The horrible, accidental death of four people on a Fourth of July holiday boat ride become part of the debate earlier this month on the 
Miami-Dade budget and what seems like the skewered administrative priorities of Mayor Carlos “Cry Wolf” Gimenez, who cut the rescue boat from our fire department services two years ago.
Now, it’s become the driving force behind a recall effort.
The father of one of the victims, who just happens to be a retired Miami-Dade fire captain who warned against docking the two fireboats, said he will spearhead an effort to remove Gimenez from power, much like the mayor before him was recalled in 2011.
“I’m not a bullshit guy. I’m not a politician,” Garcia told Ladra. “I realize this is a David and Goliath situation, but we all know how that panned out.”
And while Gimenez and his supporters may criticize what they call the “politization” of a tragic moment, this could hurt him more than the stadiums obsession and the down-with-libraries stance and the connections to lobbyists and the flying to Europe.
This is about lives. This makes him look more disconnected to us than anything else.
This year, Gimenez proposed transferring $3 million from the fire reserves — even though the department is being partially funded through the last year of a federal grant — to the library system to shore up watered-down services there. This is the same library system that got an additional tax hike from commissioners earlier this month.
Hopefully, that transfer can be revisited during the process before the budget is finalized. Because the 20-year-old fishing boat, gifted from the city of Miami Police, put out there this week for mini lobster season isn’t really a solution. It’s more like a band-aid.
Meanwhile, there are two county fire boats worth $3 million between them, on dry dock.
The mayor’s paid apologists have the nerve to plant doubt about Garcia’s son — Was he drinking? Was he at fault? — and openly question whether anyone could have been saved by a staffed fire boat anyway. But none of that makes any difference. The incident reminds us that we are surrounded by water and that this kind of tragedy could happen any day and may be — just may be — could be averted with the right resources. Maybe it would not have made a difference for Garcia’s son. But might it have made a difference in the other 60 or so deaths in the water since the fire boats were docked. Might it in the future for my daughter? Might it for yours?
After all, wouldn’t you call 911 if you or someone you love has a heart attack, knowing that paramedics might arrive too late? You call anyway, right? You try?
When asked about funding the one of the fire boats in light of the recent tragedy, instead of saying that it was worth reconsideration, the mayor dug his heels in and deflected the blame to the fire union.
Gimenez said they were at fault because they didn’t agree to his my-way-or-the-highway terms that they use the firefighters assigned to the one ladder rescue unit at the Port of Miami. He has said that the unit answers about 600 calls a year, or about an average of 1.8 calls a day, and that they can be used for both the land and sea operations. But what he doesn’t say is that there are way more than 1.8 calls on the weekends, especially the days the cruise ships return.
Those would be the same days that the fire boat would be most needed. And the union said the only fire rescue unit at the Port needs to be available at the Port at all times.
Fire Union President Al Cruz told Ladra that they only need $1.8 million
of the $3 million in reserves to restore one of the fire boats. That unit could also man an additional rescue unit at the port for the busy days when they get seven or eight calls at once for sick passengers.
Jack Garcia’s not sure either if a fire boat would have saved his son’s life. But there’s a tiny chance that maybe it could have. A story in the days after the incident detailed the chaos after one speedboat t-boned another as boaters returned to their respective marinas after the fireworks last Friday — and how a quicker response may have made a difference in at least one life. More than 20 people were thrown into the water, screaming for help. People were bleeding on one boat. One woman was vomiting from her head injury, going in and out of consciousness. Rescuers, including a nurse on another boat not in the accident, performed CPR as they waited what seemed hours for paramedics to arrive.
Bet Gimenez wishes he hadn’t told CBS4 investigative reporter Jim DeFede that he was 99 percent sure it would have made no difference. That TV meltdown showed how Gimenez doesn’t like to be questioned. “Excuse me that is your opinion and I don’t think you were ever a firefighter, and I dont think you are a fire chief, and you never were,” he said.
It made him look like the vengeful, narrow-minded tyrant that many say he’s become. “You just can’t buckle to whatever the unions want,” he told DeFede in the heated exchange and then he admitted that he had drawn a line in the sand. “I am being just as stubborn as you are,” he told Gimenez.
Is that what this has become about? Denying the fire boat funds because he doesn’t want to give the union what it wants?
Add that to the list of reasons for a recall (more on that next).
Of course, the mayor can’t really argue that it would not have been better to have a Miami-Dade fire boat a few minutes from the scene? Because that is ludicrous. Even if it only took the city of Miami seven minutes to respond, which is what someone told Ladra. So what? Isn’t it always better to have another unit available, in case of critical incidents like this? And multiple injuries?
And, in the heated campaign of a recall, that David and Goliath battle could be could be characterized as one between a grieving father who’s trying to right a wrong and a politician who’s trying to cover his ass for the wrong public safety decision.
Ladra is betting on the firefighter. She did it once before, and she was right.
Fireboat issue becomes force behind recall effort added by Ladra on
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