Latest / Call Her Tatty / They Tried to Keep Jews Out of Bal Harbour. Now He’s the Mayor.

Transcript

They Tried to Keep Jews Out of Bal Harbour. Now He’s the Mayor. · Call Her Tatty

• 0:00
  The mayor of Bell Harbor, Seth Salver.
• 0:03
  The number one destination for like Orthodox Jewish vacations outside of Israel.
• 0:07
  The Secret Service was very involved and it was almost for us growing up.
• 0:11
  The mayor was an old man that like had a bunch of ribbons.
• 0:14
  I'd like to think we have like the best hotels in South Florida.
• 0:17
  Running a city is not easy.
• 0:19
  Behind every good politician is an even better spouse.
• 0:27
  Hi, Shea-Falaz.
• 0:28
  Welcome to another episode of Caller Tati.
• 0:31
  Today we have a very special guest, and it's the first time Caller Tati has a politician on.
• 0:37
  Everybody, please welcome the mayor of Bell Harbor, Seth Salver.
• 0:43
  Seth, welcome to Caller Tati.
• 0:44
  Thank you so much.
• 0:45
  I've been following your program on social media, on YouTube, and I'm excited to be here.
• 0:52
  Isn't it like a great podcast?
• 0:54
  It is.
• 0:55
  I think you're actually kind of secretly excited to come on.
• 0:58
  I am.
• 0:58
  I am.
• 0:59
  I watched some episodes,
• 1:01
  and there have been a lot of interesting guests
• 1:04
  from different backgrounds, and I'm glad to contribute.
• 1:08
  We're very honored to have our first politician.
• 1:12
  And you are a snazzy mayor,
• 1:15
  because you're in primetime Bell Harbor.
• 1:18
  Bell Harbor.
• 1:19
  Which is obviously a very hot area,
• 1:21
  and we're gonna get into the ins and outs of Bell Harbor.
• 1:25
  very exciting first politician you're gonna be the first we'll eventually have more but we
• 1:31
  i'll help you with that yeah you probably can you're gonna help me with a lot of things after
• 1:35
  this podcast permits we're gonna get there so seth um i'm sure there are some people wondering like
• 1:45
  the connection here because i don't even live in bell arbor but i'm a realtor but that's not how
• 1:51
  how we met.
• 1:52
  We met because of Zoli.
• 1:54
  Yes.
• 1:54
  So how did you meet Zoli?
• 1:57
  So it's actually a funny story.
• 1:59
  My good friend from growing up went to Yeshiva with Zoli and we were planning a Euro trip
• 2:06
  sophomore year, I guess the summer after sophomore year.
• 2:09
  And it was going to be four of us.
• 2:11
  It was
• 2:11
  going to be me, Avi Pomper, Zoli and Max Jacobs.
• 2:15
  And Max Jacobs was in Maryland with me.
• 2:17
  He also went to Yeshiva with Avi and Zoli.
• 2:20
  And sure enough, we're like all getting ready to go
• 2:24
  and planning itineraries.
• 2:26
  And my good friend, Avi Pomper, says,
• 2:28
  I can't make it this summer.
• 2:29
  So I ended up going on a Euro trip
• 2:31
  with my good friends' good friends.
• 2:34
  And then I became good friends with them.
• 2:36
  So...
• 2:36
  Yeah.
• 2:37
  Well, I have a little surprise.
• 2:39
  Zoli did the digging last night.
• 2:41
  Oh, no.
• 2:41
  I'm like hitting my mic.
• 2:43
  Zoli did the digging last night.
• 2:44
  And I look at him and I'm like,
• 2:46
  like oh my god this is like quintessential like what year was this uh 2008 yeah let's just go
• 2:54
  through some of these photos oh man the trevi fountain how romantic you guys like college guys
• 3:01
  what what is no but like the outfit choices okay this is you hey i was wearing abercrombie i think
• 3:06
  in every picture like aeropostale yes you look like a little baby i mean you still look really
• 3:12
  young thank you yeah you are really young i'm 37 okay but people think i'm you look younger
• 3:19
  yeah what's your skincare routine um i just wash my face every day so you're just like it's funny
• 3:27
  i think like like also zoli looks really young what's what's up with all you guys you all look
• 3:32
  young max looks young y'all i guess we just live a stress-free happy life here in florida right
• 3:37
  You know what?
• 3:38
  The sunshine really does that sort of value.
• 3:42
  And it's good genes.
• 3:43
  Yes.
• 3:44
  So, Seth, you've been friends with Zoli for 18 years.
• 3:49
  You went the Yeshiva route.
• 3:51
  Yes.
• 3:51
  Now you're in politics.
• 3:54
  How did this happen?
• 3:57
  So I grew up in Bay Harbor Islands, which is right next to Bal Harbor.
• 4:03
  It's in the same community.
• 4:05
  and I was fortunate enough, I'm the oldest of my three siblings or two siblings
• 4:12
  and I grew up going to council meetings with my dad.
• 4:14
  My dad got elected to the Bay Harbor Islands Town Council in 1999
• 4:18
  and I was like 11 years old at the time
• 4:22
  and I kind of got inspired by that, going to those meetings
• 4:26
  and then when I moved to Bow Harbor in 2012,
• 4:30
  I started going to council meetings there and I was like, you know what?
• 4:34
  Like, there's a lot going on, and I felt like I could really bring something to the community.
• 4:39
  A different perspective, at the time, I think the average age of the council was like 74.
• 4:44
  Oh, wow.
• 4:45
  And I replaced the then mayor, who was 83 years old.
• 4:50
  She was in my building.
• 4:52
  Really lovely lady.
• 4:53
  She had taught in the local high school for many, many years.
• 4:57
  She actually almost taught my parents.
• 5:00
  Oh, that's so cool.
• 5:01
  She was teaching honors level social studies and my parents were not honors.
• 5:04
  But she always says, oh, were you one of my students?
• 5:07
  I said, no, I went to Hebrew Academy, actually.
• 5:09
  It's just down the block from Beach High.
• 5:11
  She's a teacher at Beach High.
• 5:13
  And she took me out to breakfast and she's like, you're a young guy.
• 5:16
  You don't want to do this.
• 5:17
  You don't want to get involved.
• 5:18
  But I really did because Bell Harbor is, you know, the greater Bell Harbor community is where I grew up.
• 5:25
  And it's a community that I'm now raising my family in.
• 5:28
  And I felt like at that stage in my life, I was ready to contribute and to give back.
• 5:34
  Did you always want to get into politics?
• 5:35
  Like when you were a kid, did you have like those dreams?
• 5:37
  I want to become the president of the United States.
• 5:40
  Not quite president, but I did run for like class president.
• 5:44
  Okay.
• 5:44
  So there was definitely a certain role that you wanted to eventually pursue in your professional life.
• 5:51
  Yeah.
• 5:51
  Okay.
• 5:52
  You always had that in you.
• 5:53
  Yeah, it was like a political bug.
• 5:55
  I always watch the news and, you know, watch the presidential debates and follow politics, I guess more than most.
• 6:02
  So right now you are the mayor of Bell Harbor and you, I guess, were sworn in.
• 6:09
  When was it?
• 6:10
  November 18th.
• 6:11
  November 18th.
• 6:11
  Yeah.
• 6:12
  When did it feel real?
• 6:14
  Because you were vice president, not vice president, vice mayor.
• 6:17
  I'll apply.
• 6:18
  Yeah.
• 6:19
  You were vice mayor and now you're mayor.
• 6:22
  when did it like click like oh now i'm the mayor yeah it was it's funny because i was the vice
• 6:29
  mayor for nine years and i was on the council two years before that so i've been in elected
• 6:34
  politics for 11 years and it never really it was something i did and it was never really anything
• 6:39
  that defined me or that people would identify me oh this is the you know vice mayor or councilman
• 6:44
  from bell harbor but when you're the mayor uh something happens i guess people all of a sudden
• 6:52
  notice you a little bit more.
• 6:53
  And when you're at like a party, people introduce you.
• 6:54
  Oh, this is the mayor of Bell Harbor.
• 6:56
  I have like real street cred.
• 6:59
  I guess.
• 7:01
  But it's like, it's really, you know, I don't want to downplay the role.
• 7:05
  I mean, obviously it's an important city in South Florida.
• 7:08
  It's a very important city, especially with, you know, the real estate climate and like
• 7:15
  how hot of a place it is.
• 7:17
  And there's just like a lot of activity.
• 7:19
  and I'm in real estate.
• 7:20
  So I see the importance of Bell Harbor and the surrounding areas are,
• 7:28
  and like whether you're reading the real deal, the wall street journal, like there's always
• 7:32
  going to be some sort of article talking about a sale or a new development and your area of
• 7:40
  Bell Harbor is greatly affected and you are getting a lot of publicity.
• 7:45
  Yeah.
• 7:45
  The good,
• 7:46
  the bad, the ugly, like they're just a lot of publicity.
• 7:50
  But it is becoming a much more known
• 7:53
  city.
• 7:54
  Like when I was growing up, I grew up in LA.
• 7:56
  LA had always tons of publicity.
• 7:59
  And obviously,
• 7:59
  it's like, you know, a celebrity haven and movies and Hollywood.
• 8:04
  But ever since the pandemic,
• 8:07
  Bell Harbor has increasingly become more popular for people to live in.
• 8:11
  It's becoming a very popular
• 8:13
  spot for people to retire.
• 8:15
  It's been like that for a long time.
• 8:16
  Yeah.
• 8:17
  But I think more now than ever,
• 8:20
  we are noticing South Florida as a whole is becoming like a very popular place for people
• 8:28
  to move to, whether you're young or old, whether you're working from home, working for someone
• 8:33
  else, a lot of corporations are moving down here.
• 8:35
  So there's a level of like importance.
• 8:38
  that the city has.
• 8:39
  And let me tell you, that means a lot to me
• 8:40
  because I grew up in this area where, you know,
• 8:44
  when we'd go to summer camp or other Jewish places
• 8:48
  like college and school trips,
• 8:50
  you would say, you know, to people out of state,
• 8:52
  you're from Bal Harbor or Bay Harbor,
• 8:55
  they have no idea what you're talking about.
• 8:57
  You have to say Miami or Miami Beach.
• 8:59
  That used to be the point of reference.
• 9:00
  Right.
• 9:01
  But now I feel like that's shifted.
• 9:02
  Right.
• 9:03
  And Bal Harbor is probably, I'd venture to guess,
• 9:05
  like the number one destination for like Orthodox Jewish vacations outside of Israel.
• 9:10
  Absolutely.
• 9:12
  Also, it's like, especially in sleepaway camp, if you were not from New York, you were out of town.
• 9:19
  Yes.
• 9:20
  Look who's out of town now.
• 9:21
  Yes.
• 9:22
  Like we're in town.
• 9:23
  How many New Yorkers wish they lived here?
• 9:25
  Exactly.
• 9:25
  Like this is going to become like the next New York, but not New York because like Miami is its own special.
• 9:33
  It's a vibe.
• 9:34
  It's a vibe.
• 9:35
  What do people think you do versus what you actually do?
• 9:41
  That's a good question.
• 9:42
  So I still have a day job.
• 9:44
  Okay.
• 9:45
  Yeah, I'm a CPA.
• 9:47
  I do taxes, accounting.
• 9:48
  And a lot of my clients would actually like saw on media and on the news and the newspaper
• 9:53
  that I'd become the mayor.
• 9:54
  And they're like, do I need to look for a new accountant?
• 9:56
  I'm like, this is not that kind of mayoral role.
• 9:58
  I'm not quitting my day job.
• 10:01
  But that being said, being mayor does consume a lot of my time.
• 10:05
  And I'm thankful for my family and for, you know, working with my dad.
• 10:08
  We have an accounting firm together that I have that flexibility that I can't step out in the middle of the day for meetings and for, you know, to attend some events in the community.
• 10:18
  Do you feel that pressure to like be at those events that you're invited to?
• 10:22
  Honestly, yes.
• 10:24
  And that was what you asked me, what has really shifted since becoming mayor?
• 10:27
  And it's that.
• 10:28
  It's like all of a sudden, I mean, I used to get invited to these gala dinners and stuff like that.
• 10:32
  But now it's like I'm getting a lot more invitations than before.
• 10:36
  And it's hard.
• 10:37
  And I'm the type of person that doesn't like saying no.
• 10:40
  Right.
• 10:41
  Are you just a people pleaser?
• 10:43
  I guess.
• 10:44
  Aren't all politicians somewhat?
• 10:45
  I mean, they kind of have to be or else they're really not doing your job.
• 10:49
  Right.
• 10:51
  How do people treat you differently now?
• 10:55
  And it could be friends and family.
• 10:57
  Yeah.
• 10:57
  So it's funny because this, when I got sworn in, like, got picked up by a couple of these, like, Brooklyn WhatsApp groups and Jewish news syndicates.
• 11:08
  Yeah.
• 11:08
  And people that I hadn't spoken to or even heard from in, like, 10, 15 years, like, from college, were all of a sudden texting me, like, hey, you came up on my, like, Jewish neighborhood WhatsApp group.
• 11:20
  Like, Mazel Tov, you're the mayor now.
• 11:22
  And it's like, yeah, you know, I guess it made news because of what was happening in New York.
• 11:28
  and the dichotomy between me and Mamdani.
• 11:31
  We're both, I guess, millennials, but a little different.
• 11:34
  It's very interesting because there's obviously
• 11:36
  a very stark contrast between you two.
• 11:40
  And it's not like you're competing.
• 11:43
  You're not competing, but there's no age difference
• 11:47
  where it's like, oh, some well-seasoned politician
• 11:51
  who's been doing this for forever.
• 11:54
  I'm not going to say you're new to the game,
• 11:57
  but like i mean he's a little more new to the game than you are but like you're both like in that
• 12:03
  sort of like age range where it's like there's no way you had like 35 years of experience we don't
• 12:09
  look the part i mean you right you go to when you see movies or tv you know like my kids watch uh
• 12:15
  paw patrol they have mayor humdinger this old school guy with like a top hat that was like for
• 12:20
  us growing up the mayor was an old man that like you know just like cut a bunch of ribbons do you
• 12:25
  think it's good that we're seeing like a younger generation like start a percent yeah yeah yeah
• 12:31
  we're taking over the millennials i mean i think we need to do a lot of things in today's day and
• 12:38
  age that i guess our parents generations like they didn't have social media they didn't have
• 12:45
  the access and i guess the knowledge and technology that we have now and a lot of people in the older
• 12:52
  generation like they don't know how to use it yes like a lot of them can't even open like a google
• 12:56
  doc so like i think what's interesting is like i mean i'm sure you're using social yeah and you
• 13:04
  know it's a very powerful tool and you have to understand your audience and a lot of people who
• 13:09
  are on social they're like closer to our age so obviously you want to connect to the young yeah
• 13:16
  And it's really like Bal Harbor is going to be celebrating 80 years.
• 13:20
  Wow.
• 13:21
  Since its founding this year in August.
• 13:24
  So I think it's appropriate that like the next generation is kind of stepping in and really trying to modernize what is a very old city.
• 13:34
  Roots go way back.
• 13:35
  You know, I don't know when you want to get into the history of Bal Harbor.
• 13:38
  We'll get there soon.
• 13:39
  Okay.
• 13:40
  but uh you know there's it's definitely it's about getting involved and making
• 13:47
  bell harbor relevant for not only my generation but for those that follow yeah your father
• 13:54
  is also a mayor yeah right now which is very interesting because you don't really see a lot
• 14:02
  of father son mayors that are like this close like yeah so what you what you typically see is like
• 14:11
  a mayor you know a mayor whose father was the previous mayor of like the same city right you
• 14:17
  know maybe 10 or 15 20 years separated i know that happened in money beach i think it happened
• 14:21
  in new york city several cities what's interesting is that since we don't live in the same city we
• 14:26
  We live in neighboring towns.
• 14:28
  My dad is actually, he's the mayor right now of Bay Harbor.
• 14:32
  It's his third time being mayor.
• 14:35
  And what was beautiful about that was that he was able to swear me in when I became mayor.
• 14:39
  And that was very emotional.
• 14:41
  A lot of people from the community that knew both him and I and saw me grow up.
• 14:44
  It was a big, big deal.
• 14:47
  And what, I lost my train of thought.
• 14:50
  It's okay.
• 14:52
  well my question is have you gotten any sort of not backlash but like the fact that your father's
• 15:00
  a mayor now you're a mayor it's like is there another brother going to become a mayor of like
• 15:03
  another like surfside a lot of people are saying that they you know like they want to take over
• 15:09
  there's going to be a mayor's race and i think people like i like to think that people like the
• 15:13
  way bay harbor and bell harbor being run now and they're saying when is your brother because i do
• 15:16
  have a brother that lives in Bay Harbor.
• 15:18
  When is your brother going to move to Surfside?
• 15:20
  Maybe you
• 15:21
  can help him find a place.
• 15:22
  I don't know.
• 15:24
  Because you really don't hear about like this father-son
• 15:28
  doing it at the same time and like literally neighboring.
• 15:31
  I did a little bit of research and
• 15:32
  yes, ChatGPT may have helped me.
• 15:34
  So it's only, it's never happened in the state of Florida.
• 15:37
  Okay.
• 15:38
  And as far as I could find online, it's only happened once in like two neighboring towns
• 15:45
  in New Jersey.
• 15:46
  And that was like in the early 2000s.
• 15:48
  Interesting.
• 15:49
  Yeah.
• 15:49
  So it's history in
• 15:52
  Florida, certainly.
• 15:53
  And, you know.
• 15:54
  Wow.
• 15:54
  Probably this.
• 15:55
  Yeah.
• 15:56
  Well, that would be very interesting
• 15:57
  if your brother became the mayor.
• 15:58
  That would be the trifecta.
• 16:00
  That would be.
• 16:01
  And then we'd have
• 16:01
  to I have my youngest brother lives in Stanford, Connecticut.
• 16:04
  We might have to get him to move down
• 16:05
  to Indian Creek and then we can just.
• 16:07
  Oh, my God.
• 16:08
  Guys are just taking over.
• 16:10
  That's a little bit of a leap, though.
• 16:12
  I don't know for those that are watching at home.
• 16:15
  Indian Creek, I think, what is like the average home going for now?
• 16:19
  Like 40 million, 50 million, maybe more.
• 16:22
  And our homes for like close to 100 million, 120 million.
• 16:24
  Yeah.
• 16:25
  I think Bezos has a couple.
• 16:27
  Bezos, I think, owns like three properties in Indian Creek.
• 16:30
  So you're basically the mayor of Bezos if you were to be the mayor of...
• 16:33
  It's funny.
• 16:34
  So Indian Creek...
• 16:35
  So what is that part of, by the way?
• 16:36
  Indian Creek is...
• 16:37
  Indian Creek is its own city.
• 16:38
  Oh, it's its own city.
• 16:39
  And they have their own mayor and council and police department and Marine Patrol,
• 16:43
  which is like their most important like and they have 50 residents 50 5-0 maybe like now that
• 16:52
  there's more kids living on the island maybe a little bit more i can't believe it's its own city
• 16:56
  i didn't know that yeah it's its own city because they want to be able to control everything
• 16:59
  about it so it's like the golf course and then you have like 25 homes around the golf course
• 17:05
  yeah i've been on indian creek like a couple of times count the staff that they have maybe
• 17:10
  Right.
• 17:10
  Populations, maybe up to...
• 17:12
  I noticed that they do have their own police.
• 17:14
  Do they have their own fire department?
• 17:16
  No.
• 17:16
  So Surfside, Bay Harbor, Bell Harbor, we all rely on Miami-Dade County Fire.
• 17:21
  Oh, interesting.
• 17:22
  So we have a station in Hollover just over the bridge.
• 17:25
  And then there's a substation in Bay Harbor Islands.
• 17:28
  Okay.
• 17:28
  That's in the community.
• 17:29
  Interesting.
• 17:30
  So even though you're the mayor of, I guess, Bell Harbor, your own city.
• 17:35
  Yes.
• 17:35
  like they're still it's small enough where like you don't have like your own we don't have our own
• 17:43
  our own public school either right because that's also run by the county yeah right so I know in
• 17:49
  some like New York towns or whatever you have the school board of like a small town as well
• 17:54
  no we don't have that well how big is Bell Harbor uh so where does it start because I don't know
• 18:00
  96th Street.
• 18:01
  Okay.
• 18:02
  You know 96th Street?
• 18:02
  Yes.
• 18:03
  Okay.
• 18:03
  That's 96th Street on the beach side.
• 18:06
  The beach side.
• 18:06
  Yeah.
• 18:07
  Not the mainland.
• 18:08
  Okay.
• 18:09
  Not on the dry area.
• 18:10
  So if you take 123rd Street from the mainland over the Broad Causeway, then that becomes
• 18:18
  96th Street in Bay Harbor, which runs to Bal Harbor and Surfside.
• 18:23
  So we start at 96th Street and then we go all the way up to the Hollover Bridge, which
• 18:27
  is like, I guess, 104th.
• 18:28
  The, not St. Regis, the Ritz-Carlton.
• 18:32
  The Ritz-Carlton, yeah.
• 18:33
  And the one Val Harbor.
• 18:34
  Yeah.
• 18:34
  Okay, so after the Ritz-Carlton, that is?
• 18:36
  Hollover, which is unincorporated Miami-Dade County.
• 18:39
  So nobody controls that?
• 18:41
  Well, it's controlled by the county.
• 18:43
  No mayor?
• 18:45
  Well, there's a county mayor.
• 18:46
  Oh, okay.
• 18:46
  Yeah.
• 18:47
  Okay, I'm like not a politician expert.
• 18:49
  But no one lives in Hollover.
• 18:51
  And then Hollover is like just a big park.
• 18:53
  And then just north of Hollover is Sunny Isles Beach.
• 18:56
  Right.
• 18:57
  Okay.
• 18:58
  Mayor, council, police
• 18:59
  I don't know why I find it so cute
• 19:01
  It's like a cute idea of a city
• 19:03
  Because it's like
• 19:04
  Your involvement is probably like
• 19:06
  You probably know a lot what's going on
• 19:09
  Because there's obviously not that much space
• 19:12
  Yes
• 19:13
  It's not like
• 19:14
  But for a small town we have a lot going on
• 19:16
  You do have a lot going on
• 19:17
  We have a coast
• 19:18
  We have a beach
• 19:19
  Which is important
• 19:20
  We've actually
• 19:22
  Over the years have had
• 19:23
  Immigrants landing on our beach
• 19:25
  That's made news
• 19:26
  Yeah
• 19:29
  I mean how does that go also in the 80s apparently Hollover and Bell Harbor that
• 19:34
  that um the Hollover jetty um that was a big like drug drop oh I can see that cocaine cowboys in
• 19:42
  the 80s oh yeah um yeah so Bell Harbor had a lot going on and we have a St. Regis I'd like to think
• 19:48
  we have like the best hotels in South Florida you know we have a St. Regis a Ritz Carlton
• 19:52
  the bell harbor shops of course okay we'll get we'll get into that that's like the highlight
• 19:57
  of bell harbor and um we have world-class dining shopping beautiful condominiums you really have to
• 20:04
  sell bell harbor i think it speaks for itself but i definitely want to get into a little bit
• 20:10
  of the history of bell harbor with you yeah so in 1943 jews weren't even allowed to buy land
• 20:17
  in Bell Harbor.
• 20:18
  How does it feel to be the Jewish mayor of a town on its 80th birthday that was
• 20:25
  literally designed to keep you out?
• 20:29
  It's a really, I mean, it's really,
• 20:33
  you can get emotional about it.
• 20:34
  You can feel like this is in some ways like a microcosm of
• 20:38
  Jewish history.
• 20:38
  Like you tried so hard to keep us out and we're here and we're here to stay.
• 20:43
  and we contribute to the community.
• 20:46
  I mean, Bell Harbor is a community for everybody
• 20:47
  where everyone feels welcome,
• 20:49
  you know, for South America, from Europe.
• 20:52
  And it's really like a little melting pot.
• 20:54
  And I'm so fortunate to be Orthodox Jewish
• 20:59
  and be the mayor of Bell Harbor where,
• 21:01
  I mean, I can read you the exact language if you want.
• 21:03
  Let's hear it.
• 21:04
  I really want to hear it because-
• 21:05
  I had it.
• 21:06
  When you read it to me yesterday,
• 21:07
  I was like, this is really-
• 21:09
  I dug it out of the archives
• 21:11
  because it's almost unbelievable, really, if you think about it.
• 21:16
  So this is from the original deeds.
• 21:21
  So Bal Harbor was developed by Miami Beach Heights.
• 21:23
  In fact, it was originally called Miami Beach Heights
• 21:26
  because it was at the northern tip of Miami Beach.
• 21:28
  Miami Beach is one long island from South Beach all the way up to Bal Harbor.
• 21:34
  And, you know, of course, there's the cities that we spoke about.
• 21:37
  There's Miami Beach, then Surfside, then Bal Harbor, then Bay Harbor.
• 21:41
  and Indian Creek.
• 21:43
  So let me get the language here.
• 21:45
  Oh, it's this one.
• 21:47
  So this is an original warranty deed for a block,
• 21:51
  but they all have the same template.
• 21:53
  And there's several provisions.
• 21:55
  I mean, the usual real estate stuff,
• 21:56
  grantor, grantee, block number.
• 21:59
  But then here, further down,
• 22:03
  further down under restrictions,
• 22:08
  it says ownership.
• 22:09
  And I'm going to read word for word from paragraph two under ownership where it says,
• 22:38
  case in race.
• 22:40
  This covenant shall expire at the end of 21 years from January 1st, 1947.
• 22:42
  So it's
• 22:45
  just very crazy language.
• 22:47
  I mean, if you think about, you know, 2020, now we're in 2026, I was
• 22:51
  about to say 25.
• 22:53
  Like, like what you can and cannot say publicly.
• 22:56
  And this is a public document
• 22:57
  that's recorded.
• 22:58
  Anyone can find it on Miami-Dade County records.
• 23:03
  And it's just scary.
• 23:04
  Like this is
• 23:04
  the world that existed yeah it doesn't surprise me only because when my parents bought their home
• 23:12
  in la in the deed it said in the deed no blacks no jews like under the restrictions and it said
• 23:21
  jews wow um and it was kind of like an fu moment like okay where like hancock park now is a very
• 23:31
  Jewish area.
• 23:33
  And like back in the day, like you weren't allowed to sell it to Jews.
• 23:37
  So it doesn't
• 23:37
  surprise me.
• 23:38
  But what's surprising is there's an, like, I would say a very large percentage
• 23:44
  of Val Harbor is Jewish now.
• 23:45
  So it's like, it's this really big turnaround.
• 23:50
  Completely.
• 23:51
  And I have to plug my rabbi, my late rabbi, Rabbi Shalom Lipsker.
• 23:57
  He really transformed
• 23:59
  this area, Bal Harbor, into what it is today.
• 24:01
  And none of this would have been possible without him,
• 24:03
  not me.
• 24:04
  You know, my parents became Balchuva through Rabbi Lipsker.
• 24:07
  And I'm so honored to
• 24:08
  now be very close with Rabbi Zalman Lipsker, who's the new rabbi of the Shul of Bal Harbor.
• 24:13
  And it's just been an incredible transformation.
• 24:17
  Yeah, it's crazy that this sort of restriction in a deed was implemented.
• 24:24
  And only, what was it,
• 24:26
  Last week, the prime minister of Israel was here.
• 24:29
  Bibi was here.
• 24:31
  And I don't think somebody 85 years ago would ever think that that would happen.
• 24:39
  And that was a really, really big deal.
• 24:42
  So it's within, what, the first month of you being in office that you have this sort of event.
• 24:49
  Can you tell me about the logistics behind it and what went into that?
• 24:53
  Because this is a big deal.
• 24:54
  It was a little intense.
• 24:56
  I mean, unquestionably, so worth it to be able to host a world leader, not only in the shul, but in the community.
• 25:03
  And but from a logistical perspective, you can imagine Bibi Netanyahu is very sought after, not just for those that love him, but also those that don't.
• 25:14
  Right.
• 25:14
  And so you can imagine the Secret Service was very involved and it was almost actually had a debriefing last week with our police chief and our deputy chief about like, OK, now that this all passed, we can talk a little bit more freely.
• 25:29
  Like, what was it like?
• 25:30
  And it was the same level.
• 25:32
  And the Secret Service told us to us it's the same level like preparing for the U.S. president was preparing for Bibi Netanyahu.
• 25:39
  in fact and and it was all happening on new year's eve in bell harbor which is you know a lot of
• 25:43
  people are in town a lot of people have plans and we hit the they shut down collins avenue you know
• 25:49
  for several blocks um trucks were not allowed in so anyone who was trying to cater a party for new
• 25:54
  years you know and i was getting a lot of these calls and there was absolutely nothing i was on
• 25:59
  the verge of calling you because i thought it would all be over and it took me it didn't take
• 26:04
  me a long time to get to surfside but once i hit surfside they like diverted traffic to like the
• 26:10
  residential part and i don't know why nobody like why didn't you guys like i guess in surfside put
• 26:15
  up signs like no parking on the street because the streets are so tiny and stupid me wants to
• 26:20
  go to balt harbor shops and return something which was like really dumb don't do that again
• 26:24
  um and i was like sitting in traffic and i'm like this amount of security and it all and the
• 26:32
  the situation was constantly in flux.
• 26:34
  Like at first it was going to be at a certain time.
• 26:36
  And then I think the president Trump had invited him back to Mar-a-Lago for
• 26:39
  New Year's Eve.
• 26:40
  So then everything got pushed up and it was just like,
• 26:42
  we were trying to get messages out because it was a big inconvenience to,
• 26:46
  to the community and people were kind of stuck, you know,
• 26:48
  in traffic and all this stuff.
• 26:49
  And we were trying to be as transparent as possible,
• 26:52
  but when you're dealing with like high level, like security and, you know,
• 26:57
  secret service and they don't want you to say anything.
• 26:59
  And then it's like,
• 27:00
  But we have to tell people that they're not going to be able to leave their house, you know, between, you know, 9 and 12 or whatever it was at the time.
• 27:07
  So it was a little, it was intense, but it was so special.
• 27:11
  And to me, it almost shows this transformation because back in the day, like even 5, 10 years ago, Netanyahu would never come to Miami, Miami Beach, Surfside, Bell Harbor.
• 27:23
  I mean, it would be New York, which New York has had the monopoly on Orthodox Jewish life forever, almost since, you know, Jews started coming over to the New World.
• 27:32
  Yeah.
• 27:33
  And we've seen the shift.
• 27:34
  You've seen it.
• 27:35
  I've seen it where all of a sudden, like Miami, Bell Harbor is the center of Jewish life in America.
• 27:42
  It is.
• 27:43
  And it's growing.
• 27:45
  And I feel like even not just Miami, but you go up to Boca, you go to other parts of Florida and communities are continuously expanding.
• 27:56
  And it's nice that we're seeing that shift and that growth.
• 28:03
  But you guys are causing a lot of traffic.
• 28:05
  Yes.
• 28:07
  I know.
• 28:07
  We need traffic.
• 28:09
  That's one of the main complaints I get, unfortunately.
• 28:11
  And we're like a square mile.
• 28:13
  Whatever, guys.
• 28:14
  Just walk.
• 28:14
  It's nice outside now this time of year.
• 28:17
  We're a square mile and, you know, we have Collins Avenue, 96th Street.
• 28:20
  And, you know, people are typically just driving through Bell Harbor to get to Harding or to Miami Beach.
• 28:25
  So, but we're working on it.
• 28:27
  We're working on it.
• 28:28
  That's good.
• 28:29
  So you're obviously visibly Jewish.
• 28:33
  You're wearing your yarmulke.
• 28:35
  Do you wear it at work?
• 28:36
  Always.
• 28:37
  Is there like some sort of pressure or something that makes you feel like you need to conduct yourself a certain way?
• 28:43
  I mean, I think that's the point of a kippah, right?
• 28:45
  You know, it's on your head to remember that there's a God above.
• 28:49
  And, you know, when I'm wearing it on the dais or wearing it at a ceremony or at an event, it's to send a message that I am a messenger.
• 29:01
  You know, I'm a shliach in some ways, and I'm here to make the world a better place.
• 29:07
  How does Jewish values guide you through tough calls and tough situations that you need to deal with?
• 29:13
  It's what I rely on.
• 29:14
  I mean, Jewish values are really human values, right?
• 29:17
  It's right and wrong.
• 29:19
  It's good and bad.
• 29:20
  And I mean, I have my parents to thank for the tremendous foundation, Jewish education that they invested.
• 29:26
  You know, we could have, my parents could have probably retired had they not paid for yeshiva tuition all these years for me and my siblings.
• 29:34
  But it was a sacrifice they made.
• 29:35
  And I'm so fortunate that they made it.
• 29:37
  And I'm now doing it for my own children.
• 29:39
  And it's something where, you know, giving back to the community and leaving the world better than how we found it.
• 29:47
  I mean, that's the goal, really.
• 29:50
  That should be the goal of any politician, and certainly my goal is the mayor.
• 29:53
  Being orthodox obviously isn't easy.
• 29:57
  Being a mayor is probably not just a walk in the park.
• 30:00
  Has orthodoxy complicated things with being the mayor
• 30:05
  and being in a position where you need to answer phone calls if there's ever an emergency?
• 30:12
  How do you handle that?
• 30:14
  Yeah.
• 30:14
  Yeah.
• 30:15
  So it's funny because we've had this conversation a couple of times between the police chief and the manager.
• 30:21
  Like good luck on a three day on death.
• 30:23
  Yes.
• 30:24
  Yes.
• 30:24
  The good news is that I always tell them where I'm going to be and they and Bell Harbor is not big.
• 30:29
  So thankfully, they've never had to like ring the bat phone.
• 30:33
  But in my condo, I mean, they know that they can tell security and security will get the message to me.
• 30:39
  If there was obviously something going on, I can maybe leave my phone on and check, you know, look at notifications.
• 30:44
  you know, without touching it or being Machal Shabbat or Yom Tov.
• 30:47
  But thankfully, nothing crazy has happened.
• 30:50
  And, you know, at the end of the day, they respect me for that.
• 30:54
  And it's something that I learned from my dad because he was also very involved,
• 30:59
  not only in Bay Harbor, but also at the statewide level in the Florida League of Cities.
• 31:04
  And they would always have their annual convention every year.
• 31:07
  And it would start on like a Thursday, but it would be like their main business meeting was always on Shabbat.
• 31:12
  And my dad would go and he was like, he was actually, he's been the president of that organization and they all knew that he could not use a microphone on Shabbat.
• 31:20
  And, you know, he'd pre-record his message and it was something where you can't, you can't, something that's that important to you, you can't, you can't sacrifice it.
• 31:31
  You know, you can't, what's the word I'm looking for?
• 31:36
  Sacrifice is a good word.
• 31:37
  Yeah, you can't sacrifice it.
• 31:39
  and it's um and it's something that they end up respecting you more yeah because like this is a
• 31:44
  man of faith and it's someone that you can trust yeah it's interesting a lot of times people they
• 31:51
  want someone married religious has deep values morals and even if somebody doesn't believe in
• 32:00
  necessarily the same religion as you there is an element of trust of like like you're grounded
• 32:07
  Yeah.
• 32:08
  What is harder for you to make a hard decision or receiving backlash for making a decision?
• 32:16
  That is a good question.
• 32:20
  I think, you know, I'm a Libra.
• 32:24
  So making decisions is hard, especially when it's a hard decision.
• 32:27
  so I would definitely say that but not so much backlash because when I've made a decision
• 32:32
  if it's something to do with politics or something with bell harbor on the day is
• 32:38
  it's something that I've come to the point where this is my decision and I'm comfortable enough
• 32:42
  to defend it so I'm once I've made a decision it's almost like liberating like I know this is
• 32:48
  the decision and you know I will I will be happy to defend it to anyone who has an issue with that
• 32:54
  decision but thankfully we get along bell harvard yeah so much drama i don't i don't feel like there
• 33:00
  would be but if i mean you're you're pretty new in your mayor role that is true but has anybody
• 33:08
  like ever like confronted you like in person about something or an issue like oh you're the
• 33:13
  new mayor now and i know you like let's get this fixed and you're all the time oh so this is like
• 33:18
  everyday occurrences yeah like people stop what's the wackiest thing someone has suggested
• 33:24
  well well someone um well i'd say the wackiest thing someone said to me was like that they were
• 33:31
  walking in val harbor and they got hit by an electric scooter and i need to do something
• 33:36
  about it um unfortunately there's something i mean we are working on that um creating a
• 33:41
  dismount zone and but this is the type of stuff you know we're the government closest to the
• 33:46
  people so it's the little things that you know make a big difference in every in people's everyday
• 33:53
  lives i mean the scooters are annoying you know what's even more annoying than the scooters you
• 33:57
  know those little robots that drop off people's foods they should ban them you should ban it in
• 34:01
  bell harbor now i don't even live in bell harbor but they're annoying they haven't made it to our
• 34:05
  neck of the woods yet oh can you like i'm just telling you from experience they take up the
• 34:11
  sidewalks.
• 34:12
  They like prevent people from walking.
• 34:15
  Also, Bell Harbor has really long blocks.
• 34:16
  So I'm
• 34:17
  going to assume.
• 34:17
  And very narrow sidewalks.
• 34:19
  Very narrow.
• 34:19
  You're going to have people walking.
• 34:20
  We have this really fancy stone that people get annoyed with too.
• 34:24
  I mean, since I got elected,
• 34:25
  I've been trying to improve the pedestrian experience in Bell Harbor, but it's not easy
• 34:29
  because it's a state road and we have to get Florida Department of Transportation approval.
• 34:35
  So there's like a lot.
• 34:36
  Yeah.
• 34:36
  Running a city is not easy.
• 34:39
  Thankfully, I have a good team.
• 34:40
  I'm not,
• 34:41
  I'm the mayor, but we have a full-time manager and deputy manager and police chief.
• 34:48
  So how many people do you work with on the daily?
• 34:51
  So we have, it's me and a vice mayor and three council members.
• 34:55
  Okay.
• 34:56
  Those are like basically the board of directors of Bell Harbor.
• 34:59
  I'm the chairman of the board as the mayor.
• 35:03
  And the manager and the police chief, those are the people that I communicate with directly, you know, day-to-day stuff.
• 35:11
  Okay.
• 35:13
  I was debating on getting into this because it sounds a little controversial, but I want to get into Venezuela a little bit because your wife is from Venezuela.
• 35:21
  She was born there.
• 35:23
  I've actually visited before I even knew, had met her.
• 35:25
  I was there for Pesach a long time ago.
• 35:28
  So you were in Venezuela for Pesach?
• 35:31
  In 2005.
• 35:32
  Okay.
• 35:33
  And who was the, who was running Venezuela?
• 35:38
  It was actually Chavez, but we went with like a family that had grown up there, was from there.
• 35:44
  And we actually were not in Caracas.
• 35:46
  We were in like a very remote part of Venezuela.
• 35:48
  Was it safe to be there?
• 35:51
  So it's funny you should ask.
• 35:53
  It was pretty safe.
• 35:54
  But if you ventured out of the resort, we were like on a beach resort near Margarita on the coast.
• 36:02
  And had you ventured out on your own, it was not safe.
• 36:06
  and in retrospect probably wasn't the best idea to go you know as a family to Venezuela but
• 36:12
  more so my wife left Venezuela in 1999 with her family she was eight years old she'd grown up
• 36:17
  there left at the time that they left they left you know my wife's grandmothers but on both sides
• 36:24
  were still there aunts and uncles and it was a very traumatic thing and they left because of
• 36:29
  Chavez and because of the you know socialist communist government that was in place at the
• 36:35
  time and the Jewish community, you know, they saw that there was tension early on, although things
• 36:43
  didn't, you know, there's still a Jewish community there that has survived.
• 36:47
  But it was something
• 36:48
  where it's like, you tell yourself, you know, I'm thinking what my in-laws were thinking,
• 36:53
  thinking it's like their parents had to flee their countries of origin.
• 36:57
  And, you know, let's go now
• 36:59
  before things get really out of hand.
• 37:01
  And they came to Florida, not to Miami, surprisingly,
• 37:05
  where all the other Venezuelans went.
• 37:06
  They actually ended up going to Boca.
• 37:08
  Oh, interesting.
• 37:09
  Yeah, and my wife's parents, to this day, my in-laws,
• 37:12
  live on the circle there.
• 37:13
  And they were, you know, one of the early families there,
• 37:16
  and they love it.
• 37:16
  And they said specifically they wanted to go to Boca Raton
• 37:18
  because there were no other Venezuelans there,
• 37:20
  and they really wanted to get the Jewish-American experience.
• 37:24
  Oh, wow.
• 37:25
  Yeah, and they're proud of it.
• 37:27
  And, you know, they raised three beautiful daughters,
• 37:29
  and I'm so fortunate to have my wife, Perla, who's Venezuelan.
• 37:34
  In fact, on another Pesach program we did a few years ago,
• 37:38
  we went to Cartagena, Colombia, and on that trip,
• 37:41
  we were able to renew her Venezuelan passport.
• 37:43
  It was not easy.
• 37:45
  They make it very difficult.
• 37:47
  She renewed her Venezuelan passport, so she's ready to go.
• 37:49
  As soon as things open up there, I mean...
• 37:52
  What's, like, the current situation there now?
• 37:54
  It's still very fluid.
• 37:56
  You know, even though they took out Maduro,
• 37:59
  the old regime is still in power.
• 38:01
  So we're really watching closely what's going to happen
• 38:05
  with Marco Rubio, President Trump,
• 38:07
  hopefully get things moving there
• 38:08
  and really open up that country.
• 38:09
  Because Venezuela, and I've heard these stories
• 38:12
  at the Shabbat table from my in-laws
• 38:14
  and from their relatives.
• 38:16
  Venezuela was, forget about the natural resources
• 38:20
  that Venezuela has, but it was the wealthiest country
• 38:23
  in South America.
• 38:25
  And it was just such a beautiful place to live, to grow up.
• 38:28
  And, you know, communism destroyed that.
• 38:32
  Some people don't want to believe that communism really destroys the place.
• 38:36
  Yes.
• 38:37
  So you were inaugurated the same time as Mamdani.
• 38:42
  I was.
• 38:42
  And everybody has their own opinion on what Trump has done and his actions to, I would say, essentially free Venezuela from their dictator.
• 38:55
  What are your thoughts on what happened in Venezuela?
• 38:59
  I'm ecstatic.
• 39:00
  And in fact, we found out on Shabbat at the shul.
• 39:04
  It was like from the security team.
• 39:06
  You know, they're very good at like letting us know when there's like a world event happening.
• 39:10
  Yeah.
• 39:11
  And the mood was just electric because so many people in South Florida are from, you know, my grandparents are Cuban.
• 39:18
  Yeah.
• 39:19
  And they had to flee.
• 39:21
  On my dad's side, they fled from Poland to Cuba.
• 39:24
  On my mom's side, they fled from Turkey and Syria to Cuba.
• 39:27
  And then unfortunately, they had to flee Cuba to Florida and to Miami.
• 39:31
  And I welcome this change.
• 39:33
  And it's just so nice to see a world leader that is doing something to try to clean up
• 39:40
  the world and make the world a better place.
• 39:42
  Because everyone talks.
• 39:44
  Biden talked about it.
• 39:45
  Everyone spoke about freeing Venezuela.
• 39:48
  But Trump was the one that did it.
• 39:50
  Yeah.
• 39:50
  And what do you have to tell the people who are somehow finding the twisted...
• 39:57
  All the people protesting are protestors.
• 40:00
  If you see...
• 40:01
  Ask the Venezuelans how they feel.
• 40:04
  Exactly.
• 40:04
  Ask the Venezuelans.
• 40:05
  The Venezuelans have never been this optimistic and they're excited because, you know, unlike
• 40:11
  what happened in Cuba, you know, Venezuela, there's a chance to get it back.
• 40:14
  And, you know, who knows?
• 40:15
  Maybe Cuba's next.
• 40:16
  Maybe Iran is next.
• 40:17
  I mean, with Trump at the helm, I mean, he is keeping he's he's keeping his word on a lot of these things and people are afraid of him.
• 40:26
  So, well, I think not not only people are afraid of him, but.
• 40:32
  I think a lot of people who are more on the left, they're afraid that he might actually do something good and he's been doing good and you don't have to love his personality.
• 40:41
  You don't have to love everything he does.
• 40:43
  But when you're taking out a bad guy and you are, you know, giving a bad guy what he deserves, which is taking him out of a country and potentially saving more lives.
• 40:57
  Like, what is some schmuck, you know, with a poster?
• 41:01
  Like, who are you to say that what he did was bad?
• 41:05
  If anything, like, you're a part of the problem.
• 41:07
  Right.
• 41:08
  No, and in fact, the, you know, Rabbi Brenner, who was the rabbi of the largest synagogue in Caracas, he put out a statement.
• 41:17
  He basically said, like, obviously supporting Trump's actions and saying how the whole operation itself was so flawless and perfect, which almost never happens in military, in war.
• 41:29
  And that just shows that this is, you know, there was some help from above because it was a flawless, flawless mission.
• 41:36
  They got him out.
• 41:37
  They got the wife out.
• 41:38
  And you know what?
• 41:38
  We're showing them, you know, whereas, you know, Maduro was responsible for jailing and disappearing how many political activists and, you know, and students that were protesting trying to get a better Venezuela.
• 41:50
  And here we are showing them how we do in America.
• 41:52
  You're under arrest.
• 41:53
  He's now going to stand trial in New York City.
• 41:56
  I mean, what how much more American can you get?
• 42:00
  And what is the most fascinating thing, I guess, for people in Miami to witness is, I mean, we live in Brickell and there is a huge Latin community.
• 42:13
  And I remember on Chavez, like we walk out of shul and people are literally parading around Venezuelan flags and honking and cheering.
• 42:20
  Pots and pans.
• 42:21
  Oh, my God.
• 42:21
  Like it was it was it was not a celebration without the pots and pans.
• 42:25
  It's not, but it's, it was such a interesting feeling because it was like, even though this
• 42:33
  didn't even happen in America, like you felt like people are relieved and people are like
• 42:40
  finally getting to that point of like, there's going to be like normalcy and there's hope.
• 42:45
  And that's like something people need in every community, whether they're living in the country
• 42:51
  or not.
• 42:51
  I'm sure a lot of people who live in Miami have still, you know, family, relatives.
• 42:56
  you know, back there at home.
• 42:58
  So, you know, I think, like, for you to say as, like, a politician,
• 43:02
  like, you know, you're very happy you have family ties to Venezuela.
• 43:07
  Yeah, I'm excited.
• 43:08
  It's a good thing, people.
• 43:09
  My wife has been waiting, waiting, waiting all these years.
• 43:12
  I've heard so many stories about how she grew up, the stores.
• 43:15
  Obviously, a lot of that is not going to be there when we go to visit, God willing, soon.
• 43:20
  Yeah.
• 43:20
  But, like, I mean, it's her childhood,
• 43:22
  and she wants to be able to share it with me and our children.
• 43:24
  and I'm excited.
• 43:26
  I have to see when, you know,
• 43:27
  if we're going to still need visas
• 43:29
  or anything like that.
• 43:29
  But I look forward to the day
• 43:31
  where we can land in Caracas
• 43:33
  and really experience the country
• 43:35
  in a different way.
• 43:36
  Yeah.
• 43:37
  Well, we're going to discuss a little bit
• 43:40
  on a lighter note about Bell Harbor.
• 43:42
  Okay.
• 43:43
  And maybe some of the people watching this
• 43:46
  have never been to Bell Harbor
• 43:48
  and they just assume Miami is the beach.
• 43:53
  and every time I have someone on the podcast and sometimes they're gonna be part of like the
• 43:59
  religious community and they just get off the plane they go to Miami Beach they know 41st Street
• 44:04
  maybe they go to Harding for a meal they don't really know like Bell Harbor because
• 44:09
  Bell Harbor is separate from Surfside people kind of just like mush it together
• 44:14
  I like to think of it as the greater Bell Harbor community right and we discussed how there is like
• 44:21
  a border between Surfside, Bell Harbor,
• 44:24
  Harbor Island.
• 44:24
  There's
• 44:25
  its own thing.
• 44:28
  In my opinion,
• 44:30
  Bell Harbor is one of
• 44:31
  my favorite places because of the Bell Harbor
• 44:34
  shops.
• 44:37
  There's a lot
• 44:38
  of talk, which we won't get into,
• 44:40
  on the
• 44:42
  project.
• 44:42
  I can't even
• 44:44
  follow these things anymore.
• 44:46
  We're not going to get into that.
• 44:49
  A great
• 44:49
  spot for tourists
• 44:52
  is the Bal Harbor shops.
• 44:54
  And I said this to you yesterday on the phone.
• 44:56
  I said,
• 44:57
  you know, I was thinking about this.
• 44:58
  Like if I was a turtle, cause they have these beautiful
• 45:00
  little ponds, these like man-made ponds, the cutest turtles and koi fish.
• 45:05
  And if you were a
• 45:07
  turtle in the Bal Harbor shops, what would you see?
• 45:10
  What would you see?
• 45:11
  You would see a lot of
• 45:12
  shopping bags.
• 45:15
  You would see a lot of shopping bags and like what kind of people, what like?
• 45:19
  Yeah.
• 45:19
  So the beauty about Bell Harbor is that it's an all year long destination.
• 45:25
  So in winter, we have, you know, more locals coming from New York, L.A., Canada, lots of Canadians.
• 45:35
  And then in the summer, the nice thing is that you have all the South Americans because it's winter for them in the summer.
• 45:42
  Right.
• 45:43
  So they like coming to Miami because it's usually cheaper in the summer.
• 45:46
  Right.
• 45:46
  And they don't mind the heat because they live in South America.
• 45:49
  And so it's really an all year round destination.
• 45:51
  And I feel like for me, I've heard so much about I've gone to the shops.
• 45:56
  Obviously, I've grown up in the community.
• 45:58
  It's changed over the years.
• 45:59
  But I feel like the turtles would be like, can you get me some Makoto?
• 46:05
  They like fish, right?
• 46:06
  So it's one of the places I would love to go to, but not kosher.
• 46:12
  Not kosher.
• 46:12
  Yeah.
• 46:13
  Although some folks...
• 46:14
  Well, we have to put a kosher restaurant in Bell Harbor
• 46:16
  because there are no kosher restaurants in Bell Harbor.
• 46:18
  Right.
• 46:19
  Why not?
• 46:21
  Is it a lack of space?
• 46:23
  Like, what's the problem?
• 46:23
  I mean, other than the shops,
• 46:25
  it would have to be in a hotel, I guess, or in a condo.
• 46:28
  There actually was a...
• 46:29
  There was.
• 46:30
  There was that Chinese place.
• 46:31
  But that was Miami Beach, not Bell Harbor.
• 46:33
  No, but there was one of the buildings that was demolished.
• 46:36
  The Carleton Terrace had a kosher restaurant in it
• 46:39
  before it was taken down.
• 46:42
  that's where the rivage is going up now i'm not sure if you're okay okay yeah we definitely need
• 46:47
  a kosher spot in bell harbor not that it's so far away from surfside but like bell harbor should
• 46:52
  have at least like one good go-to like kosher spot even if it's not like a fancy place like
• 46:57
  a good like sandwich place or something yeah i'm sure it'll happen just like everything else
• 47:04
  i mean there's an opportunity for people who are in the restaurant industry like there's
• 47:07
  Nothing kosher in Bell Harbor.
• 47:08
  Like, make it work.
• 47:11
  Who do you call for advice?
• 47:13
  So the easy one is my dad.
• 47:16
  Okay.
• 47:16
  He's the mayor in Bay Harbor.
• 47:18
  And obviously, he's done a lot in the community.
• 47:22
  And he's someone that I rely on.
• 47:25
  And my wife.
• 47:27
  Really?
• 47:28
  Yeah.
• 47:29
  She's good about keeping me grounded.
• 47:32
  And if I get too excited about something, like kind of giving me a different perspective,
• 47:36
  it's important.
• 47:37
  Behind every good politician is an even better spouse.
• 47:43
  Yeah, because politicians can be women too.
• 47:45
  Right.
• 47:47
  I'm trying to think.
• 47:48
  Yeah, there are some women in...
• 47:50
  Yeah, the mayor of Miami-Dade, the mayor of the city of Miami.
• 47:53
  Right.
• 47:53
  Yeah.
• 47:54
  You should run.
• 47:56
  I should not run a city.
• 47:57
  You should run.
• 47:58
  Zoli would make a great campaign manager.
• 48:01
  Zoli actually told me, when was it, like a couple of days ago,
• 48:04
  that he wants to he wants to run for mayor i'm like no really he would want like down the line
• 48:11
  down the line one day when he's like in his retirement phase oh yeah and i'm like no he's
• 48:16
  too nice of a guy what do you think about me you're nice but he's like afraid of like it's
• 48:24
  funny i actually met the mayor of lawrence if i was like a politician what would i be
• 48:28
  that's a good question what would i be what do you think i'd be good at uh you'd be good mayor
• 48:34
  Anyone that can talk to people and just really...
• 48:37
  What people look for in a mayor is someone that can understand where they're coming from
• 48:41
  and try to make their life a better...
• 48:43
  You know, make the place that they live in a better place.
• 48:46
  Yeah.
• 48:46
  I don't know.
• 48:47
  I feel like if I had beef with someone, I would try to make their life miserable.
• 48:52
  So if I have beef with you in Bell Harbor, I'm going to call this guy.
• 48:58
  Okay.
• 48:59
  We're going to play a little game.
• 49:00
  Okay.
• 49:01
  Rapid fire.
• 49:01
  Ooh.
• 49:04
  Email or phone call?
• 49:07
  Oh, email.
• 49:08
  Shul kiddish or town hall?
• 49:12
  Kiddish.
• 49:13
  Especially, have you been to the kiddish at my shul?
• 49:15
  It was written about in the Wall Street Journal.
• 49:17
  It was?
• 49:18
  Yes.
• 49:18
  What do they serve?
• 49:20
  Everything.
• 49:21
  Okay.
• 49:22
  Must be good.
• 49:24
  Morning meetings or night events?
• 49:26
  Definitely the events.
• 49:28
  Night events.
• 49:29
  You like black tie events, don't you?
• 49:31
  Look at me.
• 49:32
  Well, you don't have hair and makeup done,
• 49:33
  So you get off easy.
• 49:35
  My wife always is like, another dinner?
• 49:38
  It's so annoying.
• 49:40
  Like when we were at that Magadavit adult dinner.
• 49:43
  Yeah, of course you want to come.
• 49:44
  And she's also like nine months pregnant, so it's been harder.
• 49:48
  Crazy.
• 49:49
  Tough decisions now or backlash later?
• 49:53
  Tough decision now.
• 49:55
  Public service or private life?
• 49:57
  Private life.
• 49:58
  Because at the end of the day, I'm doing this for my family and for my children.
• 50:04
  coffee or cocktail i don't drink coffee so that's an easy one water how do you wake up
• 50:11
  water 20 ounces of water i don't know a couple glasses
• 50:16
  i guess i'm cuban so it's in my blood i don't need i don't need the extra infusion you don't
• 50:21
  have like the little cuban coffees that like really ever got into it never got into coffee
• 50:27
  and it drives my wife crazy because she loves coffee and i always say when are you going to
• 50:32
  stop drinking that and i've tried it she's tried to make me coffee to me it just tastes like dirty
• 50:36
  water so i was like what about tea i do tea okay but not every morning and do it more socially
• 50:45
  you're a mayor you call the shots on certain things you don't call the shots on certain things
• 50:53
  can you tell our viewers what you call the shots on so people don't ever come up to you with a
• 50:57
  a request and you're like, that's way out of line or not something I do.
• 51:02
  Like that's a state thing.
• 51:03
  That's not my city.
• 51:06
  If someone were to come to you and say, I want to build a property,
• 51:11
  approve my plans like fast.
• 51:13
  What do you respond to that?
• 51:15
  Well, Florida, especially, you know,
• 51:18
  we have what's called like government in the sunshine.
• 51:21
  So all village decisions, all city
• 51:24
  decisions have to be done at a public meeting, at a public hearing that's noticed, there's minutes
• 51:29
  being taken, it's usually recorded, and there's a quorum of the council.
• 51:34
  So there's no such thing
• 51:35
  as like approving a building, you know, we, you know, behind the scenes, it has to be in public
• 51:41
  hearing, has to be voted on.
• 51:43
  And I have one vote, just like my colleagues do.
• 51:46
  And you need, we're a
• 51:48
  five-member body, and you need three votes to basically get approval.
• 51:52
  Has your day-to-day personal life changed drastically since becoming mayor?
• 51:58
  It's become busier.
• 51:59
  Yeah, a lot more.
• 52:01
  If there's a person you meet with first when you want to do
• 52:04
  business with the city or thinking about doing a project in Val Harbor, I mean, you call the mayor.
• 52:08
  And I have to be better about gatekeeping and not taking every meeting.
• 52:13
  But like I said,
• 52:14
  it's hard to say no to some folks and um i really am trying to find that right balance
• 52:18
  do you find people are just like sweet talking you all the time do they feel like they're going
• 52:25
  to get something out of you but you're kind of like what are you going to get out i know exactly
• 52:28
  it's funny because i i like i said i have one vote on the council just like you know everyone else
• 52:34
  but um i like to think that they just like me as a person you're a very nice person i think that
• 52:41
  I'm, you know, that I could do a good job.
• 52:43
  And of course, we always have asked for anyone in
• 52:46
  politics always has aspirations for higher office.
• 52:50
  What do you tell anybody who is thinking about
• 52:53
  going into politics?
• 52:56
  Maybe something they should be aware of something they need to learn beforehand?
• 53:00
  How would you prep someone or tell them to get into politics or don't get into it?
• 53:05
  No, definitely should get into it.
• 53:06
  Especially we need more, you know, Jewish elected officials,
• 53:11
  because we can see what's happening in the country
• 53:13
  where moods are shifting on Israel,
• 53:16
  anti-Semitism is growing,
• 53:19
  and it's very important that we get involved
• 53:21
  because how do we expect to have representation
• 53:24
  if we're not personally getting involved,
• 53:26
  whether it's running for office
• 53:28
  or supporting good candidates that are running for office?
• 53:31
  It's something that we can't sit on the sidelines
• 53:33
  and then just expect them to be pro-Jewish, pro-Israel.
• 53:38
  And it's something where if you're thinking about getting involved, start small.
• 53:44
  You know, start, you know, by going to the meetings, just being a member of the public.
• 53:50
  Follow the issues.
• 53:52
  That's how I got involved.
• 53:53
  I started going to meetings and just saw, hey, there's an opportunity here.
• 53:57
  Okay.
• 53:57
  And lastly, what is one goal that you have for this year to get done as mayor?
• 54:04
  I want to, there's actually, we're in the midst of a traffic improvement where we're doing work on Collins Avenue and it was one of my priorities.
• 54:12
  It was something that I put, that I got the Bal Harbor shops to agree to pay for when we gave them their first approval for their expansion.
• 54:22
  and it's realigning Collins Avenue so that there isn't as much traffic when you're driving through
• 54:27
  Bell Harbor and it's something that we're right now in the middle of it it created a lot of traffic
• 54:32
  because we had to take some lanes out of service and we're about three or four months away from it
• 54:38
  becoming a reality and I'm excited for for that to open and for the traffic to be improved and of
• 54:44
  course there's always things happening we're right now planning on building a new village hall we're
• 54:51
  in the midst of a large-scale jetty project the bow harbor harbor front park and jetty complex
• 54:59
  so there's a lot happening for a small community we're 80 years young i like to say and you know
• 55:04
  follow along for the ride because bow harbor is we're here we're growing and there's more and more
• 55:11
  people moving down and we're excited to meet that challenge.
• 55:15
  Okay.
• 55:16
  Awesome.
• 55:17
  Well, Seth,
• 55:18
  thank you so much for coming on Caller Tati today.
• 55:21
  I'm so happy you made it.
• 55:22
  It's my pleasure.
• 55:24
  I'm so glad that I was your first politician.
• 55:26
  I'm so excited.
• 55:27
  It should all be this good, right?
• 55:30
  I mean, now you're kind of setting the standard.
• 55:32
  So thank you.
• 55:33
  Yeah.
• 55:34
  But thank you so much for
• 55:35
  coming and we'll see you next time, guys.