Transcript
A (0:00)
Had this incredible influx of migration from high tech states like New York. Bezos, Carl Icahn, Ken Griffin. How do you build on this momentum?
B (0:09)
You have to take advantage of the quantum opportunities. When you think about how we took this quantum leap, there were four major factors that conspired to come together. We were open while other cities were closed. Remote work. We're doing a podcast remotely, right. So this phenomenon of remote work certainly benefited Miami. Obviously, tax policy, federal tax policy, which was the salt deduction going away, favored Miami. You know, our attitude was pro growth, pro business. What's the next one? I didn't know what it was going to be and it's now becoming very evident to me what it's going to be.
A (0:42)
Reflecting back on your seven and a half years as mayor, what accomplishments are you most proud of?
B (0:48)
I can point to projects or specific wins, like bringing an MLS team to Miami. Right. And building an unsubsidized stadium that's going to generate billions of dollars in revenue and now has some of the best soccer players in the world in Leo Messi, Jordi, Alba Busquet and others. Or I can talk about the ecosystem of Miami after the how can I help Moment, where we created an ecosystem, where we attracted companies that manage $12 trillion in assets. Coming to our, you know, to our ecosystem, where we became the. Where we have the lowest unemployment in America, where we have the highest wage growth in America, where we have the lowest homeless rate in 11 years. It was never about putting numbers on a board. Right. It was always about the humans, the human beings, the citizens, your city, the image of your city, and how it affects each one intimately that you really cared about. And so it was never really about the specific things. It was really more about doing a good job and working hard.
A (1:49)
You've had this incredible influx of migration from high tax states like New York. And you mentioned Bezos also. Carl Icahn, Ken Griffin famously moved from Illinois. You've gotten this very elite part of the network. How do you build on this momentum and get the next tier? Maybe not the DECA billionaires, maybe not even the billionaires, but either the entrepreneurs that have had a couple of successes or maybe even just getting started in their 20s and 30s.
B (2:16)
You have to take advantage of the macro opportunities, right. Or the quantum opportunities. Right. What are those? When you think about how we took this quantum leap since 2000, right. There were three or four major factors that conspired to come together, but we took advantage of them. What were the major factors? Covid? Right. We were relatively open while Other cities were relatively closed. Remote work. You know, you could come and be in a place like this right behind me. And what we're doing right now is remote, right? We're. We're doing a podcast remotely, right? So this phenomenon of remote work certainly benefited Miami and I think, obviously, tax policy. We talked about tax policy, right? The federal tax policy, which was the salt deduction going away, significantly favored Miami. And then I think the fourth thing was attitude. You know, our attitude was pro growth, pro business. While other cities like New York famously rejected Amazon after winning the HQ2 prize, California famously told Elon Musk f off. And he said, message received and left, right? So our attitude was, you want to move Silicon Valley to Miami? How can we help? Right? We had the completely different attitude. So that was one major macro moment, one major quantum opportunity that we took full advantage of. What's the next one? And I didn't know what it was going to be. And that's now becoming very evident to me what it's going to be. It's going to be on November 4th of this year, and that is the election in New York that will be our next quantum opportunity. If New York elects a socialist, communist, socialist, whatever you want to call it, government is a solver of all problems, politician. It will become another massive opportunity for Miami, one for people from the Jewish community who feel that the incoming potential mayor is antagonistic to the Jewish community or has made statements that are antagonistic to the Jewish community. Miami is the safest place on the planet for Jews to live and the most welcoming, and we embrace that. We love that. We will continue to shout it from the mountaintop, right? So for us, that's a competitive advantage for us. And secondly, if you're going to continue to go in the opposite direction and tax the wealthy, right, and continue to burden people with more taxes, people are just going to be fed up and they're going to say, that's it. If you happen to be in both those categories, wealthy and Jewish, I mean, it's like there's going to be a massive, you know, there's a. There's like a Venn diagram, you know, overlap there. And, you know, I think so I think whoever becomes the next mayor of Miami, because this will literally happen as I'm, you know, evolving out, really, and I'm going to do it right between now and the election, right? I'm going to certainly do it. But whoever becomes the next mayor needs to pick up the baton and really run with it. And, and, and that's how I'm 47. I'll be 48 in October. That's how Miami will have another decade of Runway and success. Right. And so I firmly believe that. I believe that cities at some level, are competition for talent and capital. Right. We want to be what we call the capital of capital, and that's human capital and actual capital. Right. Money, financial capital, so that we can build companies and scale companies. Right. That's how you do it. So we think we can do that in this generation. But without, without a doubt, you have to be intentional. You have to put your foot down on the accelerator when the opportunity presents itself. And I think this November will be one of those moments a lot of.
