A new twist on agriculture land use - Forgo beans for buried bodies. By Youbetcha'

Only in Miami Dade County can there be a zoning request for agricultural zoning in order to plant a crop of people in caskets.

Apparently, if the developers can’t build houses on Ag land, they will still get the homeowners any way they can: Dead or Alive.

Coming up on October 4 is the fourth attempt at rezoning a large parcel of land from GU to AG out in the far west side of the Kendall area. Setting aside the obvious misuse of the Ag zoning, the issue with a proposed cemetery inside the UDB is generating some grassroots concerns in West Kendall. While researching the issue, I noticed the puzzling finding that Patricia "Shannen" Davis has never filed her final campaign report, even though the election results were certified in August 2010. That's more than a year ago.

A review of Shannen’s campaign donations reveals that it is loaded with land use attorneys (see report left) and it appears she gave some of the money back and then took money back again in one case. She clearly had expenses as she passed out palm cards during early voting. Those familiar with county campaigns suggested her palm cards showed a strong similarity to those used in other 2010 campaigns in which Jose Luis Castillo was involved. Additionally, people familiar with the last election say Castillo acted as her "campaign manager." He worked on Lynda Bell's campaign and is a Natacha Seijas confidant. I note that campaign managers are trusted advisers to their candidates and it is worth tracking what candidate uses which campaign manager. Castillo reportedly has a role in the agricultural cemetery application. Also having roles in this application are Jeffrey Bercow sidekicks, EAS Engineering's Ed Swakon and bushy-haired Transportation woman, Kathy Sweetapple. All three participated in support of the Parkland mega-large DRI application. Again, I was told that Castillo was involved in Parkland as well.

Some onlookers began questioning the Castillo-Davis relationship during the long drawn-out Walmart expansion application. Castillo was present at some of those council meetings and handled council person Jay Reichbaum's failed Council run in 2008. It may be scary to some to have a lobbyist like Castillo lurking in the Community Council 11 chambers. It is worth noting that while this community council has been dysfunctional and full of questionable players from its origin, there are some very principled people who are associated with it. As I have watched many community councils over the years, I can say that this board never has struck me as anti-development. So in retrospect, the lobbyists and ‘community people’ with pro-development agendas hanging out at the meetings is no surprise. I think in all quasi-judicial proceedings with government officials it is what may be going on behind the curtain (which we don’t see) that is truly the part that matters. Back to that missing report. How could an experienced elected official forget to file her reports? Could it be that she didn't file a campaign report because it was going to raise questions with the community activists regarding connections to Castillo and his work with land use attorneys on Krome Gold and other active applications? We will never know if she doesn’t file her close-out report.

That being said, observers may have a valid point when they claim this campaign filing issue doesn't pass the smell test and that former candidate Shannon Davis should be hit with fines for the missing report. The Department of Elections is asleep at the switch again, allowing for questions to arise where none should be. They say we, the public, have to report the problems, they don't go looking for them. The link to the back-story.