What YOU Can Do to Fight the Proposed Heat Ordinance in Miami Dade
From episode: EP44: Miami Dade's New HEAT ORDINANCE can Break the Green Industry
Arianna: The most important thing that we need people to do is call their commissioners. And before, the only voices that were being heard were the WeCount voices and the labor organization.
Willie: They were the ones calling.
Barney: And they need to call every single commissioner and ask them to vote no on the heat ordinance.
Willie: Okay. We have a list, guys, that's been provided. We're going to probably, Eddie, you think we can put that down in the bio or down underneath in the description? Every single commissioner's number and name?
Arianna: Name, number and email addresses. And, you know, I know we're a text and email kind of society, but the phone calls matter. Like take the time, you know, at this point they're asking just for, are you opposed or for it? So it, you know, it shouldn't take you more than 25 minutes to call all of them. It's really important to get those phone calls out. The second thing that we'll put in the description is a link for a petition. That is something that, you know, we do have commissioners that are standing behind us, right. And that see this for what it is. So they, I think that for them, it's important to see the amount of support that this opposition has, you know, it's kind of a double negative. For them to understand that that people are opposed to this.
Willie: Yeah. That there's a large amount of people that are against it. Yeah. Because this at the end of the day is catastrophic for this industry and it'll drive a lot of people out of this industry. You know, people are paycheck to paycheck. Most, you know, I would say 50 % of the industry is struggling right now. Rents went up, everything. And now you throw this on top.
Barney: As owners of businesses. I mean, if we're going to get sued just because someone's upset or they get out.
Willie: Or we didn't call them every two hours.
Barney: Right. And then they turn us in, then we get the fines for that many people in the field. And then you get the lawsuits. I mean, who wants to stay in business in Miami -Dade County when you have that happening?
Willie: No, no one will.
Arianna: And by the way, if you're a landscaper and you're kind of sitting there being like, I'm good. They're next.
Willie: You're next. No, and it's not just that.
Arianna: This is not where it's going to end.
Willie: No, but this is how it affects. So how does it affect you? So you're a landscaper. How does it affect you? I'm good. I don't have any worries. Yeah, you do. Because where are you going to buy the plants to make the installs?
Arianna: They're going to be more expensive.
Willie: Where are you going to get them at?
Arianna: Or where are you going to get them?
Willie: So that's something to think about too. So if you're listening and you're like, oh, I'm good. Call for your buddy that has a nursery, that you love them, that you guys have a great relationship, that you buy the product off of them. Call for him and make that happen.
Arianna: Yeah, agriculture and construction are two of the biggest industries in this county. So again, everybody should care about this.
Willie: Everybody.
Arianna: Everybody should care about this because it affects the overall.
Willie: It'll put a halt on construction, which good and bad for some people, depending on what side you sit on. But they could put a massive halt.
Arianna: But it drives our economy.
Barney: And then why is it just these two industries? Why? It's very discriminatory because of just being agriculture and construction.
Willie: Yeah, there's a lot of other industries. You're a car wash. You do the car detailing, boat detailing. You know, there's an array. You're a fisherman. Now you got to make sure you look over to chip, you know, that's there, bait in the line for you and tell them, hey, give me some water or drink some water. It's discriminatory towards these two industries.
Arianna: And one other point to make is that OSHA is actively addressing new standards or revised standards, let's say, for heat that would apply nationwide. Like let OSHA do their jobs.
Willie: Do you guys know if there's these ordinances in other states like Arizona, like Texas that get way hotter than we do?
Arianna: There are. It's either six or seven states that have them. And I'm going to rattle off a few of them, Washington State, California, Nevada, Minnesota, and I think New Mexico. So generally Western states and all of those states work together with their local OSHA. So they don't have a regulatory scheme or the fine structure that this has. They piggyback off of the already existing OSHA fines.
Willie: So what I love about this is there's a lot of you guys involved that are really high ups and all these organizations that are, you know, fighting against this for us. Guys, they're fighting against it for these industries. They're basically our voice that's out there trying to make it right. It's like, we're not against it a hundred percent, but we are against all these fine print things that do not make any sense. And we already have things implemented. So I'm just very glad that we have people like you that have dedicated so much time because you guys, I'm sure you dream about this at this point.
Arianna: They're not called dreams though.
Willie: Yeah, they're not dreams. You don't dream.
Arianna: They're called nightmares.
Willie: They're called nightmares, you know, of just all of this stuff and how this can just really ratify the whole industry and the whole county. You know, I don't think they understand to what extent it can be taken and how drastic of ordinance it is when you read the fine print. And we all love our employees. We want our employees to thrive. We want them to be landlords one day and own real estate and climb up the ladder.
Barney: And they got to buy plants.
Willie: We love it. But it can be done if there's walls that are bigger than we can climb, put in front of us, it's easier to just cash out and leave. And it's going to put, it will put a lot of people out of business. I see that.
Arianna: Yeah, I agree.
Barney: But it's just a form of control and coming in and looking over your shoulder. It's like a big brother just watching everything you do. And next time they're going to be telling us how to go to the bathroom.
Willie: For me, the commissioners, it's like, guys, you guys worked so hard to make Miami -Dade County what it is today to get the richest people from all over the world to come to Miami and start up their business. We have Amazon here. We have so much going on, so much power. You have people doing high rises. We have a billion dollar bridge being built. And now you want to do this. That's going to really, and construction and agriculture.
Arianna: I mean...
Willie: Agriculture did $36 .4 billion last year in the state of Florida. And a lot of it came from here.
Arianna: It's a bad look for the county.
Willie: But it's like, we take 20 steps up and then now we get hit 19 back. Same thing with what happened with the labor. It's like, come on guys, wake up, smell the coffee. This is not good.
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