Key Biscayne environmentalists are mobilizing after learning that the Biscayne Nature Center, a nonprofit that educates thousands of Miami children each year about coastal ecology, is being evicted from its building in Crandon Park. They have launched a petition drive demanding a reversal of the decision by the County parks department.
The center’s two-story building was paid by donations and a state grant, and was gifted to the Miami-Dade school district after starting inside a hot dog stand in 1969. It is named after environmental pioneer Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who helped transform the center and whose statue is nearby. It features a collection of artifacts and a saltwater aquarium and a “touch tank” popular with young visitors.
The eviction decision was communicated to the center’s executive director last month — but apparently had no review from either the school district or Raquel Regalado, the District 7 commissioner and a former school board member herself…