizen participation in changes to the CDMP.
The mayor can write all the articles she wants. She can decorate them with promises, figures, and intentions. But the reality we residents of Miami-Dade live cannot be made up. It cannot be solved with PR or biased surveys.
The damage is already done: destroyed agricultural lands, historic deficit, administrative corruption, and a disillusioned population. But there is still time to correct the course. And it starts by recognizing who is responsible.
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