Who's Behind the Contentious New Heat Ordinance in Miami Dade?
From episode: EP44: Miami Dade's New HEAT ORDINANCE can Break the Green Industry
Willie: You think there's a reason why it's targeting our industries? Do they want nurseries and farmers down here in Miami -Dade County? They want us out of here and construction workers because it makes it almost impossible for a peaceful working place because you can, you know, it can be a battle zone.
Barney: I think it's the organization that's pushing it. And I think it's, I think it's for attorneys, the benefits attorneys for the lawsuits and unionizing the workforce.
Willie: Do you think that the organization that's doing this, do you think that they know the effects of what this will cause to this strong, powerful, impactful, wonderful, beautiful industry and the construction industry?
Barney: I don't believe, the politicians for sure don't. Okay. Because I mean, they're just thinking, they're making themselves look good, feel good by trying to pass something that we already have rules in place for. And no, I don't think they realize how, I don't even think the politicians read it all the way through before they got proposed. They did not understand how it would have, or even think about how it would affect us.
Arianna: And they didn't ask us.
Willie: They didn't ask.
Arianna: I'm just going to keep going on like, man, you know, like, Hey, you know, everybody has my phone number.
Barney: I told McGhee, he came to one of the ag practice board meetings unannounced and I told him, you didn't talk to anyone. I'm president of Farm Bureau. I know every farmer in the area because I grew up here and you did not talk to anyone. He couldn't answer it. So he just danced around it.
Willie: And I see that you guys are very passionate about it and me as well. You know, I'm born and raised out here, 17 years with Costa, you, your whole life, fourth generation, 1905, 1907. You know, so these, these guys are very credible in just their passion behind it and why they feel a certain way. It's not fair to the community at the end of the day. We're just, we're just trying to make it happen. You know, we have the economy against us. We have competition against us. We have price hikes against us. We have labor shortages against us. We have so many things up against us. And now we're getting slapped with something else that, that could potentially felt like, this can sink the ship.
Arianna: And look, and it just felt, it felt personal, you know, because it's like, you're, you're taking the word of one organization that we don't care about our people. Come on. And, and no one knows, you know, that we, like we are, we're upset. We take it personally because we do every day.
Willie: No, and you can go and everyone has a smile. You can go to any nursery here and say hi to the guy that's attending you. And I guarantee you who have a smile on his face. And that's just how it is out here.
Barney: And real quick, the statistics that they keep quoting about people getting sick from the heat or having heat exhaustion or deaths or any of that. Go look and see where that's from. It's a lot of people from the city. It's the people from out of town that are not used to the heat.
Arianna: The elderly who might not have air conditioning.
Willie: That aren't working even in agriculture.
Barney: And the tourist, they just happen to be in Miami -Dade County. You got to look at the details, but it's not our employees in the area.
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