“Fort Lauderdale has established itself as the most diverse city in Florida. We have different people, cultures, orientations- we have a large LGBTQ population… It’s a microcosm for the rest of America.”
Dean J. Trantalis is mayor of Fort Lauderdale, FL after first being elected in 2018 and winning reelection in 2020. Mayor Trantalis is the first openly gay person to be elected mayor of Fort Lauderdale.
In 1990, a countywide referendum to list sexual orientation as a protected class lost following an ugly battle. Activism eventually prevailed in 1995 when Broward County became the first county to pass such an amendment and paved the way for further LGBTQ-supportive laws. The ongoing dialogue between different groups in the area has facilitated a diverse and vibrant population and turned Fort Lauderdale into one of the most attractive and fast-growing cities in the country. “If you hold onto the past, you’re never going to move forward and grow. It’s important to find commonality and understanding; and also acceptance of differences, but it doesn’t mean we have to be adversarial.”
Fort Lauderdale has seen comparative success in its handling of the COVID pandemic. By listening to the science and recognizing viral spread occurred mainly indoors, opening beaches and encouraging outdoor activities was central to public health messaging.
LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE
SPEAKER
Dean Trantalis
42nd Mayor of Fort Lauderdale
MODERATOR
Anthony Scaramucci
Founder & Managing Partner
SkyBridge
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Joe Eletto: (00:08)
Hello everyone. And welcome back to salt talks. My name is Joe Eletto and I am the director of operations for salt, a global thought leadership and networking forum, encompassing finance technology, and politics. Saul talks as a series of digital interviews with the world's foremost investors, creators and thinkers. And just as we do at our global salt events, we aim to both empower big, important ideas and provide our audience a window into the minds of subject matter experts. And we are very excited today to welcome mayor Dean trend Talis to salt talks. The intern Tallis is the first elected mayor of Fort Lauderdale in 2018. Uh, first elected rather in 2018 was reelected in November of 2020. So congratulations are in order this 2018 election represented the largest victory in city history for a candidate running for first term, as mayor Dean previously served on the city commission representing district two from 2003 to 2006, and then from 2013, until his Ascension to the mayor's office, twice served as vice mayor from 2005 to 2006. And from 2016 to 2017, he represents the city on the Broward metropolitan planning organization, the county tourism development council, the Broward workforce development board, the Florida league of cities and the greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance and hosting today's salt talk is no stranger to the south Florida area, Anthony Scaramucci, who is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge. He's also the chairman of salts. And with that, I will turn over to Anthony for the interview.
Anthony Scaramucci: (01:45)
So, so mayor, first of all, thank you for joining us. But, uh, what I said before we got started is someday you're going to be the mayor of all of us and by all of us, I mean, everybody here that lives in the Northeast. So, so tell us about your background. Tell us where you're from. Uh, tell us how you arrived in south Florida and your Odyssey to becoming the mayor of Fort Lauderdale.
Dean Trantalis: (02:09)
Okay. Well, first of all, thank you for inviting me here on the show. Uh, I feel very honored to be able to be able to speak with you and, uh, talk about, uh, Fort Lauderdale. So I'm originally from Connecticut. I was born there and, uh, went to college at Boston university and then subsequently went to law school here in Florida at Stetson university. Uh, I began the practice of law. I was admitted to the bar in 1980, and I've been practicing here in the Fort Lauderdale area since 1982. Uh, you know, I first came down here as a young kid in my twenties and thinking I'm just going to come down here for a year or two, enjoy myself, get to see what the east coast of Florida is like. And, uh, move on somewhere else. A friend of mine said, Hey, you can, you can bunk adhere in my apartment is a con here in my living room. You can stay here, um, which I did. Uh, but then I realized this was a place to be a place to build a career as a place to, uh, both enjoy yourself as well as be able to fulfill yourself. And, uh, and I've been here ever since, since 1982 and it's been, uh, it's been really great and, and there's so much more as we continue to grow as a city and as we continue to grow as a state.
Anthony Scaramucci: (03:25)
So let's say that I landed from Mars and I needed a place in south Florida. And I was looking at Miami. I was looking at Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood say the east coast of Florida Palm beach. Uh, why would I come to Fort Lauderdale? Tell me about the great city that you are the executive of.
Dean Trantalis: (03:47)
So, you know, Fort Lauderdale, like a lot of cities in Florida are, were young communities. And, um, and each of the cities that you mentioned, uh, these have their own cultural significance. Uh, Miami has a large Spanish and Cuban population, uh, Palm beach, uh, draws its people from other parts of the country. Um, Fort Lauderdale, uh, has now become the new breakaway city. It is, it has established itself as probably the most diverse city in the state of Florida. Um, different people's different cultures, different orientations. We have a large LGBTQ population. We have a large, uh, uh, we have just large segments of, of all, all cross-sections of races and cultures. And it's exciting. It's enriching. Um, and, and you can see the results of that. People are buying up real estate here, like, uh, like they've never done before. Why? Because they see that it's really a, a microcosm of the rest of America and they, everyone can find a comfort zone for themselves here. And everyone's welcome. We have, the welcome mat is open to everybody. And, uh, let me tell you something, that's a great thing. When, when people can feel, you know, feel good about themselves and being able to, um, find friends and, and career opportunities, that's really where we're at. Um, building a family, building a business and, uh, building a life where, um, really you can feel so, so good about being part of what's going on here in this part of the country.
Anthony Scaramucci: (05:23)
Well, I want to, I want to go into that because you're talking about diversity, obviously. Uh, we're, we're big champions of diversity at SkyBridge. You were part of, um, you were in fact, the co-chair of Americans for equality, and you oversaw the enactment of the Broward county human rights ordinance. Uh, tell us about that. Tell us about that process and tell us how it shaped your political arc, how you use it almost as a platform to run for office.
Dean Trantalis: (05:52)
So, um, honestly I didn't really think of running for office way back. I was more of an activist helping others, you know, get elected to public office back in the early nineties. Um, specifically in 1990, we, uh, uh, part of a county wide referendum as to whether or not to add sexual orientation as a protected class here in Broward county. And, uh, uh, we lost miserably 60 40. It was a wretched campaign. Uh, the LGBT community back then we were known as the gay community, uh, was demonized, was treacherous. I was just, uh, it was just a very unfortunate time in our city's past. We overcame that, um, we then moved forward and we're able to 1995 to get the, the county commission to enact that amendment to the Broward county human rights ordinance. And ever since 1995, uh, we were the first county in the state to be able to now pass such an odd amendment to our human rights ordinance, but to make it stick.
Dean Trantalis: (07:00)
So we've had it there for all these many years. And we're very proud of that achievement. Uh, we subsequently were able to get the county to pass a domestic partnership law, which today seems almost kind of novel and cute because we now have marriage equality in this country, but it was a way to foster the diversity and to understand that we, and this can be part of the, uh, part of the city part of the world, um, believed in diversity, believed in cultural enrichment. And I have to say that, uh, Fort Lauderdale has definitely been a willing partner to, uh, embrace diversity and to embrace, embrace the kinds of things that we all represent. So, um, it wasn't until about year 2000, 2002, uh, a, an opening came upon the city commission here in Fort Lauderdale was that they can see, and I said, you know what, I'm going to try to run for that. Uh, it wasn't the first time a person from the gay community tried to run for that position, but I decided, you know, maybe it was right for me, maybe it'll work this time. And, uh, luckily I was able to win and it was, uh, I was the first openly gay city commissioner in the city of Fort Lauderdale to win an election like that.
Anthony Scaramucci: (08:16)
It's an amazing story, but there are, there are additional layers to the story mayor that I want to get into. Uh, one of the massive do with the Presbyterian church down there and your relationship with pastor Passy Enza, um, and the evolution of that relationship. And I was wondering if you could add some color, uh, for our listeners and viewers about that. Sure.
Dean Trantalis: (08:40)
Well, you know, back in the early days, um, we, it wasn't the Presbyterian church per se. It was a specific church called the core Ridge Presbyterian church. And at that time, their founding pastor D James Kennedy, um, who is a strict fundamentalist, uh, really targeted the gay community with a lot of anti-gay rhetoric, uh, demonizing the LGBT community. Uh, we were their biggest fund raiser. Um, uh, we were an easy target at the time, but over time, um, you know, the community T found less and less interested in that type of, uh, rhetoric. And, uh, and about 12 years ago, he passed away. Um, and people that followed him, uh, those who took his place in, in the pastoral role of that church, um, uh, had a far different philosophy, um, while we all agree to understand and, and accept each other's differences, we've all agreed to peacefully coexist.
Dean Trantalis: (09:43)
And currently, uh, Rob Pia Senza is the pastor at the core Ridge Presbyterian church. Um, and it's, and it's important to understand that both he and I have met on several occasions along with other members of the, of the faith community, both in the LGBT community and in the fundamentalist community. And we've been seeing over the last several years to talk about commonality, to talk about how we can build bridges, to talk about how we can put the hate from the past, instead of holding onto it and try to embrace the love of the future and build a foundation for the city of Fort Lauderdale that is going to be sustainable and lasting because, you know, like, you know, in any tortured relationship you hold onto the past, and you're never going to be able to, to move forward. You never going to be able to grow. And I think it's, I think that holds true in this situation. We all realize many of us realize that it's important to try to find commonality, try to find understanding and, and accept the fact that we do have difference, but it doesn't mean that we have to be adversarial.
Anthony Scaramucci: (10:53)
I love this story, you know, uh, uh, it's a long time ago now when I think about it, but back in 2007, 2008, I worked with a group of hedge fund managers to pull over some of the Republican state senators in New York, uh, to legalize gay marriage, same-sex marriage in New York. And then I had the opportunity to work on this with, uh, uh, the human rights campaign for the national movement, which ultimately led to that court decision.
Dean Trantalis: (11:21)
Thank you for doing that. You appreciate that.
Anthony Scaramucci: (11:23)
It's my pleasure. I mean, listen, I'm, I didn't choose my sexuality. I mean, we don't have to talk philosophically about how it works, but I've always felt firmly that, uh, you know, uh, life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I don't remember the sentence where it said for straight people. I don't remember that in the, in the language. I think it means everybody. Um, but the reason I'm bringing this up is that I had the opportunity to do meet with vice president, then vice president Biden in Davos, Switzerland, where we were working on a commission together to create that opportunity outside the United States with other nations. And as you know, uh, some of these nations culturally, or very different from the United States, uh, we're very self-critical here, but we have some, you know, social progress going on here, perhaps compared to other nations, not working as well in some of the other nations.
Anthony Scaramucci: (12:12)
I guess the reason I'm bringing it up that way is you seem to be a elite, not, not seem to be, you are a leader in this sort of movement and shattering these false totems and these preconceptions. And so what advice do you have for people that are in political life that are really just trying to get people to relax about other people's lifestyles and other people's way of living? You know, I tell my conservative friends, you guys are for a smaller government everywhere, but in my bedroom mayor, you know, they want a larger government in my bedroom. I mean, it doesn't, it doesn't make any sense to me. So what do you tell people in terms of the first steps necessary to push forward?
Dean Trantalis: (12:53)
Well, it's a, it's an interesting question, and I don't know if I have the complete it answer, but I do know that, um, uh, but being strangers with one another is the best way a to create animosity and advert and, and to maintain an adversarial relationship. Once you reach out and say, Hey, let's be friends, Hey, let's get to know one another. Uh, the idea of familiarity, uh, I think helps break down a lot of the barriers that have that stand between one another. Um, I see, I see senators, I see congressmen holding on to their, um, to their points of view, which to me are, uh, are holding us back as a country. And, uh, and, and honestly, um, I hope they become fewer and fewer as time goes on. And I think that the, the successes that we have achieved in this country through whether it be through legislation or Supreme court rulings have taken us to a new level each time in which, uh, it was recognized that equality is a fundamental freedom in this country.
Dean Trantalis: (14:01)
And it, like you say, Anthony, it is it's, it's, it's available for everybody, not just for those that are chosen. So, so, um, my advice, I guess, if, if that be it is to, uh, say is to reach out to others. Now someone will say, oh, well, you must, you must get them to, you know, to forsake their past and to beg forgiveness for what they've done or what their predecessors have done. And, and I said, well, that's the best way to, to, to prevent anything from happening. You start with an olive branch. Okay. And you reach out, you have to be a noble person, I guess, in this undertaking. And, um, and that's the only way you're going to get dialogue to begin. And whether it be on issues of, of, of sexual orientation equality, or whether it be on anything that we are now discussing at the national level, I mean, let's face it.
Dean Trantalis: (14:52)
Uh, th the, the president is trying to pass an infrastructure bill. Okay. Well, one way to certainly defeat any effort is to, is to raise objections and to, and to talk about differences. You're never going to get anywhere that way you start with what you have in common. You start with what you can agree with. You start respecting one another and understanding that each person does have a point of view. Once you get past that hurdle, you're beginning, you've now begun a dialogue. And I think you can look to success at the end of the process. And I think that pretty much holds true for just about anything that you try to deal with when it comes to trying to settle differences between parties,
Anthony Scaramucci: (15:32)
The mayor, w what are you, what are you doing for Thanksgiving? I think you need to come to the Scaramucci house and help me out a little bit like a couple of peace pipes, and you can hang out with my very fun, but ridiculously dysfunctional Italian family. But I think, I think what you're saying is, is beautifully said, and I think it's a, it's totally true. The minute that you meet other people, and you realize that you have these common themes of love and you common theme of trying to just help out your family members and the people around you. All of a sudden people dial down their animosity. You know, I always found really some of these politicians, they're not for the gay rights movement until they discover one of their children is gay and they realize how much they love their child. And all of a sudden they were like, well, why am I against this again?
Anthony Scaramucci: (16:17)
It's sort of nonsensical. Um, I wanna switch topics for a second because I'm interested in your thoughts on policy, around COVID-19. You've got this beautiful city, uh, it has been a destination for spring break for many people over multiple decades. I, myself, I say with fast, yes. I say with great pride. We won't mention on the air. Some of my dastardly, uh, experiences in Fort Lauderdale, but that was a long time ago, but in 1983. And of course, again, in 1984, I was, uh, on the beach with you guys, but you have this wonderful place. You've got the public health and public safety issues around COVID the science around COVID, uh, you've seemed to have done an amazing job, frankly, in terms of inviting people to the state, inviting people to your city, you know, pretty low incidents of, of, uh, of the virus there, comparatively. Uh, tell us your thoughts, tell us the design of your program, how you thought about these things philosophically and what you've learned that you can pass on to others. Well,
Dean Trantalis: (17:24)
As you know, it was about last year at this time that, uh, uh, the federal government finally came to grips with the very idea that, you know, COVID was at our doorstep. Um, and it was, um, it was, uh, you know, it was, it's a nobody's playbook as a public official, what to do to bring a pandemic. Nobody went to school learning how to, to deal with a pandemic. So when the federal government started to say, when the CDC started to say, you know, COVID is here, we need to start shutting down. Uh, we followed suit, we shut down our beaches on March 15th in facts that we were the first city in the country. Uh, along with Miami beach, we collectively decided let's shut our beaches down. Let's close spring break. These, the experts are telling us that we would be a super spreader event.
Dean Trantalis: (18:15)
And so let's shut our beaches down. So we shut them down for, we figured for a month, we'll see what happens, you know, in our, and I even say, we thought it would go away after a month. Okay. So, you know, April rolls round may rolls around, you know, this disease is not going away. Uh, in fact, the virus is spreading even more. And so over the, as the weeks passed, and as the months passed, we realized that, um, we could be shut down and expect this disease to be cured. The only way we were going to be able to function was to figure out a way to coexist with the disease. And, and what does that mean? That meant that, uh, we had to deal with the disease, make sure we had testing sites, uh, working with the governor's office, putting party aside, uh, and putting ID, you know, ideological views aside, we both were on the same mission to try to keep people safe.
Dean Trantalis: (19:10)
So working with the governor's office, uh, we had testing facilities, both, both the rapid testing and the regular testing right here in our city. Um, and that was important because people needed to know if they were, if they were infected. Uh, and then we, we continue to maintain the protocols at the CDC are required in terms of, uh, capacity within restaurants and bars and, and, uh, and interactions with one another distancing and of course wearing a face mask. So we continue with that through the, through most of the summer. Uh, and then, uh, and it was difficult. A lot of people found the challenge to be very difficult to deal with, but, uh, we felt it was important in order to try to prevent the spread from continuing. We didn't shut anybody any. We started to open things up. Why, because we realized, for example, in Florida where everything, uh, could be open and, you know, in New York city, you know, in December, you can sit outside at a restaurant, but, you know, you're there with the pigeons, you know, no one else has done to sit out there with you.
Dean Trantalis: (20:13)
It's so cold. So we're lucky. We were lucky here in Florida, we were able to, uh, to be outdoors. In fact, instead of closing the beaches down, it made sense to open the beaches and encourage people to come down and use the beaches because it kept them out, outside. It prevented them from going indoors. There was a lot of effort to, to create curfews and so forth. And we pushed back on that because all curfews do is push people back in their hotel rooms and closed spaces, and that's the worst super spreader you could possibly get. So, so we were, you know, we were able to maintain a balance and, uh, and allowing, uh, businesses to reopen, uh, returning people to their places of work. A lot of them are still working remotely. Um, but I'll tell you, it's, uh, it's been a difficult challenge.
Dean Trantalis: (21:02)
And, uh, and when we were finally able to get vaccines, uh, again, working with the governor's office, uh, we were able to get some of the first vaccination sites in the state and, uh, people have been rushing to get appointments. You know, it's, it's just been a real challenge, a tragedy in many, many cases. So many people have died, um, and being just days away from getting a vaccine, it's just been a real, real, you know, very sad moment in our, in our communities as, as I've seen throughout the country. But, um, but we've been trying to balance the needs of people and balance the experience to patients at the same time, trying to keep people safe, trying to save livelihoods as well as lives. And, uh, and you know, here we are today with about a quarter of our population here in Broward county, having been vaccinated, and we're working aggressively to try to vaccinate the rest. No,
Anthony Scaramucci: (21:56)
This I think is a, it's an amazing story. So I want to ask a follow-up question, but I'm going to frame it like this. We're going to, we're going to stick this interview into a time capsule. And so you're going to be talking to one of your success sores now, 10 or 20 years from now about dealing with COVID-19 and you're sending a message to the future about what you learned and what was the right policy versus the wrong policy, as opposed to left or right. Policy. And I think that's one of the things that you're going to be remembered for mayor is that you were all about right or wrong policies, not left, or right. So tell us what that message would be.
Dean Trantalis: (22:34)
So, um, the, of course the best thing is to follow the science, follow the experts, try to understand, you know, where they're taking, what direction they're taking you in this particular case, the Corona virus, uh, was transmitted through an aerosol, uh, interaction where you could breathe on somebody and that's how you get the, the virus. Um, if a pandemic should come back in, in the same form in the same way of spreading it, uh, I would encourage people to remain outdoors, no curfews, uh, and just maintain social distancing and wear the mask. The mask is probably the most important thing this past weekend, we had a demonstration on our beach for people who were protesting against the use of masks. You know, what God bless them. Uh, I hope nothing happens to them, but, uh, I think politics, uh, as you know, Anthony politics injected into this entire pandemic is what killed hundreds of thousands of people. And, um, and I feel very, very bad that they have been victimized by, by what happened this past year. But here we are today is public leaders find to do the right thing. And, um, and so my advice to my successor, uh, is to follow the science and, uh, and just do your best to try to balance the need for livelihoods, like I said, and lives. And I think you'll come out of this successfully. I think,
Anthony Scaramucci: (24:06)
I think it's a great, it's an amazing message. Okay. So I want you to, I want you to pitch me now. Okay, we're going to put your different hat on, uh, I've got this huge business. Uh, my name is Elan Musk, and I'm running something called the boring company, uh, which is not boring at all. They're about boring into the ground because there's nothing about Elon Musk. That's boring other than the fact that he's running the boring company, and you've got this difficult subterranean issue in Florida. And I want you to pitch me on bringing me to Fort Lauderdale and my company. Go ahead. Let me hear the pitch.
Dean Trantalis: (24:43)
Lauderdale is probably, uh, going to make the boring company finally hit the headlines, uh, in this country because right now is sort of been simmering. It, they're doing a little project in Las Vegas. They have their test site in Hawthorne, which is right outside of, uh, downtown LA. And, uh, we visited both those places, amazing project going on in Las Vegas. And also they're beginning one in San Bernardino, but the real breakout, uh, uh, project is going to be here in Fort Lauderdale. Why do I say that? Because we're going to stretch the limits of the boring company and test them, test their metal to what it can really accomplish with this technology and this process that they've, that they've invented. And I think that, um, coming to Fort Lauderdale, they're going to see that, you know, the challenges that people think that are in Fort Lauderdale are ones they've already, they've already, uh, countered in Las Vegas.
Dean Trantalis: (25:36)
For example, everybody thinks we have a high water table and therefore you cannot put a tunnel underground. Well, guests plus Las Vegas is sitting on an underground lake. The entire tunnel system that they have there is, is submersion of water. Uh, they've also hit huge rock formations when they were digging underneath. So all those, all those issues that could possibly interfere with our progress here are not issues. They've they have the experience. They have definitely have the talent we met with their, with their geologists and, and their, um, and the people that re run the organization. And they, they like us are excited to see, um, progress, move forward with the type of tunnel systems that we have in mind. Let me give you an example. Um, originally we went out there because we wanted to talk about, uh, building a tunnel for our train tracks.
Dean Trantalis: (26:29)
You know, in south Florida, we have a train system that runs north south, and we're talking about putting a commuter line between, uh, Miami and west Palm beach. You know, the whole point of running a commuter line is to get vehicles, the roads try to for, for, uh, focus mostly on mass transit, which is environmentally important. And we think that's where this country needs to go on. But at the same time, you know, we already have a lot of east west corridors, uh, roads, uh, river. Um, all of which would be frustrated if 40 or 50 more trains were to start to travel up and down this corridor. So the department of transportation here in Florida wanted to build a big bridge that would, uh, that would raise the tracks overground and, and avoid the interference with the roads and the river. You don't build bridges that cut cities in half.
Dean Trantalis: (27:20)
You don't build bridges that permanently divide these people that live on this side of the tracks and those that live on the other side of the tracks. This city has a, just an unfortunate history with race relations and how it has separated them because of the tracks. So by burying the tracks, we, first of all, uh, not only would it create more open space and not only would it, um, uh, take away the physical separation between, uh, demographics within our city. But we discovered through the boring company that we can do this at a much, much cheaper price than anything that was offered by other people who have made the, who have responded to our proposals, the, the state, uh, said, oh, it's going to cost you a billion dollars a mile. And this tunnel system was going to be about three miles long. Well, the boring company said a billion dollars a mile.
Dean Trantalis: (28:12)
We can do it for $15 million a mile. And you add the, the cost of construction for the train tracks and the switching and pumping systems. Maybe you're up to $40 million a mile, which is a far cry from the billion dollars a mile that was first suggested by the state. So in addition to that tunnel system, we're also, you who've been to Fort Lauderdale, right? Anthony. So you know that sometimes going down in Los Olas Boulevard, getting, trying to get to the beach, it's our premier Boulevard, shopping district, uh, art, art district. It's a great, great place, um, uh, for people who come to Fort Lauderdale. Um, and it's also part of, one of the most premier residential districts in the entire state. Um, it's played with traffic on weekends and holidays. So we've come up with the idea of rerouting traffic through a tunnel. We have the bright line station with a parking garage.
Dean Trantalis: (29:10)
People, families want to come to Fort Lauderdale beach, can park their car at the parking garage and get shuttled through, uh, through autonomous vehicles through this tunnel, five bucks, a pop you're at the beach, uh, your family's with you, you, you don't have to worry about parking at the beach and you've completely eliminated the whole traffic scene. And you've added nothing to the traffic by taking a system. That's going to be a front burner item here in our community. We're so eager to put it out there for public response. And that's going to put the boring company on the map far sided, uh, inventive, creative ideas, such as that. That's where we're heading here in our city.
Anthony Scaramucci: (29:52)
Listen, it's an amazing story. I get, I get to listen to you for hours mirror. I got to, I got to turn it over to Joseph here in a second, but I got, I asked one last question. Uh, we had the, uh, the mayor, uh, there Suarez from Miami on salt talks and he gave a wonderful presentation. Uh, you know, in, in many ways, I, I see you guys as similar in terms of love of the city, love of the state love of the intersection of the business community and social progress and all of these great things. Uh, I understand that you were working on a cross city partnership to develop south Florida into what you guys are calling the magic region. So tell us a little bit about that, and then I'm going to turn it over to Joseph so that he can fire in some questions. Of course, I've miss some things, but I want to, I want to hear about the magic region first.
Dean Trantalis: (30:45)
So, uh, a few months ago, uh, mayor Suarez, Francis I, the vice mayor of the county and, uh, mayor singer of Boca Raton, uh, with some of our staff, people had lunch. And, uh, we met and talked about how we could, um, organize our efforts to promote, uh, promote businesses in the south Florida areas specifically with regard to tech industries and financial service industries. And we were looking for ways to brand ourselves and looking for a way to, um, enhance the branding opportunities, uh, through collective efforts. And, um, uh, and so, uh, we haven't had our second meeting yet, but I think we have, uh, continued to work, um, uh, individually with trying to, uh, put together our best efforts. And we will, we're now working towards a second meeting with the new ideas that we have and to see how, in fact we could brand south Florida, uh, as you know, the magic capital of the world, because it is magic.
Dean Trantalis: (31:49)
Uh, great things happen here and abracadabra, you never know what's going to be on your doorstep the next day, but it's, you know, let's face it. So many people are moving to south Florida right now. Uh, as you said, you know, I may someday be the mayor of the world because the world is moving down here. And for good reason, uh, we have no income tax. We have no estate tax. Uh, our sales tax is moderate compared to other places. And, and, um, and you can't beat the weather. Uh, I think a lot of people would rather sit in front of their computer screen, listening into the waste, splash against their, uh, their porch, as opposed to watching a snowdrift piling up against her. It's just a totally different, uh, mindset. And let me
Anthony Scaramucci: (32:35)
Take, we, we have to end our mutual love affair on this of me sitting here freezing Mayer. I mean, come on. I mean, literally that's like taking the rock salt that I'm throwing on my driveway and putting it in my eyes. My God. You're right. So, I mean, and the other thing is, is that you guys have figured out, I think mayor Suarez as, as well, that taxes are priced for services. And so you have to deliver services. One of the problems that's happening up here in the Northeast, specifically in New York, the taxes are going up and the services are going down. It's a bad recipe for people and it's hampering their quality of life and it's causing a, uh, a migration. And so you guys are the beneficiaries of that, but you deserve to be given the policies. I'm going to turn it over to, uh, to Joe. Um, go ahead, Joe. And I will point out full disclosure, Joe and I have known each other. He's my, uh, he's my friend's best friend from high school. I'm sorry, my son's best friend from high school. And, uh, it, him and I know each other for probably since you were about 13, right, Joe,
Joe Eletto: (33:43)
It is a pleasure to have you on mayor. I was reflecting on my time in the, during the pandemic sitting in my one bedroom with my partner after everything was basically closed after 10:00 PM being driven inside because I couldn't go elsewhere and there was nothing else to do. So the, the idea of these curfews, you know, having lived it and then coming down to Fort Lauderdale, I wanna admit how many times Anthony I've been to Fort Lauderdale during all of this, but has been, you know, a real wake up call for the different lifestyles that could be led. So I want to, um, just have one more note on COVID. You know, uh, governor Newsome came out, everything is trending in the right direction in his state. He has set a June 15th reopening date for, for the majority of things being open south Florida is in a little bit of a different spot because a lot of the con the, uh, companies are, are open and things are able to be, you know, visited and such. Is there a point at which the south Florida area is able to say we are past the worst, the worst of it, and able to move forward? Or do you think it's too early to make that call?
Dean Trantalis: (34:49)
We've been listening to some of our counterparts in government. Our county mayor has been talking about starting to lifting restrictions sometimes by the end of this month at the beginning of next month. But again, I think we have to follow the science. I think we have to follow the infection rates and the, and, uh, and the hospitalization rates. Uh, I'm not too quick to want to really change much of that yet. We we're, we're pretty much open back down here. Um, we still require restaurant workers and, and, and hotel workers to wear masks. Uh, you know, it's, it's, um, uh, you know, it's not a con it's not a free for all here, you know, and when people come to this state and when people come to Fort Lauderdale, you know, they have to respect some of these COVID compliance rules that we have in place.
Dean Trantalis: (35:36)
Uh, and I think that's, what's helping to keep the infection rate down and hospitalization rates down. Uh, and, and, you know, I feel bad for governor Newsome in California. He's got an enormous state with so many different types of peoples and cultures and attitudes that, you know, one policy does not fit all. Uh, I think our governor realized that, and, and I think that's why he didn't impose some of these statewide restrictions, but allowed us to, to tailor make those restrictions according to our needs and expectations. So, um, so the thing is that that going forward, uh, I'm hoping to see, uh, these more and more of these restrictions removed as vaccinations become more and more prevalent. So if we're able to vaccinate half our county within a month, which it looks like that's, what's going to happen happen, we'll start to see a loosening up.
Dean Trantalis: (36:28)
And I think the president said by the end of may, uh, everybody should be vaccinated. So, uh, we have our fingers crossed that people get vaccinated. I know there's this, uh, um, weird philosophy out there that, you know, the devil is in the vaccine. Um, you know, people, it's just a matter of, you know, understanding science and realizing, you know, I had my vaccine now for a couple of months and I'm still here, right? So I still have five fingers on each hand. So, uh, um, but it's really important to respect one another and to keep one another protected from the spread of this disease, because it is a deadly disease and, uh, and 560,000 people have died in this country as a result of this disease. It is not a laughing matter.
Joe Eletto: (37:24)
Correct. And we had professor Hotez on Saul talks, I think about two weeks ago to discuss sort of vaccine hesitancy and, you know, south Florida and Fort Lauderdale, west Palm, Miami are, are demographically potentially different than the rest of the state, or at least large parts of the state. Are you seeing bag vaccine hesitancy as a, as a big thing in the Fort Lauder, uh, Fort Lauderdale Broward county area? Or is that just not happening at the, at the scale of potentially other areas or other states like in Alabama or Mississippi?
Dean Trantalis: (37:54)
Well, we have, we have our measure of downs here. There's no doubt about that. I mean, we have, uh, people who just, uh, you know, first they wanted to wait until the Johnson Johnson vaccine came out because they only wanted one job. And then you get a lot of people based on either cultural reasons or religious reasons, um, uh, or just people who doubt science altogether, uh, just saying, you know, they'd rather, they rather, you know, tough it out. Um, you know, that's a big mistake and, uh, um, especially since you can still get it, even with the vaccine, I mean, it's what they say, 95%, uh, it's 95% effective. Well, there's always going to be a five percenters, one out of funny. Okay. Who may still get it. So, um, so let's just be smart. Let's listen to the doctors and, uh, um, and, and let us all just try to protect one another where our masks try to get vaccinated, uh, and, and let's just become a better society.
Joe Eletto: (38:52)
Absolutely. And one last question, just as we add to the list of humble brags that we're able to give you for Fort Lauderdale, um, I am a self-proclaimed FTE, and I know that the airport's going through a $3.2 billion. Like, I don't even know if you call it a remodel just to re-imagining. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? What that's going to do for the area? I think for Lauderdale is the fastest growing large hub airport in the country right now. So what does that mean for people coming down here looking to relocate businesses and such?
Dean Trantalis: (39:21)
Well, what it means is this part of an overall, uh, um, agenda to rebuild the infrastructure of, uh, our communities. Um, whether it be the airport or even, even in the city of Fort Lauderdale, we have undertaken a huge project to rebuild our sewer systems, our water systems, uh, everything about our infrastructure. We are, we are rebuilding we've suffered from the, from the, uh, neglect over these years when I became mayor, it was, uh, it was the first thing on our agenda to, to rebuild these, uh, system in order to, to become more sustainable. So as more and more people move into the area, we're building a lot of new buildings, these buildings, these are filling up within months. Uh, it's, it's uncanny. And, um, and we have to, as a, as a responsible government, respond to this, uh, to these needs and these expectations so that when you turn on the faucet, water will be there. When you flush your toilet, you know, is going to go away. You know, we have a responsibility to respond to that. And, uh, uh, we have a very, we have a fast-forward agenda and we have been moving very quickly to accomplish this. So, um, we want to make sure that when people come to Fort Lauderdale, that they enjoy the experience and, uh, and no one walks away regretting what they found here.
Joe Eletto: (40:37)
Oh, this is fantastic. Anthony, do you have any last words for the mayor before you let him go? Uh, you know, mayor
Anthony Scaramucci: (40:42)
I'm, I'm super impressed. You know, I wish I, I wish I was on the, uh, Tran talus presidential campaign, as opposed to the other guy's game that I got myself involved in, but, you know, there's always time. There's always time, but I, uh, I look forward to meeting you in person.
Dean Trantalis: (41:02)
He's our neighbor up the road here, you know, the whole
Anthony Scaramucci: (41:04)
Fan neighbor, uh, you know, uh, listen, you know, there's no, for me, there's no hard feelings. Life goes on. I don't bear grudges towards anybody, but, uh, you're, you're doing an amazing job, sir. Thank you so much for, uh, joining us on, on, on salt. Uh, and when I'm shoveling snow up here in the Northeast, I'm going to be thinking of you. Okay. I'll, I'll be sure to, uh, I'll be sure to be thinking of you enjoying your beautiful view and you're amazing sunrises, uh, and that great, beautiful, uh, town that you live in. And, and thank you so much for joining us and hopefully we'll get you to one of our live events. Yeah.
Dean Trantalis: (41:43)
Well, let me tell you, when you come down here, just let me know, love to show you around town. And, uh, it's really been a great experience being part of this show. So thank you again, or,
Anthony Scaramucci: (41:52)
Or our pleasure. And I will definitely take you up on that and, and, and listen to me, the, uh, the dinner invitation for, with the crazy Scaramucci cheese of Thanksgiving is open invite. Okay, you may need a diplomatic pack. You may need a diplomatic passport, however, to get into the house, but that's all that, that we could work on
Speaker 4: (42:10)
That together. Well, sir, thank you
Joe Eletto: (42:13)
Again, and thank you so much for tuning into this latest episode of salt talks. If you'd like to view our entire library, you can head over to our YouTube channel at salt tube. We're also very active on Twitter. So we're at salt conference there where we have live transcripts and videos as well. Please also follow us on LinkedIn. If you're on that platform, as well as Facebook and on behalf of the entire salt team, this is Joe Eletto signing off for today. We look forward to seeing you again soon.