The University of Miami denied reports by Ricardo Arnau and disregarded the safety of their students by ignoring fire safety regulations for the Lakeside dorms which houses 1115 students. Story Below:

After a 17-year career in various city building departments, Ricardo Arnau landed a job as the chief mechanical officer for Coral Gables in October 2018. He seemed to be acclimating well to the new job — in the first six months, he says, he received two positive performance evaluations.

In April 2019, the city put Arnau in charge of inspecting a massive new student housing project at the University of Miami. But Arnau says that when he began making the rounds, he noticed multiple violations of the Florida Building Code, including fire hazards involving the dorms' clothes dryers and ducts. Nevertheless, he says, the university and contractor ignored his requests to make modifications — and Arnau claims Coral Gables City Manager Peter Iglesias pressured him to approve the building inspection anyway.

After months of refusing to back down, Arnau was fired in late September. Alleging he was ousted as revenge for his trying to ensure the safety of the hundreds of UM students expected to move into the building as soon as this fall, Arnau is suing the city for wrongful termination.

I am calling for Arnau to be rehired to his position and for University of Miami to correct the measures to the fire safety regulations.