By Matt Haggman
Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine turned heads at the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting this week when he said that trying to make Miami Beach a technology hub is the “dumbest idea in the world.”
“As much as it sounds great—it’s sexy—that’s not who we are,” said Levine, according to an item written by The Washington Post’s Lydia DePillis.
Instead, he said, tourism is the city’s strength, along with its beauty and low taxes that attract wealthy investors from the worlds of private equity and hedge funds. Miami Beach, he said, is “a little bit like the Monaco of America.”
“It’s important for cities to play to their strengths. Don’t try to be something you’re not,” added Levine, a millionaire entrepreneur who was elected in November.
It was a puzzling statement from Levine, whose city has been part of a regional transformation happening in South Florida. Miami Beach itself is home to startup Rokk3r Labs, is a place tech founders like Open English’s Andres Moreno call home, and in the past year has hosted widely acclaimed – and well-attended – startup gatherings like Start-Up City: Miami and SIME MIA. Meanwhile, across Biscayne Bay, neighborhoods from the city of Miami’s Coconut Grove to Wynwood, are increasingly buzzing with startup energy.
Later, Levine said some of his comments had been taken out of context, while he stood by the substance of his remarks. Still, his emphasis on tourism and financial elites buys into a dated narrative that completely misses the enormous shifts now remaking the Miami metropolitan area, including Miami Beach.