For over 30 years, people have bought Christmas trees from what appeared to be a firefighter-backed lot on Granada Avenue in Coral Gables.
But the trees won’t be there this year. The retired Gables firefighter captain who sells them says he withdrew his application with the city and is “not in the Christmas tree business” anymore. The decision came after city leaders began asking questions after learning the for-profit tree-selling company is not actually associated with, nor do its sales benefit, the Coral Gables Firefighters Benevolent Association, a charitable group supporting firefighters and community programs.
“So if it’s not a lie, it’s a lie by omission,” Commissioner Richard Lara said at a commission meeting Tuesday. “Either way, I think it rises to the level of fraud.”
At the meeting, commissioners were expected to approve, as they’ve done annually, a zoning variance that would let the company sell Christmas trees at the Coral Gables Baptist Church, 5501 Granada Blvd…