Developer
reaped millions for biotech park never built
Under
the watch of local government, a
By
Jason Grotto
jgrotto@miamiherald.com
On
a muggy day in June 2005, some of
Donning
hard hats and armed with shovels, they stood in the middle of the shadeless
lot, posing for pictures in front of a large lithograph portraying
state-of-the-art buildings, tidy lawns and streets lined with palm
trees.
There,
in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the country, developer Dennis
Stackhouse promised to build a massive biopharmaceutical park, where
multinational drug companies and prestigious universities would develop
cutting-edge medical advances and
StackhouseMore
than 1,500 high-paying jobs would follow, along with hundreds of
millions in investments and tax revenue -- enough to make it the most
dramatic economic development project ever seen in Miami-Dade.
This
''is exactly the kind of job-producing investment that we have needed in
Liberty City for decades,'' said U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, a champion of
Liberty City and one of the park's most vocal supporters.
Since
then, county leaders have invested millions in Stackhouse's biotech
project, using public money set aside to help the poor.
Here
is what taxpayers received in return: empty lots, dormant earthmovers
and piles of dirt and gravel with no sign of the buildings, the biotech
companies or the high-tech jobs promised to
Instead,
Stackhouse diverted more than $500,000 from the park through double
billings and dubious expenses while paying a bevy of political insiders
to rally support for the troubled project, a seven-month Miami Herald
investigation found.
Among
those insiders: former congresswoman Carrie Meek, who received at least
$40,000 and a free luxury car from Stackhouse to consult on the project
while her son -- U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek -- moved to secure federal
dollars for the developer; and County Commissioner Dorrin
Rolle, who landed thousands in campaign cash
and a $10,000 donation to a nonprofit he runs.
Along
the way, county leaders failed to detect questionable spending,
overlooked chronic delays and neglected to vet the developer's track
record -- even while
POVERTY
AGENCY'S ROLE EMPOWERMENT TRUST HAD OVERSIGHT POWER
Poinciana
chartsAt the center of the county's
breakdowns lies the Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust, a county-funded
nonprofit that oversees the biotech park while holding a 5 percent
interest in the deal.
The
trust was supposed to monitor Stackhouse's spending and file progress
reports and audited financial statements with the county. But it has yet
to produce a single report or track how Stackhouse used the public's
money.
The
first phase of the
Today,
the only progress at Poinciana is the beginnings of the five-story
garage going up in a neighborhood where many families can't afford cars.
Potential cost to taxpayers: $23 million.
Thousands
of pages of court records, county documents, internal e-mails, bank
records and canceled checks obtained by The Miami Herald show the
ambitious plan has placed millions of tax dollars and acres of public
land at risk while setting back the revitalization of Liberty City for
years.
Among
the newspaper's findings:
•
After the county spent millions preparing one of its last open stretches
of public land for development, the trust gave Stackhouse's company
control over half of it for 75 years -- then
allowed him to use the land as collateral for a $4.2 million private
loan while paying just $1,500 a month in rent.
•
A year later, the trust provided Stackhouse's company with a $3 million
interest-free county loan despite the developer's financial record,
which is marred by foreclosures, liens, and a bankruptcy totaling more
than $20 million.
•
Once he had access to the county's money, Stackhouse diverted more than
$500,000 from the project by submitting more than 40 bills to the trust
that had already been paid with the private loan, including construction
expenses, architectural fees and property taxes.
In
one case, he turned in the same $26,000 invoice three times --
collecting a total of $78,000 from the trust.
•
Stackhouse pitched the project to local leaders by claiming
multinational companies and world-class universities would lease
thousands of square feet and employ hundreds of people.
But
most of the tenants touted by Stackhouse told The
•
In fact, the only biotech firm committed to moving into the park is a
But
MediVector is little more than a small
consulting firm run by one of Stackhouse's longtime business partners
from a 300-square-foot office in Cambridge.
''I'm
just so disappointed,'' said Carrie Meek, who acknowledges she received
money, a car and rent-free office space for her foundation from
Stackhouse. ``I saw this project as a great opportunity for the
community.''
Kendrick
Meek said he did not know his mother was provided money and perks from
Stackhouse. The congressman said his mother never approached him about
funding the project with federal dollars and that his support is based
on the community's needs.
''We
want to assist any project that is going to create jobs and
opportunities,'' he said.
DEVELOPER'S
THOUGHTS HE PLACES
Stackhouse
proposalStackhouse defends the project,
saying the park will bring much-needed jobs and investments to
He
denied any wrongdoing and said the double billing could have been a
clerical error.
''If
it were $500,000 -- and I doubt that it is -- what is that? Five percent
of what's been spent?'' he said.
Although
he told the County Commission he had big-name tenants lined up for the
park, Stackhouse told The Miami Herald the list is not firmed up: ``Who
the ultimate mix of tenants are remains to be seen.''
The
trust also defends the project. ''We still feel strongly, 100 percent
behind this project,'' said Chief Executive Officer Aundra
Wallace.
When
fully built, Stackhouse said, the
Yet,
unlike Scripps -- which received $310 million in start-up money from the
state and boasts 11 Nobel laureates on its board -- MediVector,
the park's anchor tenant, has never developed a drug on its own.
In
fact, the company received a $300,000 grant from the Empowerment Trust
in March just to write a business plan.
This
isn't the first time a Stackhouse company has landed county money to
bring the trendy biotech industry to a distressed area of Miami-Dade.
Three
years ago, one of his businesses received $2.2 million from the county
to buy medical equipment for an office building it was constructing in Opa-locka
that he said would lure a biotech firm to the job-hungry city.
The
name of the firm: MediVector.
But
MediVector never moved to Opa-locka,
and Stackhouse used the money instead to help with building costs and
pay down a construction loan.
Now
Stackhouse says MediVector will anchor the
biotech park in
REACTION
TO VIOLENCE BUSINESSES MOVED OUT; NEW ONES DIDN'T COME
Nearly
three decades ago, racial tensions in Miami-Dade erupted in a frenzy of
violence after the acquittal of four white police officers charged with
beating an unarmed black man to death.
In
the aftermath of the May 1980 riot, many businesses packed up and moved
to the suburbs, taking thousands of inner-city jobs with them.
To
reverse the trend, federal, state and local leaders promised to plant a
seed along
The
county spent millions of tax dollars building roads, installing
utilities and preparing the site for development. But to this day, the
After
more than a decade of failed attempts to revitalize Poinciana, the
It
was the trust's largest economic development project, but the poverty
agency never solicited bids to develop the site. Instead, the trust
began negotiations with Stackhouse in 2003 after he came forward with
his own proposal.
Although
there is no record of how the trust evaluated Stackhouse's plan, the
agency spent two years hashing out a deal with him.
During
that time, the trust also began to loosen its purse strings.
In
February 2005 -- three months before signing a formal deal -- the trust
put up $100,000 for predevelopment expenses. Three months later, it
leased Stackhouse 15 acres of county land in Poinciana for 75 years and
became a 5 percent partner in a company controlled by Stackhouse.
''It
was a vision we gave birth to, fought hard for and planned out over many
long days and nights,'' said Wallace, the chief executive officer of the
trust, in a February press release.
A
month after signing the lease, Stackhouse spent $10,000 on the
groundbreaking ceremony, which featured food, music and a large
air-conditioned tent.
OPTIMISTIC
APPROACH FIRST PHASE PROMISED FOR COMPLETION IN 2006
With
the Meeks, Rolle and other prominent county
leaders present, the event generated a flurry of press releases claiming
the first phase of the project -- three buildings and a parking garage
-- would be completed by the fall of 2006 and that more than 1,500 jobs
would follow.
''This
project creates real employment opportunities for our residents in
high-paying fields,'' said Rolle, whose
district includes the park.
Six
months after the groundbreaking, Stackhouse's company secured a $4.2
million loan by mortgaging its lease on the county's land to a Boston
real estate investment firm called Tremont Realty Capital.
Then,
last August, the trust gave Stackhouse's company a $3 million
interest-free loan to help build a 1,500-car parking garage.
As
the trust's point person on the Poinciana deal, Chief Financial Officer
Rodney Carey had the right to review how every dollar was spent on the
park. So did Chief Executive Officer Wallace.
In
fact, under its agreement with the county, the trust was supposed to
file progress reports and financial statements regularly.
But
the trust failed to submit a single report or monitor how Stackhouse
used public funds.
Wallace
defends the agency, saying, ``It's not like we don't know what's going
on with the project.''
Yet,
between August and December 2006, Stackhouse submitted dozens of
invoices to the trust that had already been submitted to Tremont.
The
bills totaled more than $500,000, according to invoices and requisitions
obtained by The Miami Herald.
His
company drew down nearly $200,000 in public money using invoices from
the contractor hired to build the parking garage -- even though records
show the bills had been paid months earlier
with the private loan.
He
did the same thing with $100,000 in architect fees, $15,000 in loan
fees, nearly $60,000 in engineering bills and even $17,000 in property
taxes.
When
asked by The Miami Herald about the double billing, Stackhouse said he
tried to track the invoices and payments but could not determine whether
he submitted bills to the trust that had already been paid.
''I'm
not saying it's not possible,'' Stackhouse said. ``As I sit here this
very second, I don't know.''
Wallace
and Carey, meanwhile, admit they never monitored how Stackhouse used the
private loan -- even though it was secured with county land -- and never
detected the duplicate bills.
Yet
there were discrepencies even with invoices
submitted only to the trust.
In
one case, Stackhouse triple-billed the trust for a $26,000 construction
management expense -- receiving $78,000 without paying the contractor.
Stackhouse
says the bill has since been paid.
The
trust also paid more than $80,000 in overhead expenses and
administrative fees without receipts, invoices or other supporting
documents.
An
additional $75,000 in project funds was drawn down using phony invoices
that Stackhouse's former assistant vice president for administration,
Carolina Misle, said she created on her
computer.
''Dennis
[Stackhouse] would come and ask me to do my magic when he needed
money,'' said Misle, who gathered the
information and submitted the bills to the trust and the private
investment firm.
The
invoices included the logo of Coa-Dal
Security, which was supposedly paid for guarding an empty lot.
But
company representative Mark Coats said the firm has never been paid.
''Not
one copper penny,'' he said.
In
fact, Coats said the company never even submitted invoices to
Stackhouse's company.
To
persuade the county to sign on to the project, Stackhouse said MediVector
would move its headquarters to
As
the driving force behind the project, MediVector
would lease tens of thousands of square feet in the park, according to
tenant lists submitted to the county.
Also
listed as prospective tenants: the multinational drug giant Wyeth
Pharmaceuticals, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an
Australian-based firm called the Brain Resource Company -- key
organizations giving the proposal instant credibility.
PROSPECTIVE
TENANTS 'ANCHOR' FIRM IS SMALL; OTHERS NOT INTERESTED
Double
billingBut in documents submitted to the
county, MediVector says it has just 15
employees -- which means the company would
have to grow tenfold to fulfill Stackhouse's promises to the county.
MediVector's
chief, Api Rudich,
would not comment.
A
spokeswoman for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, meanwhile, spent weeks trying to
find evidence of a deal involving Poinciana before giving up.
''To
the best of our knowledge, nothing formal has been signed with these
folks,'' said Wyeth's Angela Palmari, the
vice president of communications.
MIT's
Center for Biomedical Innovation showed interest in doing research at
the park, but Stackhouse claimed that MIT would employ 75 people and
lease thousands of square feet of office space.
''No,
that is not accurate,'' said Frank Douglas, the center's former
executive director, who resigned earlier this month.
Center
officials now say they won't be involved at all.
Stackhouse
also told the
''It's
not true, I'm afraid,'' said Mimma Mason,
Brain Resource's vice president of marketing.
``Our
head office will remain in
Stackhouse
could provide no documents confirming the company's interest in
''I
never spoke to the Brain Resource Company,'' Stackhouse told The Miami
Herald.
Meanwhile,
he made virtually no progress on the bricks-and-mortar side of the
equation, records show.
The
first phase of the park is slated to cost $125 million, and Stackhouse
has repeatedly told the county he has money lined up to pay for it.
He
told The Miami Herald last November that he had secured $60 million in
tax-exempt bonds -- but records show he applied for just $12.5 million
in 2003 and never got the money.
His
application has since expired.
At
a hearing before the
''We've
already been assured we'd have it, we're past that,'' Stackhouse told
commissioners.
It
turns out the grant is far from a sure thing. In fact, Stackhouse asked
Carrie Meek to go to
Triple
billingDespite the lack of financing, the
County Commission agreed in January to invest $23 million more in the
project by signing on to buy the parking garage that Stackhouse promises
to build in the next two years.
Cost
per space: nearly $15,000.
The
deal was approved by County Manager George Burgess and his top aides --
Assistant County Managers Cynthia Curry and Roger Carlton.
To
ensure taxpayers are not stuck with an empty garage and no other
buildings in place, Burgess and his staff say they put protections into
the contract to make sure the rest of the biotech park gets done.
''This
guy [Stackhouse] is not going to see the first penny of the county's
money until the thing is built,'' Burgess said.
Among
other things, those protections require Stackhouse's company to have
leases for 75 percent of one building and letters of intent for 100
percent of another.
The
county also will put $1.5 million into escrow until the buildings are
completed, and Stackhouse had to sign a personal guarantee that allows
the county to sue him directly if he doesn't get the job done.
But
less than six months later, some of those protections are breaking down.
Stackhouse
turned in the leases and letters of intent in February, but two of the
three documents are signed by Api Rudich
-- the president of MediVector.
According
to the records, MediVector and a company
called the
Yet
the trust's Wallace acknowledges that MediVector
is ``almost like a virtual company.''
The
The
third lease is signed by
The
new rent: $350,000 a year, or four times what it currently pays.
The
$1.5 million the county will keep in escrow is a fraction of the total
cost of the garage.
And
Stackhouse's personal guarantee?
The
Suffolk County Courthouse in
In
1998, Stackhouse told a judge he was insolvent and unemployed to avoid
paying a $225,000 judgment against him.
But
court records and canceled checks show he had been using business
accounts to pay for his son's boarding school and rent on a luxury condo
in downtown
DEVELOPER
QUESTIONED MOST COMMISSIONERS SUPPORT THE PROJECT
By
the time Stackhouse appeared before the
''We've
been burned a couple of times before,'' Gimenez
said.
In
the end, the commission voted 11-2 to purchase the garage, with
''We
will not let you down,'' said Commissioner Rolle.
``We
know it's a good deal for the inner city. We know it's a good deal for
the county.''
Stalled
Developer
Dennis Stackhouse received millions of taxpayer dollars after several
community leaders backed his plan for a
He
had no financing to build buildings, no tenants to fill them, and no
experience constructing the high-tech facilities required by
pharmaceutical companies to test and manufacture drugs.
What
he did have: an all-star lineup of lobbyists, lawyers, consultants and
politicians who drummed up support -- and, in some cases, millions of
public dollars -- for a biotech project in
His
roster includes a powerful county commissioner, a former chairman of the
state House Appropriations Committee, a board member of
As
the biotech park stalled and Stackhouse diverted more than $500,000 from
a county poverty agency through double billing and dubious expenses, he
spent hundreds of thousands on political insiders in
Former
U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, who has a street named after her just blocks from
the proposed park, received at least $40,000 from one of Stackhouse's
companies, a leased Cadillac Escalade and a 2,600-square-foot office for
her foundation, rent-free.
She
was paid as her son, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, requested millions of
federal dollars for the biotech project, congressional records show.
Lobbyists,
lawyers and consultants took in hundreds of thousands more.
Today,
the
''
Kendrick
Meek defended his involvement in the project, saying he grew up in the
neighborhood and supported the project because he believed it would
revive
He
said "there is absolutely no connection" between his efforts
to fund the project and his mother's involvement with Stackhouse.
''She's
never asked me -- and I will be very clear -- to do any appropriations
on behalf of the biotech park,'' he said.
Carrie
Meek said she is a private citizen and was paid by Stackhouse as a
consultant for the project.
She
said she never lobbied her son on behalf of the developer or had any
role in securing public money for the biotech park.
"I
did not ever discuss the biotech park . . . with my son," she said.
"I have been in public service for over 37 years and pride myself
on the fact that I have maintained my reputation and integrity
throughout my tenure."
Stackhouse
also said Carrie Meek had nothing to do with her son's requests for
federal dollars.
"It's
totally unrelated," he said. "Trust me."
As
a relative newcomer to Miami-Dade, Stackhouse benefited from an
abundance of access and credibility as he moved to secure acres of
public land and millions of tax dollars set aside to fight poverty.
Nothing
helps explain his success more than his relationship with Carrie Meek,
who spent a decade in Congress as one of
Meek
told The Miami Herald that her involvement in the biotech park began in
2003, when Stackhouse approached her to become a consultant. She said
her agreement with Stackhouse lasted until mid-2004.
''I
searched her out,'' Stackhouse said. ``In the inner city, depressed
areas, perception is nine-tenths of the battle. She's like Mother
Teresa.''
In
March 2004, Carrie Meek lent her name to a nonprofit created by
Stackhouse called the Carrie Meek Biopharmaceutical Institute.
Invoking
the name of the former congresswoman from
The
institute was supposed to be a partnership between
But
records and interviews show that the nonprofit exists only on paper,
with Stackhouse as the sole officer.
There
is no building. There are no students. And the institute hasn't trained
a single worker since it was created three years ago.
In
June 2005, Carrie Meek showed up at the park's lavish groundbreaking
ceremony.
''It's
no secret,'' Meek said at the event. ``The primary problem that has
plagued our
Since
then, however, nothing has been built, and the park is months behind
schedule.
Despite
the delays, Meek said she hadn't talked with Stackhouse in detail about
the project since the groundbreaking.
''I
am not involved in the day-to-day, week-to-week work,'' she said.
Then,
in April, Stackhouse approached her about traveling to
During
the meeting, Meek was direct: ``Governor, we'd like to ask you today
whether or not we can count on your support for this project.''
Crist
promised to review the deal and visit
Although
Meek does not appear as a consultant on any document related to the
project, bank records obtained by The Miami Herald show that a
Stackhouse company paid her at least $40,000 between February and
December 2004.
''I
briefly served as a paid consultant for Dennis Stackhouse, advising him
on community needs and issues, community-based groups and problems,''
she said.
For
the past two years, she has had the free use of a luxury car registered
to one of Stackhouse's companies, records show.
Meek
said the car is part of ''an in-kind contribution'' to her nonprofit,
the Carrie Meek Foundation.
Stackhouse,
however, said she needed the car to work on the biotech park.
Records
obtained by The Miami Herald show that he tried to pay for Meek's car
lease with project money from a private loan he received using county
land as collateral. But when he submitted the $3,998 car bill, the
lender refused to reimburse him for the expense.
That
prompted an exchange between Stackhouse's assistant vice president of
administration and the loan officer for the
''This
car is used by Congresswoman Meek, she is part of the BIOPHARMACEUTICAL
INSTITUTE as a tenant and liaison with Jackson Memorial, [Florida
A&M] & [Miami Dade College]. Why would this not be covered under
Public Relations?'' the bookkeeper wrote in a July 2006 e-mail.
The
loan officer provided a curt response: ``I know what it's for -- I can't
justify paying for her car!''
Canceled
checks show that Stackhouse used the biotech park's bank account to make
at least some of the lease payments.
Other
than the private loan, the only source of funding for Poinciana is a $3
million interest-free loan from the Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust, a
county-funded nonprofit poverty agency that is overseeing the biotech
park.
Stackhouse
acknowledged that he used project funds to pay for the car, saying, ``This
was a Poinciana [
Besides
money and cars, a Stackhouse company also provided the Carrie Meek
Foundation with free rent on a 2,600-square-foot office in his building
in Opa-locka, according to rent rolls
obtained by The Miami Herald and interviews with Meek and Stackhouse.
While
Carrie Meek received tens of thousands of dollars and a free car from
the developer, her son moved to secure millions of federal dollars for
the park. In 2004, Kendrick Meek obtained a $72,750 earmark in the
federal budget to fund the park -- six months before the county signed a
formal deal with Stackhouse.
The
congressman helped get a $1 million labor grant for Miami Dade College
in June 2005 to ''train 800 technicians and related workers for the
[Poinciana] Biopharmaceutical Park,'' according to a press release from
the congressman's office.
Then,
in April 2006, he requested $4 million in federal funds for Stackhouse's
project, according to appropriations requests obtained by The Miami
Herald.
Meek
failed to obtain the funds last year, but documents submitted by
Stackhouse to the county since then show that Meek has requested money
again this year.
Meek
said that the requests were handled by his staff and that his mother
held no sway in the efforts to get federal money for the park.
''There's
a lot going on in this office,'' he said. ``It's a staff-driven
process.''
In
Miami-Dade, Meek chaired a county anti-poverty task force that in 2004
loaned a Stackhouse company $2.2 million for the building it owns in Opa-locka
-- where the Carrie Meek Foundation receives free office space.
Kendrick
Meek said that he could not recall details of the loan from the Urban
Revitalization Task Force and that he never played a large role in the
organization. Records from task force meetings show that Meek didn't
vote on the loan and was not present when the loan was approved.
For
more than a year, Stackhouse has failed to make payments on the loan and
now his company owes the county more than $140,000, records show.
In
2005, the same task force awarded a different Stackhouse company another
$3 million loan, this one for the
The
task-force chairman at the time: Anthony Williams, Kendrick Meek's
former chief of staff and now executive director of the Carrie Meek
Foundation.
Because
Stackhouse has failed to deliver a single building for the park, he
hasn't drawn down that money. But the developer is still required to
make interest payments.
To
date, his company owes the county nearly $70,000 in late payments.
Between
the two loans, Stackhouse's companies now owe
Inside
County Hall, no one has been more vocal in pushing Stackhouse's troubled
project than County Commissioner Dorrin Rolle,
whose district includes the biopharmaceutical park.
Rolle
was the driving force behind the county's decision to purchase a $23
million parking garage for the park, although Stackhouse acknowledges
that he has no financing to pay for the buildings to go with it.
Rolle
even asked to move the deal through the commission a month early,
records show. ''The purpose of this request is to fast-track . . . this
project that substantially benefits District 2 and Miami-Dade Community
as a whole,'' Rolle wrote to commission
Chairman Bruno Barreiro in January.
Along
the way, Stackhouse, nine of his companies and three employees
contributed $8,000 to the commissioner's 2006 reelection campaign,
according to records and interviews.
In
May 2006, seven months before Rolle urged
fellow commissioners to support the parking garage, Stackhouse used
another $10,000 in project funds to make a donation to the nonprofit
agency headed by Rolle, the James E. Scott
Community Association.
''We've
been trying to develop Poinciana since I was knee-high to a
grasshopper,'' Rolle later told his fellow
commissioners.
Rolle
did not respond to repeated calls and an e-mail seeking comment.
Stackhouse
also spent more than $100,000 meant for the biopharmaceutical
park on lobbyists in
When
seeking a $20 million appropriation in the state budget during last
year's legislative session, for example, he paid thousands to the
This
time, he had five lobbyists promoting the biotech park -- including the
former chairman of the state House Appropriations Committee, Republican
Joe Negron of Stuart.
Five
months before applying for the money in January, Stackhouse used $10,000
in project funds to contribute to the Florida Republican Party,
according to campaign finance reports.
State
Rep. Adam Hasner, a Republican from
The
Legislature did not approve the request, so Stackhouse applied for a $20
million state grant and asked Meek in May to urge the governor to
support it. The application is pending.
According
to project records, no firm has made more money lobbying, consulting and
lawyering for the biotech park than the
Records
from the Stackhouse company developing the
park show that the law firm has received more than $250,000 in project
funds during the past four years.
As
many as a half-dozen Akerman lawyers have
lobbied state and local leaders, handled lawsuits against the developer,
and even fought a records request by the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission,
which was investigating an Opa-locka city
commissioner whose nonprofit received free rent in Stackhouse's building
while the commissioner voted to give his company tax breaks.
In
all, Stackhouse companies received commitments for nearly $30 million in
public money from county leaders since he began to push the biotech park
in 2003.
That
includes $23 million the
''This
little project that couldn't has turned doubters into believers,''
Commissioner Rolle said after the vote.
Drought
a welcome reprieve for rivers
By
RACHEL SIMMONSEN
Monday,
June 25, 2007
On
land, the drought means shrinking ponds and lawns that crunch underfoot.
For
local rivers, it means relief.
Months
of below-normal rainfall have been a boon for the St. Lucie and Indian
rivers, where toxic algae blooms, unhealthy levels of bacteria and
chocolate-brown water were the norm two years ago.
"The
river really looks wonderful, the best it's looked in years," Kevin
Stinnette, executive director of the Indian Riverkeeper
group, said of the
Things
also have improved in the St. Lucie River, where diminished rainfall and
the lack of freshwater discharges from
Rebounding
salinity levels mean oysters are thriving, and that could improve
clarity even more, said Mark Perry, executive director of the
Salt
levels just right
Organizers
had hoped to launch the oyster program two years ago, but massive
discharges from
Today,
nearly 60 volunteers grow oysters under their docks for about two
months, or until the shellfish are about 2 or 3 millimeters wide. Then a
research specialist from the oceanographic society collects them and
adds them to an oyster bed in the St. Lucie River near
"They're
doing really well, especially in the South Fork,"
Higher
salinity also means rebounding sea grass, particularly in the
Along
with sea grass, fish populations appear to be growing.
"Typically,
when you see a lot of fresh water for an extended period of time, it
kind of pushes fish out toward the ocean," said Jim Whittington, a
biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
With
salinity shooting up in the St. Lucie River, scientists are spotting
more croakers, drums and bait species, Whittington said.
Port
St. Lucie angler Phil Tafoya said a neighbor
caught a 3-foot bull shark off his dock in the
"We're
definitely seeing a lot more fish than we have in years," Tafoya
said.
Celebrating
what's missing
The
benefits of the drought are seen not only in what has returned to the
rivers, but what's missing. Gone are the massive blooms of blue-green
algae that blanketed parts of the lagoon in 2005 and were spawned in
part by lake discharges.
Gone
too are the unhealthy levels of fecal coliform
bacteria, which prompted health officials to warn against touching the
water in parts of the St. Lucie River that year. The DEP's
Ashworth said water monitoring about every month and a half this year
has turned up no excessive levels of the bacteria, which can cause
intestinal illness and infections in eyes and ears.
Still,
the drought hasn't cured all the rivers' ills, activists say.
"It's
going to be a really long recovery process," said Kevin Henderson,
executive director of the St. Lucie River Initiative.
Accumulated
pollutants have created a layer of muck that covers much of the river
bottom, and whenever there's enough wind or boat traffic to stir it up,
"then it's all back to chocolate milk again," Henderson said.
"Until we get the muck sediments removed, we're not going to see
significant improvement in water
quality."
Activists
are counting on Congress to pass the Water Resources Development Act
this year, despite failing to do so for the past several years. If
approved, the measure would include funding to remove about 7.5 million
cubic acres of muck from the St. Lucie Estuary, Perry said.
Activists
also realize the drought won't last forever, and they worry that without
changes to water management policies and facilities, the St. Lucie and
Indian rivers will be harmed once again.
"This
is an anomaly. This is not the norm," Stinnette
said of the diminished rain.
Like
other river activists, he has called for a large, marshy flow way south
of