Aerial photo of Virginia Key – Canva / Getty Images Signature
This radio feature – originally published in September 2021 for WLRN News – was a regional finalist for an SPJ Mark of Excellence Award in radio feature reporting.
Bradley Luft, who manages operations at the Virginia Key Outdoor Center, keeps pictures with one of his summer camp CITs — or counselors in training. He thinks of Alex Zabowski more like a nephew.
In the first photograph, Alex is tiny, locked into a tight hug with Luft. In the second one, it’s the last day of summer camp this year and Alex is just as tall, if not taller, than Luft. This time, they’re saying goodbye: the city of Miami shut down the center, suddenly, that day, as fallout continued from a plan to house homeless people on the island.
“He had gone down by the water to go look at it while his mom was talking to us. And you could tell, like he was holding back tears," Luft said.
"And then he goes on to the car after saying bye to everybody. And a couple minutes later, he comes out, like, just sobbing and comes and, you know, gives me a hug. And at that point, I’m in the same spot.”
For Alex’s mom, Nayomi Orriols, parting with the camp was equally heartbreaking. “I'm a single mom,” Orriols said. “This place has helped me raise my son, he's turned him from a little boy into a responsible young man. A very empathetic, understanding, and loving human being. And it's really sad to think that it could just all vanish.”
The summer camp, with 300 kids. Guided nature tours. Kayak rentals. They did all vanish.
The city owns the property – and Esther Alonso has been running her business there since 2015. City officials say she is behind on rent and doesn't have the proper paperwork to operate. Alonso says she's been trying to negotiate solutions with the city for months.
And although the dispute has been going on since January, the city's decision to close the center came shortly after Alonso began making noise about a plan to house the homeless on Virginia Key.
She emerged as one of the fiercest critics of the city’s controversial proposal to build “tiny homes” on the island – just steps away from the center.
“And if we don't do anything about protecting Virginia Key for this project and for the next project, we'll be back here again in a few months, doing it for something else,” Alonso said at a rally to stop the homeless encampment proposal, on Aug. 6.
That rally was on a Saturday. By Monday, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez asked the commission to put the “tiny homes” plan on hold. The city shut down the outdoor center on Friday afternoon...
Read the full story at WLRN.org.
