A Florida State park worker was fired from his job after he leaked a proposal to build multiple golf courses, two hotels, disc golf courts, and four pickleball courts in nine State parks.
James Gaddis, a cartographer for the the Department of Environmental Protection, was tasked to draw up the conceptual land use for the project. The vast habitat loss, environmental damage and the apparent secrecy behind the proposal rang the alarms for Gaddis, who decided to leak the information to the Tampa Bay Times.
"It was the absolute flagrant disregard for the critical, globally imperiled habitat in these parks," Gaddis told the Times. "The secrecy was totally confusing and very frustrating. No state agency should be behaving like this."
Following his firing, Gaddis set up a GoFundMe page that has received up more than $187,000 in donations as of Wednesday afternoon. He said he knew his "decision to make my maps public, along with the accompanying proposal summaries, [would] end [his] career with the Florida Park Service."
"I saw myself as a public servant first and felt that it was the only ethical thing to do. This issue became far more important than any individual's employment status with DEP," said Gaddis, who is a single father with an 11 year old daughter.
Gaddis' maps showed how the Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' office and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection planned to incorporate a golf course at The Jonathan Dickinson State Park and a 350-room hotel at Anastasia State Park, among other developments.
Gaddis took full responsibility for drafting the leaked memo that revealed the plan and releasing it to the public, along with sharing other supporting documents. "Recently the Department became aware that you intentionally released unauthorized and inaccurate information to the public," said the dismissal letter sent to Gaddis.
DeSantis addressed the project last week, calling it "half-baked" and "nowhere near ready for prime time." He also said the plan was "intentionally leaked out to a left-wing group to try to create a narrative."
"Here's the thing, I'd rather not spend any money on this, right?" DeSantis said, acknowledging Oklahoma-based nonprofit charity Folds of Honor was behind the golf course plans. "If people don't want improvements, then don't do it." He shelved the plan less than a week after the uproar.
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