Miami, FL
Miami Seaquarium offers Local 10 exclusive tour to display ‘investments’ as deadline to vacate nears
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – For the first time since Miami-Dade County told its tenant — Miami Seaquarium operator The Dolphin Company — that it needs to vacate the Virginia Key site by April 21 amid mounting animal welfare concerns, Local 10 News is getting a look inside.
Edwin Gonzalez, the company’s U.S. parks executive director, showed reporter Christina Vazquez around the park Friday.
“You are going to see some of the investments we have been making,” he said.
He showed improvements he said the company has been making to floating decks, cages and more.
“All of these decks over here that you see, all those floating decks, was about a $200,000 investment we made,” Gonzalez said.
He said the repair work underway takes time given the degree of disrepair the aging facility was in at the time The Dolphin Company took over the lease a little more than two years prior.
Take, for example, the whale bowl.
“The county has said that this is an unsafe structure,” Vazquez told Gonzalez.
“Correct,” Gonzalez said. “We have already requested a permit for demolition. It starts with fencing and from there we get the demolition permit and they knock it down.”
Gonzalez said the whale bowl was in a state of disrepair when the company acquired the facility.
“We ended up investing nearly $2 million in this whale bowl but when we came in, we had to put in a new water system, filtration system (when taking care of famed orca Lolita),” Gonzalez said. “You are going to see the famous whale bowl where Lolita was and you will notice it is old, it is closed, no one can go in because one of the concerns with Dade County is it is an unsafe structure.”
The county, citing U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection reports that document a series of repeat violations, is pressing forward in its lease termination process.
Miami-Dade Chief Operations Officer Jimmy Morales said if the company is still on the premises on April 21, the county will evict it.
“Folks can rest assured the commitment of the mayor and the administration to try to do right by the animals there and the community,” Morales said. “We are going to follow the law and hopefully get to the point that we are able to evict them and then plot a new future for what will happen there but, most importantly, make sure the animals are properly taken care of whether there or somewhere else.”
Gonzalez said executives with the The Dolphin Company have been trying to meet with county officials to “show everything we are doing to fix the park.”
Self-described “dolphin defender” Ric O’Barry, a former trainer at the park, plans to hold a demonstration at the park in support of county leaders Sunday to celebrate Miami-Dade becoming “animal cruelty free.”
He said the industry has gotten “completely out of control.”
“It means a great deal to me to know that the Seaquarium is finally closing,” O’Barry said.
Gonzalez said the company is staying put.
“We are going to fight to stay because we love this place, we love the animals,” he said.
The Seaquarium plans to hold an Earth Day event on April 22 — one day after the day they are supposed to vacate the premises.
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A group of Miami residents has filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump and the state of Florida over a land giveaway for his proposed presidential library.
Almost three acres of prime waterfront land that once belonged to Miami Dade College (MDC) was illegally gifted to the US president by Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, the lawsuit states.
It cites the domestic emoluments clause of the US constitution that prohibits a sitting president from receiving any personal gain, profit or advantage from their position.
The action was brought in US district court for the southern district of Florida by the Washington DC-based Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC) on behalf of plaintiffs including an MDC student, a Miami non-profit, and residents, who state the land “is no longer available to serve MDC’s student community and downtown Miami”.
Instead, the filing states, “the land will house a Trump hotel that brings riches to the President”.
Plans for the “gaudy” project were unveiled in March, to be built next to Miami’s iconic Freedom Tower, the historical landmark and community art museum. A giant golden statue of the president will stand before a 50-story tower block that will feature the controversial $400m Boeing “flying palace” jumbo jet gifted to him by Qatar, but not yet in service, in its cavernous lobby.
At the time, Trump said the building was “most likely going to be a hotel”.
The land on which it will sit, the lawsuit said, is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
“Rather than prevent President Trump from using the gifted land for personal gain, Florida … required that the conveyed land include only ‘components of a Presidential library, museum, and/or center’, leaving the door open for the President to develop the property in any way he sees fit,” the CAC said in a statement.
The library has already been the subject of one lawsuit that claimed MDC trustees, most of them handpicked by DeSantis, erred by originally handing the land to the state in September during an unadvertised meeting with no public discussion.
The board held a do-over in December, and voted unanimously to proceed with the transfer.
The Guardian has contacted the Trump Presidential Library Foundation and DeSantis’s office for comment.
To no one’s surprise, FC Cincinnati and Inter Miami CF engaged in a scorefest May 13 at TQL Stadium.
A hat trick by one of the best goalscorers in the history of the game, Lionel Messi, sparked Miami to a 5-3 win. Miami scored three times from the 79th minute on to come from behind.
A sellout crowd of 25,513 witnessed the showdown, the club’s sixth home sellout of the season.
FC Cincinnati falls to 4-5-4, staying at 16 points, taking its first loss since April 4 at Red Bull New York. Miami improves to 7-2-4 for 25 points, improving to 7-1-1 on the road this season. Miami moved into second place in the Eastern Conference behind Nashville. Cincinnati started the night tied for fifth but could drop depending on games later on.
Second half highlights as FC Cincinnati squandered a late lead
Cincinnati took a 3-2 lead in the 64th minute.
Evander fired a rocket from the top of the 18 into the top left corner. Deneky passed ahead to him, then he maneuvered around two defenders, and no one stepped up to him. It is Evander’s seventh goal of the season.
Miami tied it in the 80th minute, 3-3.
After a Cincy turnover, Rodrigo De Paul quickly found Messi in transition, who delivered to Mateo Silvetti. Silvetti, playing his first game in a month, maneuvered in space and scored from the top of the box for his fourth of the season.
Miami took a 4-3 lead in the 83rd. A Messi free kick from 35 yds was saved by Cincy keeper Roman Celentano. He collided with Andrei Chirila, which knocked the ball out of his hands. Miami’s German Berterame pounced on the rebound to give Miami the lead, his fourth goal of the season.
Chirila landed hard after the collision and was taken out of the game.
Miami took a 5-3 lead when Messi made a sliding shot after a cross from Silvetti. The ball went off the post, then off Roman Celentano, who was on his stomach trying to get the ball, then in. Messi was credited with the goal and a hat trick.
FC Cincinnati took a 2-1 lead in the 49th minute.
Pavel Bucha scored from close range. He took a crossing pass from Bryan Ramirez after Denkey found him on the left side in transition.
It was Bucha’s second goal of the MLS season and the second assist for Ramirez. Bucha was hit in the head late in the first half and examined by trainers, but stayed in the game.
Moments later, Messi had a free kick from 30 yards saved by Celentano.
Messi scored again in the 56th minute to tie it, 2-2. He had a nice give-and-go with Rodrigo De Paul, who dribbled near the end line and crossed to him from the right side. Messi was unmarked and scored easily from near the penalty spot.
In the 62nd minute, Luis Suarez missed an open shot that Celentano saved, set up by a quick transition by Miami.
Miami ended with 17 shots to 10 for Cincinnati, six on target. After an even first half, Miami controlled the expected-goals mark, with 4 to 1.6 for the home team.
First half highlights
Messi scored from close range in the 24th off a turnover by Matt Miazga. Miazga tried to pass to a teammate on the side but the pass went straight to Messi.
He had a goal in the fifth minute waved off by offsides.
In the 32nd minute, Cincinnati won a corner kick, which Evander placed right in front of the goal line but the ball was cleared away.
In the 42nd minute, a Kevin Denkey penalty kick tied it up. Denkey drew the PK after collecting a good pass into the box by Pavel Bucha and being grabbed by Gonzalo Lujan. Denkey converted for his team-high eighth goal of the season.
The first half was tied 1-1 and virtually even on statistics. Both sides had seven shots, one on goal, and 1.1 expected goals. Neither keeper made a save.
What’s next for FC Cincinnati?
Cincinnati heads to the West Coast to play San Diego FC 9:30 p.m. Saturday, May 16. It is the first meeting between the teams. San Diego, 3-5-4 for 13 points, was set to play Austin later May 13. Cincinnati will leave for California on May 14.
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