Walmart wants to pave over Miami's endangered forest lands

Legendary Miami investigative reporter Al Sunshine, is covering this Walmart fight as a neighbor and activist in the fight to preserve a slice of south Florida's ecological heritage from destruction. Regrettably, the University of Miami decided to sell this tract to Walmart for a tremendous profit, after procuring the land for free from the Federal Government. Walmart is seeking to pave over a tract just west of ZooMiami called "one of the world’s rarest forests, a section of Miami-Dade County’s last intact tracts of endangered pine rockland" according to Jenny Staletovich of the Miami Herald in her original report on July 13th, 2014: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/12/4232296/walmart-planned-for-endangered.html There are currently two petitions circulating, both aiming to stop Walmart from locating a SuperCenter on top of these irreplaceable lands - which have endangered species habitats found Only in Miami. http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/save-the-endangered-forest.fb47 http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/o/2167/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=16224 If you want to question your local elected Miami-Dade County officials or the planning offices, Al Sunshine prepared this open letter, filled with questions and concerns. Re: University of Miami South Campus Re-Zoning/Walmart project Dear Miami-Dade Lawmakers, Did anyone in Planning/Derm/Dade County Govt. know this was a critically endangered habit for almost extinct animals and plants? If NOT, was the environmental evaluation used to rezone the site even legitimate and sufficient to proceed with the project? I see Miami-Dade records that a UM Environmental Evaluation of the South Campus Site was first submitted back around 2004. Wouldn't there have to be a newer than 10 year old document needed to rezone the property in 2014? There's been Federal Litigation for years asking that these Rockland Pine Strands be protected because of endangered animals there. Did anyone in the County even know about these concerns? Did the University of Miami disclose the unique environmental concerns on that site and the possibility it was about to be Federally-Declared Endangered Habitat? Did Miami Dade Commissioners have enough current information to make an informed decision on rezoning this unique endangered habitat to convert the use into yet another high density strip mall project?