Screenshot via Facebook/Steven Meiner Miami Beach Mayor
Audio By Carbonatix
Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner took a page out of Francis Suarez’s book.
Fresh off Zohran Mamdani’s stunning victory in the New York City mayoral election, Meiner ran an advertisement campaign in Times Square to invite New Yorkers to relocate to South Florida. He joins a long list of Florida officials trying to score political points following the 34-year-old Democratic socialist’s win.
“New Yorkers: look up,” he posted on social media, along with photos of Times Square. “Miami Beach is open for business. A world-class destination to live, work, and invest capital!”
The digital ad features a purple lifeguard tower on a sunny afternoon. It reads, “Miami Beach is open for business. Everyone welcomed! Mayor Steven Meiner.”
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Although it may appear to be AI-generated imagery of Times Square, New Times has confirmed that this is, in fact, a genuine ad campaign that ran in New York City.
Miami Beach spokesperson Melissa Berthier writes in a text message, “Yes, those are real ads coordinated directly by the mayor. No city resources or funds were used in their production or placement.”
Follow-up questions emailed to the mayor’s office regarding who paid for the ads, when they ran in Times Square and for how long, and how much the campaign cost, were not answered by the time of publication.
And the Reviews Poured In
Not many Miami Beach residents were thrilled by Meiner’s campaign.
“God forbid to take care of the standstill and clogged sewage pipes that these streets endure daily,” one Facebook user wrote.
Another responded, “Read the room! We are full and have enough problems before adding more people and cars. You are apparently out of touch with what our community wants. Life is not all about solving crimes.”
One added, “Looks like it was made by a 3rd grader on PowerPoint. And ‘Everyone welcomed’?? This is embarrassing.”
“No, there’s too much traffic already,” a comment reads. “Fix that problem first.”
Chimed in another: “Only a special kind of man needs his name 3ft tall in Times Square.”
Meiner was cagey in his response to an Instagram user who asked, “Did you use our taxes to fund this? Or did one your billionaire friends pay for it?”
His terse response: “No taxpayer funds were used on this billboard.”
Déjà Vu to the Suarez Connection
One December afternoon in 2020, Delian Asparouhov, a partner in the venture-capital giant Founders Fund, took to the platform then known as Twitter to lowercasedly muse, “ok guys hear me out, what if we move silicon valley to miami”?
Three hours later, Mayor Suarez replied, “How can I help?”
The internet went bonkers, with the tweet purportedly amassing 2.3 million impressions. Then two tech investors ponied up for billboards in San Francisco that included an ersatz Suarez tweet that read, “Thinking about moving to Miami? DM me.”
Like Miami Beach, the city of Miami did not pay for the billboards. But the internet has a long memory. “Lame imitation of Mayor Francis Suarez,” a Facebook user wrote under Meiner’s post.
