West Palm Beach, FL: Two activists with Everglades Earth First! have just locked their necks together with bicycle u-locks inside the 701 S. Olive Avenue offices of Kolter Group's "Kolter Urban" division after a group of more than twenty people stormed the building with signs, banners, air-horns and other noisemakers, demanding that the permits for Kolter's development of the Briger Forest be revoked.It appears the folks at EEF are getting clever and learning from mistakes. Last night Ms. Gilliam sent out a newsflash at 10:00 about a protest in Palm Beach Gardens. I reported on it last night. At 10:00 this morning Ms. Gilliam reports on a protest and arrests at 701 S. Olive in West Palm Beach! For some odd reason I am on their list of contacts. Hmmmm. Was this news release by Ms. Gilliam misdirection? Trying to throw off the authorities?
The group opposes Kolter's plans to build 360 houses and townhomes in the Briger Forest, a 681-acre tract of land that runs along Donald Ross Blvd. and I-95. The protestors claim that the developers are working off deeply flawed permits and have cleared a massive access road which was never approved by South Florida Water Management District. They are also concerned about the recent relocation of the area's gopher tortoises and the destruction of the tortoise's burrows, which provide habitat for several other species, including the endangered Eastern indigo snake.
This is the link to the Channel 12 report of the incident. It is on-going.