Carlos Gimenez's latest giveaway: Our bed taxes to Havana

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez couldn’t backpedal fast enough from his plan to put a ferry to Cuba at PortMiami, which was announced Tuesday, although it’s obviously been on his plate for weeks, at the very least.

He must have heard the collective gasp because Gimenez held a hastily called press conference Thursday afternoon to say that Miami-Dade doesn’t do business with countries, but rather with service carriers that do business with countries. Like there’s a difference. Oh, and that the ferry at the Port — a brand new use sprung on us after other options have been explored — doesn’t have to be to Cuba. It could go to the Bahamas or anywhere else close by.

Uh, huh. Sure. I don’t know what’s worse, that he’s lying to us through his teeth or that he thinks we are stupid enough to believe it.

The port director had already told the Miami Herald a day earlier that he has had discussions for weeks with several companies that want to run ferries to Cuba. Staff has already been asked to look into what it would take to dredge a terminal there. Ladra suspects this has been on the table since Commissioner Bruno Barreiro floated the idea of a marina with retail and offices, which was shot down in committee.

And this certainly takes care of that pesky situation with the city of Miami — which gave the county the property to use solely for maritime purposes — constantly holding the reverter clause over the county’s head.

It’s almost like Gimenez is doing it to spite the city of Miami for spoiling his first idea for the property, which was a soccer stadium for David Beckham’s Miami team. Remember? This is his third proposal. Why does he get to take an unlimited number of stabs at it?

It’s a stadium. No, it’s an office/retail complex. No, it’s a terminal for a ferry to Cuba. Ladra half expects him to next propose the property as the new home for the Youth Fair.

But he can’t get a cut of that. Ladra smells some insider deal, some unsolicited bid coming in on this ferry to Cuba thing from some friends and family connection. Just wait and see. Or maybe it has something to do with that letter from the local Cuban-American businessmen who just can’t wait to cash in on the renewed U.S. Cuba relations.

Meanwhile, there is plenty enough wrong with this scenario already.

Let’s put aside, for a moment, that this newest endeavor of our mayor’s promotes a new travel route to Cuba, a country with a repressive government that doesn’t allow its people to travel freely — whether they live here or there. If you think anyone in the 305 will be able to jump on that ferry and chug to Havana, you’ve got another thing coming. Cuban Americans cannot go to Cuba via the sea and the government doesn’t let everybody back in, by the way. Only those it deems not dangerous to their fragile social system.

And Cubans on the island won’t be jaunting over to Miami for a weekend with the fam or Easter holiday.

So, who is going to use this ferry? Gimenez excuses the very idea by saying that there are already 14,000 passengers flying to Cuba from Miami every day. But these ferries will not be taking gusano-laden Cuban Americans to see the family. The number one market for any ferry to Cuba is going to be the cruise passengers that get off their 3-day Caribbean float and have two or three or four days to kill before they head home to Kansas or Tokyo or Berlin. Instead of spending those days on South Beach, they can spend them in Havana. Is that a good thing for Miami-Dade?

That’s likely to have a bigger negative economic impact, not just in the money spent here but in a decrease in bed taxes, than any positives from any lease agreement with a ferry carrier.

It’s like the mayor hasn’t really thought this through.

Which is really the nexus of the next problem. How many bites at the apple is the mayor going to get? And can we leave the future of the last piece of waterfront property downtown to the whims of someone who changes his mind so often? Especially someone with a penchant for unsolicited bids from connections.

But let’s not make it personal. The future of this parcel of public land should not be decided on the whims of any one public official — no matter who he, or she, is. Mayoral challenger Raquel Regalado has said that any development on this public land — which belongs to us, not the mayor — should be put up for a referendum.

If this were a city of Miami development, it would have to be approved by voters. Gimenez, or maybe the 13-member commission, should insist that Miami-Dade residents get the same respect.

And they should pay attention to their vote this time.

Carlos Gimenez, PortMiami

Carlos Gimenez’s latest giveaway: Our bed taxes to Havana added by Ladra on January 8, 2016
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