Tree killer goes back to hearing board
Tree killers, Contrada of Miami, headed by Esteban Calafell and his family, cut down a swath of trees on his property at 2341 S. Bayshore Drive in 2005. They were fined more than $80,000 at the time and they have been appealing it ever since.
The massacred lot can be see right across Kennedy Park, it's an open lot that has been sitting and rotting ever since.
They want the public to believe that a hurricane did the damage, when we had a bunch come through that one year. But witnesses know what happened, including Code Enforcement. The case gets complicated because the tree killer Calafell keeps changing the name of his company.
The case is going before the Code Enforcement Board tonight, October 1, at 5:00 pm.
posted by Tom Falco at 9:00 AM
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12 Comments:
80 grand is a small price to pay in the grand scheme of building a multi-million dollar house on such prime real estate.
Money doesn't matter too much to folks on a project like this - I wish there were jailtime involved.
Definite jail time. If the tree was there before you, you better get jail time.
his property, his tree, who cares... zzzzzzz
To be fair: there were trees wherever EVERYONE's house/apt stands now. Was there a cut-off day for cutting down trees?
anon at 12:02 - actually there was - the date when the code was passed into law. Ask the code enforcement bureau, they have the info - which is why the owners are being fined.
Please note, regarding
CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD SPECIAL AGENDA 10-1-09 5:00 PM
Items 2–10 are New Elja Corporation, 2341 S Bayshore Dr. with $2.7M in fines
As per Code Enforcement Chief of staff, Mariano Loret de Mola
The case has been rescheduled to 12/3/2009. They will not be heard today. Note: Mitigation cases are scheduled by the violators to mitigate their fines and when they request to reschedule it is usually granted by the Hearing Board.
Liliana Dones,
TreeWatch Committee of the Coconut Grove Village Council
Anon: 11:23
I think your attitude sums up why Miami is a dump. Dear me, you'd think this is the wild west with all the get off my lawn rhetoric.
One is hard pressed to identify a sense of the commonweal, collective responsibility, or social solidarity anywhere here.
Fines are certainly appropriate for violation of ordinances and regulations. But restoration would be a more effective long-term solution, wouldn't it? With new technology, large trees can be planted and do survive. If people who decide that it's cost-effective to pay the fine in order to be able to use the property as they wish, and as existing regulations would prevent, then restoration would make their efforts worthless, and it would no longer pay off for them to simply pay a fine. Then they might stop doing this.
I couldn't reach the fronds and coconuts in my back yard of 750 sq feet because the trees grew past the 35 foot ladder I own. I estaimated there were about 500 coconuts on 7 trees. Every morning there would be one or two 25 pound fronds and 10 pound coconuts lying in my back yard. One missed me by about a foot and about two weeks ago one missed my Grandson by about as much. I checked the zoning rules, sent the required letter stating the danger to life and limb, rented a chain saw and cut all of them down. I listed the time and date, code enforcement was on hand and issued me another citation. Before cutting them I planted 11 more small coconut palms to compensate. Go figure. I followed the code to the letter.
code enforcement is only as effective as those who run it, and let's be honest, some of these guys are dimwits - at best.
Jobie, thank you. I appreciate all your effort!
I do not think Miami Code Enforcement is some evil empire run by stupid characters, although a few individuals have gotten personal, as some degree of vendetta is apparent in their actions against me. If a homeowner, not a contractor, wants to cut and cut and cut to obtain sunlight or even a view or prepares for storm season, frankly I feel it's no ones business. Sunlight produces V-D, helps the garden, assist in eliminating depression, is good for reading, etc, so cutting down a swath from East to West or gain access to a desired view, to assist a garden, etc is a homeowners right. It is unfortunate that all it takes to cause harm to some homeowner is some disgruntled misanthropic cowardly worm like low life character. They don't even have to live in close proximity to the victim. And I am not referring to those who protect our trees.
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