Miami-Dade County

Protest planned for Walmart near pine rockland

By Jenny Staletovich

jstaletovich@MiamiHerald.com

Sunset over rock pinelands in Everglades National Park in 1997. Endangered pineland has shrunk to just two percent of its historic territory outside the park. Last year, a Palm Beach County developer bought part of the largest intact tract near Zoo Miami and plans on building a Walmart-anchored shopping center and apartments.
Sunset over rock pinelands in Everglades National Park in 1997. Endangered pineland has shrunk to just two percent of its historic territory outside the park. Last year, a Palm Beach County developer bought part of the largest intact tract near Zoo Miami and plans on building a Walmart-anchored shopping center and apartments. Tim Chapman Miami Herald Staff

Hoping to “shame” University of Miami officials who sold land including endangered pine rockland to a developer building a Walmart-anchored shopping center and apartments, critics are bringing their protests to the university’s front gates.

The Miami Pine Rocklands Coalition is planning to rally between 3 and 6 p.m. Friday near the university’s main entrance at U.S. 1 and Stanford Drive in Coral Gables. Dubbed “Buy it Back/Shame on U,” organizers hope to build on the efforts of a January rally near the proposed Walmart off Coral Reef Drive that drew about 700 protesters.

A second protest is planned outside Government Center on March 3 when county commissioners will consider declaring the area blighted. The designation is needed to create a community redevelopment agency for the project and proposed Miami Wilds amusement park.

This story was originally published February 23, 2015 at 2:47 PM with the headline "Protest planned for Walmart near pine rockland."

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