Mayor Daniella Levine Cava: Vows a focus on economy, water, pollution, environment

Daniella Levine Cava came to South Florida over 40 years ago and never thought she would run for office. She now oversees a local government with more than 28,000 employees, 3 million residents, and an annual budget of about $9 billion. 

She started as an attorney with Legal Services of Greater Miami and the Guardian Ad Litem Program, and in 1996 founded the Human Services Coalition, to empower low- and moderate-income families with tools to overcome poverty. 

In 2014 she first held a public position, commissioner of District 8, where she spearheaded legislation ranging from housing and small businesses development to environment protections. 

With one year and a month in office, she frames her tenure as a year of leadership through crisis. “We live in the moment, and we handle the crises as they come,” she said. She has battled with the ongoing pandemic, an inherited crisis. Then came collapse of the Champlain Tower.

“The building collapse in June clearly was never something we could have imagined or anticipated,” she said. “We had support across the country and the world, and we orchestrated all of that to do the very best job we could to support the families who lost their loved ones and the survivors who lost their homes.” 

A third crisis she has faced is the gun violence epidemic. “We have really brought it under control and that was because of the aggressive actions that we took both on law enforcement and on prevention,” she said. Finally, climate change is a major concern for her and the reason she continues to push build a more resilient Miami-Dade. “We just got the Gold LEED certification from the US Green Building Council as a demonstration of how well we’re doing planning around climate change.” 

As the first woman Miami-Dade mayor she was fast to innovate, appointing the first Chief Medical Officer to handle the coronavirus response; a Chief Bay Officer to oversee the health and recovery of Biscayne Bay; and the first Chief Heat Officer to coordinate initiatives to protect people from rising temperatures. She has also appointed many department directors. 

With three years ahead as mayor and the intent to serve a second term, she already knows that the environment, the economy, community engagement and equity are big priorities. 

With a very tight agenda, Mayor Levine Cava makes time to be in touch with her family regularly. She is married to Robert Cava, who grew up in Miami and brought her with him. They have two children, Ted (33) and Eliza (36), and she has two grandchildren (4 and 6 years old). 

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava spoke with Miami Today reporter Gabriela Henriquez Stoikow. 

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