Local Miami Politician Pepe Diaz: supports wasteful, destructive spending ... by Guest Blogger

Miami-Dade County Comissioner Pepe Diaz wants $75 million federal dollars for Port of Miami dredging even after President Obama kept the dredging funds out of his budget. The dredging is highly controversial, but local pork'ers are attempting to use environmental agencies to support environmental destruction. Diaz recently asked the South Florida Ecosystem Task Force to support the dredging that inevitably rips out sea grasses and marine life. Diaz told Miami Today that he spoke to Assistant Secretary of the Army Rock Salt who assured him he would do what he could to support the Port dredging. He also told Miami the paper that Greg May, executive director of the Ecosystem Restoration Task Force and Corps District Commander Todd Semonite were supporting the port dredging.

Although the Task Force's mission is to "Restore the Everglades," not to lobby for the destruction of marine life in Biscayne Bay, Diaz takes his anti-environmental views wherever anyone will listen. Diaz, who has served as the local representative on the Task Force-- appearing infrequently-- once commented at a Task Force meeting on a picture of housing developments abutting the Everglades in Broward County, improperly permitted in the 1980s, and said that this was a perfect balance between housing and the environment and something he'd like to see happen in Miami-Dade. Mr. Diaz also obstructed Miami-Dade County from lobbying for the Everglades Skyway, an elevated roadway over Tamiami Trail that is needed to restore fresh water to the Everglades and save Miami-Dade's water supply. He was the main instigator of a plan to put a new off road vehicle park at the former Jet Port in the Big Cypress Preserve in a time when the Miami-Dade Parks Department was slashing services and personnel in its existing parks. Meanwhile Miami Today has also reported today that Miami will benefit from increased port traffic without the port dredging. Pepe Diaz: another Miami Dade County Commissioner who relies on campaign contributors from outside his district to do politics that damage Miami Dade County. http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/110224/story2.shtml
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