DDA Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony LIVE Podcast Recap

Hey, that's what that's good excitement.

That's that's Wait, wait. I'm gonna do a little bit more. Right. Right. Here we go. Here we go.

What a beautiful beautiful day.

Beautiful day in downtown Miami.

In downtown Miami, guys.

The weather couldn't be perfect. Today's a special day. Getting ready for the holidays.

It's a special day.

We got two amazing guests with us.

Yes, sir. We do.

Would you guys like to introduce yourselves to the camera?

Sure. I'm Christina Krosby. I'm the CEO and executive director of the Miami Downtown Development Authority.

Inina and one of our return guests.

I'm MJ Green. Blessed to work with Christina at the Miami DDA and I am the chief of economic development and strategy.

We love MJ.

Yes, MJ for the wave.

Manny, where are we?

We are downtown Miami and we are right in front of the Olympia Olympia Theater. Thank God.

Which is also the Gusman Hall.

That's correct.

Right. Yeah, very very Miami.

Well, very Miami. I mean, little very nostalgic, let's just say about that, too. I mean, uh, we were we were in the Lost Boys, which, by the way, um, before we get into all this thing, I was just, you know, turned on to this place, The Lost Boys. Great bar.

Very nice. You know what I'm saying?

There's a ton of hidden gems for people to rediscover downtown.

This is This is This for me is is great. Even though they cut me off, they have me on tea. I'm drinking tea now. But anyway, but you know, we went to the Lost Boys. What a great place. Listen, we are now in the iconic. This is Flaggler.

Yep.

Yes. Historic Flaggler Street.

The historic Flaggler Street. And this is a place that has been redone to the tease. I mean, I I remember and and Christina MJ, we were talking a little about a little while ago when we were Lost Boys when I used to work here downtown. I was here for seven years. I mean, who doesn't understand downtown? This is I'm a nostalgic guy. I love downtown. in all the downtowns area. I know a lot of people say, "Oh, but you know, you're going to downtown." There's nothing like downtown Miami. I feel you got the best deals, the best things over here. And at the same time, what the DDA has been able to accomplish in this area, and I want you both to get into this right now. What has this converted to this? This for me, I mean, Christina was just telling me, Manny, where have you been?

I I'm sorry. Sorry I don't come out of the gables but at the end of the day you know well because I'm with but I am I'm in I'm in an awe. I mean I remember

cobblestone street is

yeah I remember this being something else and you're going to get into that

but tell me everything that has happened here guys. What what what are we visioning? What are we looking at here? So, I was telling you a story about how this all kind of came to fruition. And it was really the vision of our former director, Alice Robertson, in partnership with um Regalado at the time, Mayor Regalado, to redo the street in partnership then with Mayor Suarez and Mayor Himenez. And they really envisioned this new street in partnership also with the developers in the area. But what we noticed was that there weren't there wasn't a vibe. There wasn't there wasn't that life, that culture that we were missing, right? So we went in to the city and we changed the law to create the Flaggler district which allowed bars and restaurants to come next to each other because before they couldn't be there. Yeah. And what that did was open up about 20 18 20 bars before COVID and restaurants in the area. Some who have stuck around and some who are now reopening. Um and it's just really exciting to see through our business incentive program. So work that MJ does incentivizing not only food and beverage to come back but retail to come back and really programming the street through our retail report to really address the needs now as we've evolved into this residential community. We have now 150,000 people living here where before we didn't and that's happened over the last 10 11 years. We've nearly almost tripled or double doubled our tax base at this point. So we're really trying to balance business with resident needs and the Holiday Village is a perfect example of doing that. You know, community engagement, bringing people back, all locals really is what we want to focus on. Bringing back people from Coral Gables back to downtown Miami.

This I'm a downtown Miami guy.

Yeah. And this is year three, right?

This is the year three. Yes.

For the Christmas. I brought my shirt. What do you guys think?

I We love it.

Beautiful. We love that festive.

Oh, bring the downtown.

So, take us into this, MJ. Take us into what? How did we get into this holiday village?

Well, I mean, I think Christina said it perfectly. This is the mix of both doing something for the small business community as well as the residents. Right. This is a family fun event. Uh they're loading up the uh petting zoo right behind us. And all of these vendors are small business vendors that are, you know, in front of

Is that what that was?

All right. Okay. [ __ ] My pants.

That is the smell of excitement is what that is, right? Um but this is exactly the intermix, right? uh downtown Miami and the DDA district has grown massively over the last 5 years and really being able to find that uh throughpoint to support the small businesses and the residents. This is the true culmination of all of that which is the holiday village. And so we'll light the tree and the rest of the lights, but then also supporting all of these small business vendors selling a bunch of different things uh is really really exciting and we look forward to all of the community being able to come out and enjoy this.

Yeah. Last year we had 75,000 people come through.

Yeah. 75,000 people. So, we expanded it this year. Every Sunday from 2 to 6 o'clock, there'll be children's events. And then there's themed events um on certain dates. I believe they're the 7th, the 14th, and the 21st of December. You can come down with your family, enjoy, shop for the holidays as well, right? Because there's a lot of local artisans that are showcasing their, you know, beautiful jewelry or um vintage shirts. And a cool story that came from this that MJ um was a part of as well was one of the vintage stores started as a popup here in the in the Holiday Village and ended up opening their storefront. You want to talk about that a little bit?

Yeah. Uh Flagler Vintage, which we'll have on uh here just in a second. And that's really what it it's really all about. It's giving opportunity for small businesses throughout the county to be able to be in one of the most active places in the county, which is the DDA district. Right. There's 300,000 people that come here for work. There's almost 200,000 people that live here and there's a half a million people that get off cruise ships every single month in this district. And so if you're talking about a retail opportunity, that is a massive opportunity for businesses to be able to be successful.

You know, that's that's that's a very important point because a lot of people don't understand that the port's right here.

Yeah.

So basically the fact so all these people, you know, Kiko, when we go to all these trips, you know, you go to, you know, Bahamas and Cayman and all these places and you get down and everybody has that little area. This is our area,

right? But we we take this for granted because we live here. But you just talked about something which for me is so interesting in the sense of having all these stores right now during those Christmas times. We have the best place which you which I wasn't involved in. I couldn't make it. But you guys came in live from the Sable Building.

Yeah. Seo buildings a few blocks away

you know and you have you know people tell me to this day people don't understand what the Sable Building or this area is. Diamond district third largest diamond district in America. That is, you know, people don't understand that

almost as old as the city of Miami, about 20 years difference.

And and that that's the place that I say, I mean, that that for me, you know, people talk about, you know, your candy stores. That's for me. That that's my candy store.

I know. I know.

You know, I mean, that for me is a beautiful place. I took Ed the other day and he walked in there and he's like, "What is this?" I go, "Welcome to the Seab Bowl building, brother. This is where this is where your credit cards are made." Yeah. This is where your CREDIT CARD SAYS NO. Don't or yes or yes. one of the two. But at the end of the day, I mean, it's something crazy of what you can find all in downtown Miami.

Yeah. Christina, being the president and the CEO, thanks for that.

The CEO, explain to people that don't know exactly how the DDA involved itself in downtown and how it really hand helps people.

Sure. So, the DDA was formed in 1965 when there was really nothing here. And the mission is economic devel.

I wasn't even born yet.

Yeah. So we're we're we're definitely an older organization but have evolved through the times and really our focus is economic development really tying in resident based initiatives with our business initiatives. So what we do is we market downtown globally. We partner with our local businesses not only to amplify their messaging but we give small business assistance grant programs. We incentivize incentivize businesses. We're giving $75,000 grants for food and beverage to come back into downtown and $50,000 grants for retail on the ground floor facing um stores to come back to downtown. In addition to that, our resident services involve everything from formerly homeless individuals that we hire. There's about 70 formerly homeless individuals that encompass our downtown enhancement team. They wear the teal shirts that you'll see cleaning up here at this event. So, we're giving it's a reintegration program. We're giving them jobs and giving them a chance to really elevate their futures through that program. We're really proud of that program. In addition to that, we have our ambassadors. So, it's a security team that are our eyes and ears. They'll walk you to your car if you don't feel safe. U

is MJ part of that team cuz MJ's

Well, we call he we call him our bodyguard. Bodyguard.

You and me both keep

Yeah. No. No. I never seen somebody my size.

And they clean up. I just was reading the stats today at our board meeting. 4,000 gallons of 4,000 50 4,000 bags of trash were picked up just in the month of October.

Wow.

That's the biggest difference I've seen that downtown is no longer like

No, no, no. This is clean.

And they they cleaned 3,000 instances of graffiti just this month. So, I mean, really making a change in that sense. And then we give out arts and culture grants. You know, arts and culture institutions were defunded through the state stuff and and also at the county level, then they gave it back to them. But we really wanted to bring the cool factor back to downtown and really help our local arts arts and culture uh vibe, right? And those locals that want to have an idea and they want it to come to fruition, we give them that seed money to be able to do that. So we gave out almost 40 grants this year to the tune of 5,000 to up to $50,000.

That's a lot of money. That's a lot of money.

Do some areas need more help? Like obviously Bickl's part of downtown.

Yeah,

you guys ask Bickl for money to take care of other neighborhoods. Oh, we we definitely spread the love within all the three districts, right? Um yeah, Bickl obviously has more development and more needs. So, right now we're really focused on the cleanliness part and the homeless services that we provide. We have an outreach team that goes out um not only in partnership with the city, but also our own in partnership with Manosay. We've housed about 200 people in that program.

Yes. Love. Shout out to

Yes. They're amazing. We hired Vladimir on our team. He was an ambassador. We brought him up on our team to be a homeless coordinator. So, he's doing outreach with the various different organizations to house people. And my favorite program that I think we really need to look at um elevating the funding for is the Lazarus program with Camila's House. What they do is they go out 4:00 or 5 in the morning and they really target those individuals with mental a mentally ill and issues that need help and shouldn't be on the streets and they actually give their medication to these individuals on the street that then stabilizes them and then they're able to come inside. Correct.

So, we fund those types of programs to really help. Some of those people just need that extra little help that nobody nobody's given to them,

right? Absolutely.

MJ, what do you say to people like my friends, people that we know? Bro, I love downtown. I would love to go, but the parking is the issue.

Uh, well, I mean, I would say first, there's parking all over downtown.

I had no problem parking here today.

Yeah, we have uh three private lots that are giving parking for $10 at our events. If you go on our website, you'll be able to find where those lots are, and we have city parking all all around.

And we also put a significant amount of money into the freebie. So if you park your car, you can get throughout the entire district for free riding the freebie. There's also the Metro Mover, which is free. So I think that there's a way to really enjoy the district and park in Bickl and go all the way to Edgewater and vice versa.

I think Miamiians just need to get out of their cars more and walk more. I mean, we're seeing that with the migration of other cities moving to Miami.

I think little by little that's happening. Little by little that's happening, you know, but these are the areas that you can do it, right?

Well, what we talked about at the Seabbo building is that this is just this amazing moment of rediscovery, right? And so I think as people, some of your friends might talk about the parking. People talk about other things. This is the moment now to come rediscover it. Come enjoy the Holiday Village. Come see some of these new businesses, the new restaurants. And then you will see that there is parking, that there is activity, that it's clean, that it's safe, that there's amazing restaurants. Hopefully we'll get some pizza here in a second. And so we're getting pizza.

One whole pizza for Kiko, one whole pizza for me, and you guys can have a couple slice.

Sold. Now you

Now we got sold. Now we got sold.

Christina, um, one question before Manny. Uh,

no. I haven't said anything. Go ahead.

I thought you had a question.

No, no, it's okay. Yeah, I'll let you know.

What do you uh see the DDA can work on more? What area needs more work? What what do we need to improve on? Priority over something else.

I think that really it's about the central business district. Like you said, Rickle's doing really well. Huh?

Is this the central?

Yes, we're in the central business district. So, our focus for the next two, three years will be the central business district. Miami World Center did an amazing job with activating that side of of the arts and entertainment district, but I think that area too has pockets that also need a little bit of help. And so that's why we created our business incentive grants to be able to do that. And we actually really um promote our arts and culture applicants to look at areas in those um spots to be able to bring back the locals and have, you know, cultural events that will then activate the area. When you bring people, it

bring people to the party. Absolutely. When Christina's vision for all this is is done, from the edge of Bickl to the end of the design district, you will have the greatest shopping corridor in America. When you look at Bickl, when you look at the central business district, the Miami world center, Winwood, Midtown, and then Design District, what can you not buy and what can you not experience in that corridor?

We love the word and emphasize the word shopping.

It is the holidays. It is the holidays. Yeah, it's true because you've seen a lot of that in Windwood going on now with some of the newer buildings and some of the old coming in with new. Do you guys see like new development coming in?

Of course.

Like within the next I see goals for 2026, maybe something like that.

Yeah, we got the Waldorf Atoria that's under I mean looks like a big tic-tac-toe almost, you know, beautiful building. We have several different buildings that are coming online. The Gail Hotel we just took a tour is absolutely fabulous. If you haven't been Yamashiro, the Japanese restaurant is spectacular. It's a rooftop. It has a retractable roof. Oh my god, the views of the city.

Kiko put it on the radar. Kiko's put it on the radar. Facts. I've heard about it. Hashura.

And then also, you know, talking about walkability, another piece of what we do that we really don't talk about much is urban planning. We have a whole urban planning department that envisions what this should look like. They actually helped bring this beautiful scaffolding that you see, right, that we're trying to make a standard around downtown because through all these construction projects, what h what happens is when they put the scaffolding, they block the the businesses, right? So, we want to elevate that so that you can actually still see the businesses that people can still come and it brings lighting, which I think is really important.

Yeah. New New York thought they had that on the No, we we're being Please.

And is it important too to keep some of the original structures and we're all about preserving our history?

I see it. I just see history, you know.

Yeah. No, definitely. I think that we have one of the most beautiful stories to tell as part of our our evolution through the years. I mean, his Flaggler Street for me is a canvas.

The Dupont building. I mean, how much more story than you have that?

Exactly. Come on.

Gary's on our board. He's an amazing board member and he's been a great partner. He really helps to really help the businesses thrive here. And it's really a thought process through the board to be able to do that and really showcasing historic Flaglery through the events that we're doing. like um we did a 3D mapping. I don't know if you heard of this of the courthouse or the birthday of the city that was spectacular Disney style 3D mapping on the courthouse that we want to bring back, but our partners at Space are actually doing Black Coffee, a big concert block party right here.

Big DJ DJ December 7th um during Miami Art Week, and we're really excited that they took our footprint and expanded it and are bringing 2,000 people that wouldn't probably come down here for something like that.

Tell me about December. You you mentioned it earlier. You have three big events in December. The 7th, 14th, and 21st, right?

You just told me about the 7th. What's going on for the 14th?

So, the 14th. So, they're all um about culture, right? And we're doing a Manura lighting. We did this last year, but this beautiful we're going to be doing a a much better a much brighter party in Manura lighting. So, we want to really bring all the cultures back to downtown.

And the 21st

And the 21st is Santa Claus is coming to town. He'll be back with Mrs. Claus.

Kiko, you can drop your drop your letter. MJ

and you can meet him today. He'll be down there at 7:00 by the symphony.

But that's really awesome. You know, the the kids get the opportunity to bring to have those moments with their family. I think a lot of people that I know in Miami talk about the history and their connections that they have with their family when it comes around Flaggler Street. And those are the moments that we're trying to recreate, right? And so bring your children downtown, take a picture with Santa, and do something that you'll always remember in downtown Miami. Well, listen, for for for those listeners, and you just said you did a very good point for that history. Um, this was the place to be when my parents got here from Cuba.

This was downtown Miami.

This a cowboy coming over here. Mr. Ryan, pizza cowboy.

Yep.

It was It was the place.

Come on over, Brian.

This is one of our great operators here in downtown.

Brian, thank you. Brian Brian owns

Is that the Feesi?

But he also owes for teasing. Brian, take my seat, man.

Brian, I've been dying to meet too, brother.

Brian, don't get near him because it's it's not going to do good.

See that? Here we go. Look at that. Look at that. Look at that.

I got to try. I'm the food guy.

Okay, there you go.

There's lines around the block for this pizza.

How are you, Brian? Well, I don't know, but MJ just got up really quick.

Oh my god.

I've been dying to try this.

And Kiko's dying to try it. Further, love.

Look at that. Look at that.

Come on, man. Take a bite.

This is just live in action right here, you know? I mean, this is Kiko is uh Kiko's Kiko.

Welcome, Brian.

And if you haven't been to Tam Tam, it's a beautiful restaurant that Brian did in partnership with You can talk about it. Go ahead.

Oh, yeah.

Welcome, Brian. Welcome.

No flop.

Enjoy.

Wow. No flop, brother. Thank you, bro. Tell me about this.

Travels well from down the street.

Just keep on talking and we'll have another We'll have another box. So, yeah, we have um a cocktail bar. Literally, I'm looking at it from here. Over under.

Oh, yes. We love Overunder. Best karaoke.

Seen you there before.

Yeah, I like to sing my downtown.

Uh we also have a um Vietnamese restaurant called Tam Tam.

Oh, they stole the pizza. Taking the pizza.

Yeah, it is. That That's typical.

It's a good sign. At least it means they like it.

I heard about Tam Tam. Tell me about it. So it is uh the concept is Vietnamese drinking food. Wyao. It's sort of like um

I guess the Vietnamese answer to tapas or an izakaya kind of style restaurant.

Um smaller plates, but we also do some larger plates, but the food is a little bit um it's made to drink with. So rich, flavorful, a lot of spice,

delicious.

Um that's been open for about 2 and a half years now.

And talk about the fun bathroom vibe. Yeah,

there's a fun bathroom vibe. We love bathroom.

I heard this.

Oh, boy.

Spoiler alert. Can't ruin it, but if you ever come to Tamtown, you you use the second bathroom on the right for a little surprise.

Um, and then we also have a pizza restaurant we just opened up this summer for teases that everybody's enjoying.

Um,

I heard so many things and the hype is real, brother. This

I don't know, but that pizza

This is in the nines. Thank you. This is in the nines.

Yeah.

I've been down to go to Tam Tam, too. Tell me about the chef.

So, the chef is Chef Tam. Um, actually both of our restaurants are named after the um the chefs, but that's a good sign because that means that there's some care and love there. You're not talking about something that's uh

and you're putting your name on something. Yeah. Which is

if your name's on it, that means it's

Absolutely. Absolutely.

And I'm not a chef, so it's nice to be able to work with someone.

You're a great DJ.

Yeah, I'm a frustrated DJ.

Yeah, I'm both.

Wow, that was amazing.

That was delicious. So tell me what time tell me the time frames of open to open here. So what what time do you open? What time do you close?

Uh right now Tamt Tam we're getting closer and closer to 7 days, but it's uh a dinner restaurant. We open up at 5:30 every day.

Um close at around 10:30 or 11.

Okay.

It's more of a kind of late night dinner party atmosphere.

Um obviously Feeas just opened so we have a limited schedule right now. We um

they're another incentive grant recipient.

Damn, I love it.

Oh wow. Okay, perfect example. Perfect.

Uh we are open Thursday through Sunday over there for now. Sundays we go all day, but Thursday through Saturday is night time.

Uh and then we have our bar over under right across the street that's open 7 days a week.

What does that mean when when when Christina just talked about being a recipient in the sense of the incentives that they're doing for for for businesses come over here, the importance of that?

I mean, right now downtown is in a big transitionary period. Obviously, there's a lot of exciting things happen. you know, we're looking at a beautiful holiday market that's popping up,

but there's also challenges between um construction and just the redevelopment of the neighborhood.

And I think that the grants do a great job of helping to bridge that uh transitionary period cash flow-wise, capital-wise, to make it so that businesses are more willing to take a risk on a neighborhood that isn't as

established as some of the other neighborhoods.

Right. For us, we've we feel like um we're lucky that we've been so embraced by the neighborhood. So, um you know, we feel like it's like a double double whammy for us that we have these these things that help us do more. Um but also we feel like we've been able to weather like the

Yeah, you've been here for a long time,

the worst moments, right? So those are the importance of of of places like a DDA in in downtown you know development authority

of course

you know what I'm saying because a lot of people would like say okay what what's the biggest mission you just described it right now and I think it's so important because people want to come down and they say okay what do I do feel supported you don't have that guidance I mean to have something like the DDA really comes out I love your testimony in that sense and the fact you know and the in the sense of of of Brian saying listen we're here thanks to you guys, opening the doors and making this happen and being part of making this even bigger. You know, like I said in the beginning before Brian got here, I'm I love downtowns. I think downtowns are so important in in all their cities. This is spectacular. I think that the fact of you guys having those restaurants and betting on the downtown Miami says a lot for you guys. You know what I'm saying? And the food is fire.

And the food is fire. So, I the best part if it's not that's the most important part.

Yeah. All this could be cool and stuff, but if the food sucks.

I know. Yeah. No, you're saying I'm not coming back.

But that pizza. Oh my god.

Right.

That's why you're inviting me.

You can come back.

You're inviting me to Tam Tam, too, right?

Of course.

Wow. You see, man, you heard it here.

You know, he's not inviting. He's coming down to camp.

It's the mustaches.

Oh, for the love of God. This is how he finagles his way into these places.

Guys with good facial Guys with good facial hair. Just connect. You know that.

Okay. Well, yeah, I have facial hair, but I'm not like that.

That's why I mean connect.

Oh, you have good facial hair. Brian, the pizza the pizza.

No, I keep it like this. I keep it short, Brian. I keep amazing. Thank you for Thank you so much, my brother. I appreciate you.

I keep kicking ass, man. Thank you.

Awesome. Awesome. So, Manny, we've got uh

And we're back.

We're back.

We've got uh

talk to me, MJ. What do we got?

We've got Kyle and G here. And so, I'm going to start first start with G. I think that you'll really like this story. Um so, G is one of our uh grant recipients. He owns Flaggler Vintage. But G, you just have such an amazing story about how you started your business. And I know Manny as a businessman, he's going to really like that. So, if you could kind of just tell us how you got started and then tell us where your location is.

So, um I'm G. I own Flaggler Vintage.

There you go.

Um

go G.

We're at uh 243 East Flaggler Street, right on the other side on the east side of Flaggler. I started my business four years ago with uh $50 at the Salvation Army and uh it's been kind of a rocket ship since then. So,

it's a crazy volatile market selling uh old clothing, but I've managed to tame it and kill it and uh and we're here. What what what was the what was it behind what's give me the story behind that that was just the fact that you just said I I see I see I see an open market for this

you got to tell them about what not man you got to tell them that you got to tell them

give I want you to give all those give those viewers out there of ours to say listen I I did this I mean because our viewers are like saying should I pull the trigger on this business do I do this do I do not do this you know so your guys testimony really gives them that that that that little edge that they're looking for So, funny enough, I actually recommend to like 98% of people to actually not do what I've done,

okay?

Because it's very very difficult and it's pretty unachievable like realistically,

okay?

But, uh, I was in fashion school and, um, you know, things happen with life. I ended up having to leave fashion school and make a lot of money in a short period of time. And I was doing this as a hobby and it became more of a career overnight. And I just found ways to weave the system and uh make it a very big scalable thing. And uh a big part of that was live streaming. Uh when I acquired my first property right down the street, right on top of my store,

we started live streaming vintage through uh through whatnot. And now we're selling about 500 items a day just on the stream. Wow.

A day, Manny.

Wow. That's crazy.

50 bucks to 500.

That's But that's a story. That's a great story, brother. That that that gives hope a lot to a lot of people and that's what that's what people are looking for. So about that hope, Kyle runs Magic City Flea, which a lot of people all throughout the county uh know. Um and so Magic City Flea is our partner for uh the Holiday Village. And so Kyle, if you want to tell us a little bit about your journey and about the business and also to all of the small businesses that you support in the work that you're doing.

Sure.

Um so I'm Kyle. I'm the founder of Magic City Flea and uh we began about 3 years ago. Uh we started actually in Windwood um on a Mana property and from there we just kind of hopped around to smaller venues. Um and really you know things kind of started to grow very quickly a year ago when we found ourselves on Flyware Street,

right?

Um that was an incredible growth opportunity because you know kind of our mirror image, our you know north star so to speak are the large scale markets in New York and in California. You know we kind of traveled and observed how they do things. And one of the things that we noticed is having a a central location where people can come every week and achieve that sense of community. That's really, I mean, community is really what the vintage, you know, scene is all about at the heart of it. Um, so we wanted to provide that consistent weekly marketplace where people can come to achieve a sense of community. And, you know, we named our business Magic City Flea because that used to be, you know, the popular nickname for Miami, the Magic City.

Magic City. Sure.

It sprung up out of nowhere. You know, it's still the nickname.

It's still the nickname.

Exactly. Right. and uh it just really spoke well to you know what we're trying to do. Vintage being something that's from the past that gives a renewed life and stuff. Flaggo Street being this historical, you know, epicenter of Miami just really fit well with what we were trying to achieve. So, since we've been here, the growth has just been incredible. You know, downtown is our home.

These guys are both really bringing the cool. They're bringing the sustainability, but they're also just bringing massive amounts of opportunity to bring the vibe.

They are bringing the vibes. And so we're really excited to have you guys. I guess you know, maybe our our last quick question, G, I'll let you go first. And I know your business continues to grow and you're doing music festivals and everything else now, but you know, what can people expect from uh you know, um Flaggler Vintage in 2026?

I have something currently in the works. Um

can we mention it? Can we mention it?

I actually cannot mention it. Um

it's going to take about a month to mention it.

Okay. But it's huge.

We'll come back in a month and you're going to tell us.

Yeah, we'll come find you.

We should definitely uh I'll tell you guys off this. Okay. But um but something huge in the works.

Okay.

Something huge. Something fun

in the area.

I can't even say it on here.

I'm trying. I'm trying. I'm trying. I'm trying. But I can't get it out. All right. In the area, not the 10 milei radius. No. No.

It's It's where we are right now.

Okay. That's good. That's good. That's good. That's good.

Kyle, what you got for us in 2026, man? In 2026, we really want to

What more do you have?

Yeah.

Well, we just want to really keep on, you know, proliferating what we're doing right now, our footprint. Um, we also want to really emphasize that community activation and experiential marketing aspects of things. You know, there's a lot of, you know, very Miami brands that are getting pretty big, you know, got a lot of hype behind them. And we want to make sure that we partner with those people because this is supposed to be an event that's all about Miami, you know what I mean? This is supposed to be the best of Miami. it.

Um, and we just want to keep on, you know, forging those partnerships with people in the same kind of scenes and tangential scenes and really create that ultimate experience, you know, that can really be evergreen.

Kyle G, man, you guys are what, you know, supporting small business is all about. We really appreciate you guys being downtown.

Absolutely. And this is the this is the example right here. This is the example. This is what what it is. The grit, the fact, and being here and using the tools that a downtown development authority can give to the new people over here. So, this is a great example. Thank you guys. We appreciate everything. You know, and I promise I'm going to get it out of him of what we're going to be doing.

We'll get the secret out.

We'll give you back. Okay. Okay. And we'll be back with our next guest.

Thank you. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. We are back.

The last name. Why? I got you, but why? Go ahead. Go ahead, MJ. MJ started off. MJ's MJ's an official host here now. So,

we're getting it rolling. Uh we've got a lot of guests today, but right now we've got uh another one of our great small businesses downtown and one of the DDA and uh recipients for our retail grant, Margot Velvet. And so, uh Margot is one of the great curators of events here in Miami. And so, Margot, can you tell us a little bit about your business?

Sure. So, first of all, I'm really happy to call Miami my home and especially Flaggler Street where we have our office. We recently opened it like a months ago and um so what we do is uh we do full event production from A to Z. That what we specialize at for the past 12 years.

I love production

and yeah, it can be stressful but um we love we love that and uh we love art. We love to create amazing events, uh, bring experiences to people and we pretty much do everything from A to Z. We have our in-house costumes, all the equipment, we set up stage, light, sound, and we bring amazing experiences to life. Whatever if you have idea what you want to do or not, we build it, we paint it like a art the whole event.

So, you're like a creative director to a degree.

Yes, I am. I am um creative director and concept creator and um I love what I do. I have a whole team that I'm very proud of. Uh they're amazing. Our management is very strong. Been in the business for for years. Uh same as our designers, choreographers, and uh pretty much the whole stuff. So I do it with my team.

I was going to say I know that she's a good event manager because she saw us here struggling and it might rain and the first thing she says come to my office is get a tent. But you got to say it's sponsored by

Margo Velvet. Velvet saving us from the rain. Our production and tenting is sponsored by Marggo Velvet.

Jo, but yeah, you can mention

Tell me about you. I know you you said you love downtown. Why downtown Miami?

So downtown Miami is we started to do events here like a year ago and I was thinking, wow, like we have so many opportunities here and I don't see uh you know what we do that is happening and we want to add to it with our artists, with our creativity, the whole team. So we really want to grow downtown. We want to grow Flaggler. We see amazing opportunity here. We are so happy to again like just call it home. And me as a person from New York. I lived in New York for over 10 years. I love the city. But like we never

had this kind of support like ZA who's always on point, who's always connecting us with people who even supported us with a grant. Like for me I'm beyond grateful. So this kind of uh of love I never had.

Well, I think that's so important because we talked about this a little bit earlier ago. That is the importance of the DDA and people like Christina, people like MJ, you know, and the fact that you guys come down and you have somebody that'll embrace you and say, "We got you. We can help you." You know what I'm saying? In fulfilling your dreams of what you want to do, bringing something like that you had in New York down here to downtown Miami. I think that's that's that's a fabulous story. I love production. So tell me a little bit about the fact of what else do you foresee? What what I can see in your eyes right now? You see greatness for for for downtown Miami. You know what what what do you foresee in downtown Miami that we can help you with a day in Miami family, a day in Miami fans to pressure our commissioners out there to say, "Come on, we got we we got two of them coming up a little while ago." So we want to pressure them and say this is where this is where Flaggler and this is where downtown has to be. Uh so we envisioning a lot of events happening on Flaggler Street. So that we have already planning producing. Uh one of the events uh will be on a December 21st and another one is uh January 1st where we set up our live band. We are hiring a lot of local talents. Okay. We train them uh to perform according to our standards. We style them. We do uh all the creative part, creative work uh to bring amazing production here in Flaggler and elevate of the experience of people of of the residents of the local businesses and actually grow grow the street with the with the talent to attract right people and amazing talent.

But you were telling me earlier that you have a history from New York. You worked with Broadway. Yes, I used I used to work uh as with a lot of Broadway stars and uh we had a theater of a Broadway style as well in Upper East Side Manhattan. So, it was a great experience and uh we are very excited to bring this experience here.

If you go to her store, it looks phenomenal. It's a bunch of like Broadway style outfits, you know.

I haven't been there yet.

If you're looking to have a party,

I'm going there now. You should go. I got to go check it out. If you're looking to have a party, if you need an outfit, if you want 15 foot tall uh drummers or dancers or whatever you want to make your event a top class event, Margot Velvet is a place that you can visit on Flagler Street to be able to get that and she will help you produce your event.

Margo, I I can't believe I didn't know about Margot before.

He has a lot of parties at his house.

That's right. No, not at my house. We have a lot of things going on. Margo, you and I got to talk. We got to chat. We got to chat.

Sure. Sure. We had like all we have over 200 amazing top of the nation artists ready to rock and roll and ready to elevate. We don't do basic stuff. If you're in a mood to do something basic,

I'm not a basic guy. Don't call trust.

So if you're in a mood to do something really unique and incredible and elevate experience of your guests and elevate your brand. We do a lot of brand activations as well. So we are right company to call.

I mean listen it's Marggo Velvet. is Margot Velvet. Marggo, thank you so much for being here. Can you tell everybody the address real quick?

So, here in Flaggler, 205 East Flaggler Street

and tell them a little bit about the person in the front. You have somebody in the window that's like greeting everyone. She's like in a tub.

Yes. You actually cannot miss our office. Uh the front is very creative. We have a beautiful mannequins dressed up in our costumes that we do inhouse. Everything handmade, very appealing, very unique. And uh so yeah, we have um a beautiful I call her Jessica. It's our dressed up mannequin taking a bath uh right in the front of the store

drinking a little bit of wine. Jessica Marggo, what a pleasure. I mean spectacular. Thank you so much to be here.

Thank you for being part of the whole, you know, DDA and being down here at downtown and giving this this spectacular place.

Brings a different type of energy down here.

Bringing the life and bringing the vibe to downtown. This is it, guys. I'm telling you right now, whoever's not coming downtown, I don't know what the hell you're waiting for. You know, just come and visit Marggo's store. Come on.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Margo.

Thank you. Thank you, guys.

We'll be back.

We'll take a little short break and we'll be back with our next guest.

And we're back again from downtown Miami over here next. Yes, sir.

Guess what I did?

What did you Why did you let me finish?

He said lead and then he jump.

Why did you let me? This is what you always do.

Guess what I did. Is your hat on purpose?

No, I went back for more pizza.

Yeah.

Did you really?

I did. I Where'd you go?

I ate it in secret. I didn't want to share.

Well, but MJ, I had to.

It's too good.

You know, no nothing out of the norm there, you know.

All right, go ahead. I just had to say that

you are hashtag petty that. But anyway,

introduce our guest.

If I can introduce my guest now. We are now joined with our newly elected

commissioner.

Commissioner Ralph Roshado.

Ravi.

Well, welcome Commissioner.

Thank you guys. I mean, when I say newly elected, I mean I mean not now, but it's been how long already?

Five months.

Oh, newly elected.

You bro, he's still

It's I feel you've done so much in five months.

I still I still have that new car sense for whatever.

Hit the ground running.

But you you you It's true. He he did hit the ground running because I feel like he just got elected. You know what I'm saying?

Commissioner, didn't you have a uh podcast um a really good podcast that you were on before you were elected?

That's right. I was I was on your podcast.

It was Oh, just checking.

I think that's what put me over the top.

Just checking. You know, we we we don't want to say anything, but we you know, we are like five for five. But anyway, that's

me and Commissioner Rossado, we have something in common. His little brother is around here somewhere. Uh who's been my best friend since we were little. So when I found out that

what's his name?

Keo. Poor Keto.

Keto.

Keto. Yo. Y Kiko. Keo to Kiko.

He's like an ugly brown. He's a good guy.

Commercial. That's only when your parents were home, you go, I don't want you with this guy. So, really reeling this in, right? I don't know what's wrong with MJ today. Anyways, congratulations on your win.

I think MJ, are you ready for a hot date or something? I mean, yeah, I I don't know what's going on here. You're pushing. We got TO I'M THE GUY that's always wants to leave early.

Yeah, Manny's been drinking tea all afternoon. That's what happens. Sipping sipping.

Um, Mr. Uh Rosado, how has it been the first five months?

It's been really exciting. I think we have so many really amazing things that we're going to get uh you that we're doing and and so many good things that are coming in 2026. I know we have an exciting election. I think we have great candidates all the way around and and I'm you know very positive about the future of the city.

Explain to people exactly which is your district and and they don't know.

So I represent district 4 which is the southwest part of the city. It includes from 17th Avenue west uh to the Palmetto. So it's uh most of Shannondoa, Silver Bluff, Coral Gate, Golden Pines, and Flagami. So if you don't live there, you have friends and relatives that live there for sure.

So Flagami is your district.

Yes.

Did you have anything to do with that park getting a facelift? Whi-

which park?

The Flagami baseball park where everybody grew up playing right there uh by the trash incinerator on Coral Way.

I I I did not. I will tell you my predecessor Manolo Reyes was a big park afficionado and he had a lot revitalizing all the parks.

They finally did it. there was no patches in the parking lots and refencing everything and they really did a good job on that. So, I'm glad to uh

our our parks are bursting at the seams and so I'm really excited that we have, you know, financial resources to create new parks and so we are very actively looking for land throughout District 4 and we're going to serve a lot of neighborhoods that never had a park before.

Yeah. District 4 is where everybody kind of came out of. You know what I'm saying? Like that's where our roots are. What's your biggest agenda for uh you know, it's been 5 months. You know, you still obviously relatively new. What do you got going on?

I don't know. He's done so much in 5 months. I believe he's been there for a year.

What's on your top three list of things to get done in the city?

I I got to tell you, number one is dealing with housing affordability. So, next week, we have a commission meeting on Thursday, and I have an item on there to put out some city- owned land to create housing opportunities for folks. Uh there's a lot of land that the city is sitting on that I want to make sure we put out there onto the market and and help folks that need a stable place to live.

Wow. And another one,

number two is creating parks. Like I mentioned, and and number three is just keeping the peace at the city commission. It's not always the easiest thing. I think so far I've tried to be a stable voice and I think that's what's going to happen next Thursday.

Could we just could we just elaborate that a little bit on the fact of I I I think there is I think there has been a little bit of peace. You know what I'm saying? A lot of people have been saying of of of all these things right now. I think last night uh I was talking to my good friend uh Calvin Hughes and they were they they did a debate. You know what I'm saying? Then there was a debate.

That's right.

And the fact of he was sharing with me of how wonderful it was. It was a it was it was a debate.

Yes.

It wasn't an argument. It wasn't people screaming, you know, over people. It was just a debate. You know what I'm saying? What's your view and what's your view, which is what everybody wants, how it should be, you know? But in in in in that retrospect, I feel that the city of Miami is headed for the right direction now. I mean, I think it's it's it's great and and the fact of I want you to talk a little bit about the fact that you chair this DDA.

I do.

And the fact of what what has it been or how's it been for you when you walked into this?

What's what's the importance of this DDA commissioner?

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, I' I've mentioned this uh in several venues, but downtown Miami is the third tallest skyline in the entire country after Manhattan and Chicago. And that means we have more people and more businesses per square foot than you're going to find just about anywhere else in the country. And when you've got that many people and businesses concentrated, you're going to need additional services. So, the DDA has been around uh almost 60 years essentially providing additional policing, grants to help start up businesses, all sorts of efforts at cleanliness and beautifification, uh trying to attract folks to move and live in downtown Miami when nobody was living in downtown Miami and helping businesses survive and thrive and expand. And so, it's got a it serves a very important role in the city that the city government by itself could not serve. And so I'm I'm deeply honored that I got to follow my district 4 commissioner predecessor's uh footsteps by also serving as the chair of the DDA which I love that phenomenal agency.

Uh the chairman brings his calming nature also to the DDA and we're just really blessed to work with him and excited for him to enjoy I think this holiday village and the holiday lights uh you know for the first time.

My whole family is coming down uh tonight. They should be here in a couple minutes and it'll be fun to enjoy with my wife and my kids and my nephews. Um, everything that downtown Miami has to offer around the holidays, which is stuff you're not going to see just in any part of Miami. We're going to have an incredibly beautiful Christmas tree behind us. We're going to have a Manura lighting. You got the Flaggler Village that's going to be taking place every weekend throughout the rest of the year. You'll be be able to do like very sort of boutique uh Christmas shopping and it's just it's quaint. It's, you know, the most historical part here in the city and and tremendously excited to be It's got a It's got a vibe that I haven't seen in years, man, to be honest.

Yeah.

Well, this is historical. This is is downtown Miami. It's

between the Olympia and the DuPont. Doesn't get any better.

I mean, we we did talk about that and and and and the Olympia theater now is going to go through the whole, you know, remodeling stage.

You know what I'm saying? Which I I think is spectacular. I think this is going to be now with the whole school.

Yes.

You know, which I think it's great. We had them in the pod and I they I think they really hit on every issue in the sense of what this place means for downtown Miami. You know, this is like, you know, people understand that this this whole Flaggler corridor is is iconic and and and the fact that these buildings and everything else is just something that we have to continue preserving and keeping up. Right. on this iconic part. Can you you may be commissioner, can you talk a little bit about, you know, as the downtown Miami is under this, you know, a moment of rediscovery for a lot of people, kind of some of the things that, you know, you as a chairman are looking forward, I'd say, in 2026 for the DDA, uh, and some of the work that you're looking to, you know, continue to push us to do and move forward.

Absolutely. So, one of the things the DDA does is it provides additional policing above and beyond what the city can provide. And so, we have roundthe-clock extra police officers going around. We have a drone that's specifically for the DDA area where the costs were split between the agency and the city. And so it's a it's called the first responder drone. And the idea is that if you have a large crowd, a special event, something that could be, you know, it could go off the rails a little bit, you send the drone first to see what is it that that's happening there, so you know what officers to send in and how many and exactly where and all of that.

We also have uh brand new uh horses for Bickl, right? And you think horses? Is that because it's, you know, charming and a throwback? It is all of that, but also if you think about it, Bickl has a lot of cars all at these very tight

intersections. 100% makes sense.

You need to have a way to get around the cars. And so, it's very practical to have horses that are going and and going to places where it's not practical for a car to go.

You think there's a horse that can pull me around?

Absolutely.

We may need both horses

and a carriage. Yeah.

And a carriage. Two horses and a carriage. Commissioner, um what's the toughest uh struggles or challenges you have uh working with the DDA or in your office being the you know relatively new guy? Like what do you like what's tough or what's harder than normal?

Well, I I would say for here for downtown I think we're at a little bit of an inflection point, right? So when the agency was created, there was nobody living here and it was all about trying to bring in businesses and maybe some international visitors at some point. And now that we have a lot of folks here, folks are saying, well, you know, we'd like a little bit of extra TLC. And so the the agency is is pivoting in that extent to be able to provide that additional support, making sure the streets are spotless. We're going to be finishing up this Flaggler Street project, which looks really beautiful on this block, but we we got to finish it elsewhere.

Me and Manny said that as soon as we got here, like the streets are clean, everything, you know, people were cleaning. Obviously, they're having an event, but it's been the norm like this. This cobblestone is really nice. So you we see that already we see the change and that's always what people want to see.

I mean, the fact they're having all the tables and everything outside like this, this is spectacular. a couple of days a couple of years back when you know

hell no

you you didn't see that here you know what I'm saying you have everything now in in in a place that you say I have no issues coming down here I was floored with the fact of of Christina telling us how many people are living now in in in that area

the number continues and continues to grow I think that you know obviously downtown is for everybody in Miami D county and really a gym for everybody in the world uh but more and more people continue to live down here there's more cranes in Miami D county than the entire state of California and about 60% % of those cranes are within the DDA district. And so that development will continue to happen. And I think that through the chairman's leadership and continuing to focus on the services that matter to the residents is something that's really important. And then mixing that with continuing to support the businesses. So this is a great place for people to live, shop, the holiday uh village is really a combination of those both like we were talking about. It's something for the residents and the families, but then also to support all the small businesses that are here uh in the district.

What what a difference. You know, it's really just night and day that I I grew up here in the city of Miami. You would never be where we are right now at this time of the day. You'd be like, "Let me run to my car and get on home and people are coming here to start."

So, the change is here, man. I'm excited. I'm excited. I've already tried a couple spots

uh for

and a couple and a couple food spots, too.

You missed the pizza.

Oh, you missed the pizza, bro.

We got to get to You're the chairman.

Yeah. Commission, thank you so much. We appreciate the fact and we appreciate the fact of the leadership that you're doing as chairman of DDA

and the fact of just continue the good work and the fact of uh you know let's make this even bigger and better

and have him back when he completes a year cuz he's halfway there. Listen, I I got to tell you something. I think the commissioner has been already here with us already.

Yes, my boy. I got to do it. His brother doesn't stop holding those. I got

I just don't understand that. Commissioner, thank you so much, brother. And we will be back.

Thank you so much. Well, we are back and we have Commissioner Partardo with us today.

Welcome, Commissioner again. We love having Commissioner Partardo on the podcast.

My pleasure. My pleasure.

Is he our favorite commissioner?

One of one of our favorite That's the political response.

We could say he is the I want to say he's up there in the funnest.

Yeah, he's definitely the funnest,

you know. I mean, he's always Oh, if there's something about Bardo, the guy's always smiling.

Always.

You know what I'm saying? Great energy. Great energy. Life is beautiful. Life is beautiful. Life is beautiful. Welcome, Commissioner.

Thank you,

Commissioner. Pleasure to be here.

Let Let me just get into this really quick. What does what what what does this represent to you over here? What what what are you seeing with the sense of how downtown has evolved, the DDA, what we're sitting here in Flaggler with the Christmas tree behind us. We're going to be lighting this up today. What does that mean to you being part of the city?

Well, it's incredible to me because I I worked here for 25 years. I remember the downtown that was a ghost town that everyone would just they they would come here, they would work and then they would leave and that was the end, right?

And I'm so happy and proud as a city of what everyone has been able to do to bring the vibrancy really bring the game here in downtown. People are excited. There's a lot of innovation. People want to talk about business. People want to talk about their family. It is now a real vertical community right here in downtown. So, it's a neighborhood, but it's vertical. So, that has a lot of challenges and and things that the city has done a great job adapting to. They created the eastern district, the police department. That's awesome.

So, this whole area from Bickl all of downtown and Edgewater now has patrol, foot patrol, uh, horses, ATVs, drones, and very little in the way of cars. So, it's really being able to reach out to people, engage the residents. I think it's fantastic, especially with our office. people feel very comfortable talking with us, telling us the problems, making sure that we're partnering, we're collaborating in all of these solutions. And I think that really bodess well for our city.

Yeah. I see like the infrastructure has gotten dramatically better here too, right? Like I feel like when I was younger, I used to drive or go, you know, walk through here and I felt like it was catered more towards the port, the people that are coming off the port to buy luggage and stuff and leave. And I always wondered, why are there not like little restaurants like pop-ups? And this has changed dramatically in the last handful of years. You know, you see a lot of like nice restaurants. Uh we had the guys from Tam Tams earlier. Very good restaurant. A lot of We have Lost Boys right here. They treated us very nicely earlier.

And and uh and it's like one of those places where you want to come and walk around, you know? It looks beautiful.

How every downtown should be. Correct. You know what I'm saying? Let's be honest about that. So, I I really think in the sense and and Christine, I want you to, you know, pop into this. What has been really the the the force behind all this in the sense of okay, we're going to we're going to bring all these restaurants, we want to bring in the bars. I mean, I think it was instrumental for all those folks that have not that just joined us now. The whole changing of the law,

right,

to make that happen in the sense to make what we're looking at now.

Yeah. So, I was telling you the story earlier. I'm I'm born and raised on Miami Beach and I grew up on Lincoln Road. And to me, when I was walking when I first came over to the DDA now almost 11 years ago, I was walking up and down and I said, "Oh my god, this kind of looks like a historic beautiful area that kind of reminds me of where I grew up." And when we realized that the hindrance was really a a code change, we did that and we in partnership with the with the leadership at the time and really the county city and county um helped us to be able to create the Flaggler district. So now we can have bars and restaurants next to each other and we can stay open till 5 am which this is not a heavy. Yeah.

5 am right. We know that.

But with respect to the residents, right? So really we're focusing on Flaggler Street only has really one residential tower somewhere on the other side. So we really want to focus on this area in front of the Olympia theaters as an example that we can really bring in more of that vibrancy. Plus, people that live here want a thing to do after work or, you know, they want to be able to walk down from their absolutely condo to go get a bite to eat or go meet their friends and that was really missing here. So, do they evolution at downtown with all the residents that came came all of this real kind of active um environment and arts and culture kind of followed that. So, yeah.

Oh, well, I was going to ask uh mentioning the Olympic Theater. Uh I know that the slam now has uh over that which is I think a phenomenal I know there's people that complain about it. I think it was the best. Oh, actually you convinced them. Everybody's really on board now.

I think it's phenomenal.

Good job. Thank you guys.

No, and they were the right people.

You're talking about $50 million. It's going to go to the complete restoration.

100%.

It's been closed and you know this is our historic theater. It's the most beautiful place for me. It'll also activate this whole anchor. But do you Oh yeah. Do you imagine the fact of now having you know movies as we talked about shows in the sense that you can really think I mean I don't know if we're going to get down to like you know a whole Broadway area yet to set that up

a lot of people talking about a lot of people leaving New York but anyway that's another story but at the same time I mean to have that here I mean I I think that's even huge and a lot of other people from other states that want to be part of something in the downtown because listen I we talked about this and I think we talked about this last time you were in the pod commissioner Gusman Hall, which was like I always remembered it, right? The Gusman Theater.

You know, I remember coming for the Miami Film Festival here.

This was where the where the Miami Festival the festival

and they've done it the last couple years here.

And they've always done it. And that place is so spectacular. I mean, my my daughter's dance competitions have been here way back in the time. And to watch a movie in those places, to watch a play, to watch a Broadway show,

you really don't think you're anywhere else than like, you know, and having this whole street now become something like that iconic

with, you know, you go to Europe, you you go to Madrid, you go to you got all those areas in London and you all all the all these all these all these streets and make this that whole thing of feeling that you're somewhere else, right?

You know, makes it so iconic. But you're in Miami. Yeah. You're you're you're an Uber right away.

Exactly. You know what I'm saying?

To follow up on the question, uh do you guys know what the next steps are? Like they really have like obviously like whatever type of ownership that they have and what are they going to do next? Now

they have to renovate the the building, right? So So they're doing that and that comes with in pieces, right?

Is there a timeline or anything or they haven't released that yet?

Right. It should be it's projected to be about two years. There's about $50 million that should go into the project and so they're probably going to have to bond out when they're ready uh to do that to seek the financing and get it in line for that.

So commission are are they going to be able to get their permits on time?

Absolutely. We're sitting right in front of our permit clinic. Hello. We have our permit.

You know, one of the biggest things everybody comes to podcast now. Oh, the city of Miami the per you know I think I think I think we learned our lesson. Manny, I think a I think a big deal about all of this is the quality of life for the residents in the vertical neighborhood because it's not just being able to do things like Olympia arts, culture, business, innovation, entrepreneurialism. It's also the basics. We're working on a really good noise ordinance. We're working to make sure that what people are feeling, the stresses that they're feeling in quality of life are addressed by the city and by the DDA. So, it's a very good partnership and it's really about the residents.

What more do they want? at 5:00 in the morning for the low of that. And I mean,

we're careful about that. But I mean, I'm a guy. I can just last till 4:30. No, but

but that and they also have I mean, there's a lot of activations and things going on in downtown all the time, which is one of the best parts about living here, right?

But I know

there's always something to do

that that FIFA now uh did a contract with Bayfront Park.

Yeah, they're doing the fan event.

They're doing the fan event at Bayfront Park and it's going to be beautiful. It's going to be all of next summer, I believe, they're going to be there.

Yes. Yeah. In June 2026, we have soccer World Cup here. So, it'll be And you always have ultra. You always have results, which is a staple in this community.

Are you still going to Ultra, Commissioner?

No, no, no. I I margins. I stay on the outside. I get there at 11:30.

I

But honestly, that was my first

with the outfit

and it was awesome, man. Everyone needs to experience an Ultra. If you haven't been, you have to experience an Ultra.

I agree. It's a real feeling being in there. And you know, it's it's a M it's part of the Miami culture now, too, you know. 100%

100. Yep.

Yeah.

Absolutely right.

I had another question.

I haven't had a chance to go.

Nobody stopped me.

And I've never and I've never been, but my mother-in-law went with my brother-in-law and they loved it. The Freedom Tower.

I was about to say that my brother to the Freedom Tower. Don't be saying that in your Cuban. Come on. I know. But it was closed and now it's open. It was closed for lunch.

Yeah. And Miami date college did an amazing job in a really quick turnaround to be able to open that up and it is absolutely spectacular.

Symbolic.

Symbolic. It's a heart string puller. I mean if you're not crying by the time you're out of there I don't know you know what's up.

Well it shows you the lot of struggles that people did

and by the way that was also a restoration that was restoration phenomenal. You know it documents everything from you know Pedro Pan

and and it celebrates all cultures too. There's a

absolutely it's everybody's freedom.

No. There you go. Well, thank you, commissioner. That's why you're commissioner. The fact is is that Freedom Tower does represent everybody's freedom. That that that is that is the symbol. You

really hit the nail on the head.

Simple. Let me just say this. I I I we're right here right now. We're we're as we're streaming live. This is You guys can't see this, but this is getting so full. I mean, the fact of the restaurants and and the stores are again. I'm fascinated with Lost Boys. I'm going to go back over there in a little bit.

Um but at the same time, we're going to go and and and we're going to do the uh

if you stay up, you can go to Jolene later. That's our basement. What time does that strike?

Uh, well, you know, 11.

You got 11.

And also mode. It's another basement bar that we have at home building about 10:00.

You you you know a lot about the ADA. Clearly,

I've been here for 11 years.

So, I want to ask you, I don't know. Does the title CEO mean anything to you?

Yeah. I want to ask you,

you got to give us your top three restaurants in downtown. Okay. It could be your go-tos right now so you don't discriminate against your others. I know.

But you you're like a wealth of knowledge.

There we go. Well, the pizza for teasy. Obviously, we had

you don't know for number three.

You know what?

Novakov. I love Novakov.

Oh, okay. Well, that's Manny's favorite.

They have a great brunch.

Shooting high.

I mean, I'm going to give you all kind of go for it. And then Fatelli Milano. I love the past.

Felli is amazing.

Oh god. And I can have one more.

Go for it.

The the brunch spot. Uh Cafe Bastil. So delicious.

Yes. Okay.

Let me tell you that pizza orgasm. Excuse me. But for me, that pizza will hit the spot at 4:30 in the morning.

That's the idea.

Yep. Yep. That junk food, you know. That's the idea.

That's at 4:30. I'm like, damn, that is the best pizza in the world. And it is the best pizza. Shout out.

Many times we had residents ask us where where do we go eat after like they had a night out or something. And that's really how this evolved. The listening tour that we did, it was also about that to your point about the residents being here. They asked for this. And

but that's something that I like about you guys. You guys actually listen to the residents and especially Commissioner Partardo, he's very open to talking to people all the time. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. And I think that's important for

We really try to do a lot of forums. We try to make sure that people understand that it's a collaboration. I mean, this is your city working for you. We're public servants. We want you to come work with us. Tell us how we can help, you know, and I'm I mean, Manny's been in politics. You guys have been in politics for so long. I feel like the politics now in Miami is much more transparent than it was before. you know, feels a little bit more connected. You know, I see you guys out a lot talking to other podcasters, being on other people's channels, going to restaurants, and it it feels like there's like a you know, you're cultivating like a good relationship with the actual community instead of people seeing you from far and like really not knowing who you are.

It's how it should be.

That's a really great point. I actually think the city better than ever is set for reform. I think it's ready to make the changes that maybe it hasn't been able to make in the last decade, but now we are. So,

and I I agree with you. I think the elections should have been changed, you know, but I think I agree with you at that time, but it whatever. You saw the turnout we just had right now, you know, that wasn't good

and we wouldn't have the problem we have in District 3. But anyway,

yeah, but we need to get more people to go out and vote even though I think people more people did come out and vote this time for for the mayorship.

They did. It was about 20%. And the general is about 70%.

The generals are about 70%. Yeah.

It's about empowering.

That's another that's another battle for another day.

But listen, I I want your statistic, commissioner, and not because I'm I'm not putting you a spot. Do we do we have a good turnout for the runoff? You think we'll have a good turnout for the runoff?

I think it'll definitely be less than 20%.

It'll be less than 20%. Okay.

So, what we'd like is to really empower

Get out to vote, guys.

Well, but we really want to empower the voters by moving it into a cycle where they're already paying attention and they're likely to vote. As an elected official, I want to be elected by 70% of the people.

Yeah, correct. That's a statement. You know what I mean? I think that's an important statement when you're an elected official.

Yes. Yes. Perfect. Well, listen to me. I want to say one more time, Commissioner, thank you so much. I I not for we love everything you're doing and we love everything you're doing in the city of Miami. We love the fact that you support the DDA. We love how you're supporting downtown district and making this place even better.

You know what I'm saying? Because I think this is going to even go higher and higher and higher. I mean, I I'm going to get here to a place that we're going to say we can't even get into the restaurants.

Yeah, we should we should open a business here in downtown for that.

You guys would love to open a business here. come on down MJ.

We can talk we can talk to the DDA, talk to the There's a lot of opportunity here.

Yeah. And by the way, I want to also say that all of our all of our board meetings and our committee meetings are open to the public. So, anybody can come and speak and ask questions. It's a very engaging conversation that we have at the DDA table. And also, if you can't come cuz it's during working hours, you can watch by Zoom. So, we really want to be able to provide that connection to the community in that way.

So, what time are we going to light this sucker?

Um, the show starts at 6:30.

Okay, let's go.

Oh, yeah. I also want to thank you guys for all the good work you're doing. You're bringing new voices out there. It's very important. Your podcast, your podcast is covering a lot of things that have never been covered. So, that means a lot. We appreciate that's been our goal. That's been our goal, brother. I appreciate that.

Would you say it's the number one podcast in Miami?

Absolutely. It's amazingly.

Okay. We're standby because we're going to be going now a little bit to the the

holiday lighting

and the lighting.

Yes. Thank you for finishing that same information.

You're welcome. I'm here for it.

Matty's headed back to Lost Boy right before the lighting.

And the pizza.

Yeah. Where's Kiko, by the way?

Kiko's at Lost Boy or he's eating pizza, by the way. Kiko.

All right, we're good.

He's eating tacos. He's eating tacos at Primos.

Yeah, probably. All right, we'll be back.

WE ARE BACK. RING THE BELL. THE WEATHER FOR BIG GUYS RIGHT NOW. B&MD are chilling.

We are big chilling. And we're big chilling with one of our residents here in the district. This is Lissa M.

Hello, Larissa.

Definitely

a beautiful guest.

Thank you.

And so a lot about what the commissioner talked about and Christina is trying to, you know, uh, thread this line between supporting the small businesses and thinking about economic development holistically, which is also supporting the residents, right? And so Lissa is a resident that lives here in the district. Lissa, maybe you could tell us, you know, why you love downtown so much.

The scoop, Lissa.

Okay, so give us the real reason.

I've been born and raised in Miami.

Okay. a little out of this area, but I remember when I would come and visit and now that I live here, I saw a huge transformation and so this past year I was like, who is responsible for this? So that's when I started learning more and then the DDA just did such a great job at community effort to kind of connect that missing link like what you guys were talking about with Commissioner um Partardo and just being able to have that connection where he's not just like up on a pedestal like we can actually reach and interact. That aspect of community was really important because I think that's what's going to drive Miami to being even better than what it is

and getting that effort. So seeing that I can walk at night and not worry at like 10:00 p.m. when I'm co-working to just like take North Miami A down

or um you know taking the metro transportation whether it's the freebie I feel safe it's easy it's accessible it's exactly what I think

by the way how great is it to say that you can go down north Miami I mean like that you know I mean that's you've never heard that you know from years ago

and Lissa's a big proponent of all of our ways of getting around downtown whether that's the freebie the metro mover

yes I am a commuting girly so if you guys don't know about the freebie take

yeah what's the freebie

the freebie

is it free. Ain't nothing free. It's free. Actually,

the DDA picks up the cost of

all day. I can ride on the freebie.

Kiko, you know, free. Come on.

Kiko, only you and me can fit in one freebie. But yes, you can take

That's what I wanted to know. Kiko acts like he doesn't know what free is love.

But you see freebies all across uh the county. Uh Coconut Grove, but they're electric guard golf carts. There was a company actually started by some uh young guys, a startup out of FIU. And so it's a free electric golf cart. And then we also have a couple Teslas uh that will take people around downtown. They have an app and you can catch it anywhere downtown and it will take you to wherever you like to go.

Nissa, which one do you use?

I use the freebie, but I use the metro the most

really.

And it's really like a hack because who wants to take the time to go look for parking and pay for parking in this busy city. So it's like as you're going, you can also co-work on the or take a call or do something like that. So I'm really big on like maximizing my time

for sure. Time.

So I'm just like commuting early. I'll be like taking a call or executing something there and then bam, I'm at the stop I need to go and you're just walking distance.

Do you cross a lot over the brickl?

I do. I do.

So, how's that commute? Is it

like if I'm walking it or if

walking in it with the freebie or the metro or is it

um I love it because I mean the sunset, the the sky, the weather. Obviously, this is like the best city in the

There's some really great views from the metro mover.

There is. And you can see the sunset. And so even as you're watching all of that, it's just really nice because I mean again growing up here and then walking and being in the city the way that I had grown up seeing Miami versus like living and embodying it now.

I really feel like I'm on a TV show.

Honestly,

we're on a day in Miami. Actually, thank you MJ.

Lissa, take So take us take us

through a Lissa day in Miami. Okay.

Could you take us through a Lissa day? Let's let let's just say

what's the coffee shop?

Let's just say let's take a a regular weekday a work day.

Okay.

Wake up. Where where are we headed?

Okay. So, first I live by the Adrian Art Center, right? Okay.

So, the way that my building is, the window is like right there where my bed is. So, the sun wakes me up, right? I wake up, get ready, um hop on the metro, and if I'm going to downtown to Citizen M, I'll take that all the way. Set up my day in the calls. The other hack is um the world center recently came up and so that's been my little spot.

Okay.

And so what I'll do instead now is I'll walk

and I'll go walk over um grab a coffee from that new Starbucks place which is amazing.

Um I

I was going to say when are you going to drink your coffee here? Because that's got to be the first you told me about waking up early at that time already by six. I already have to have some coffee in my veins already. Talking about coffee.

Make my coffee.

Talking about coffee. Is there like somebody having coffee with you? And the reason I asked this is how's dating in downtown for a beautiful girl like you?

Oh my god.

So,

well, but she didn't finish the day.

I know, but I'm just saying I I got I got I got I got one of our viewers

to ask me. I asked.

He's like, "You really want the tea?"

You let him know that we're going to finish question for me. She's pretty. That's

okay. We're going to finish the day.

Go ahead. Finish your day.

So, if I'm not getting the Starbucks removal center, I actually really love naughty coffee. It's so good. Um they do have like a secret menu, too. So, if you know, you know. I plug Naughty Coffee is a new business that is part of the DDA incentive program.

Yes. But fun fact, um I grew up down south where Dland was. So, I had already known what Naughty Coffee was. So, when they brought it here, I was like, "Thank God this is like perfect. It's popping all the time."

How does it spell naughty? Like naughty.

Um

yep. MJ, why do you know so much about this coffee shop, dog?

Well, they're part of the incentive program. We've been working to get them down here. They're open and they're changing that whole corner.

So, you like your coffee naughty M&J? Is that what we're saying?

Extremely. Got it. All right. Go ahead, Lissa.

You know, you brought the naughty in, didn't you?

Yeah, you did. Could we could we please stop interrupting, Lissa? I'm sorry.

So, my day, right, so I'll pop in. Um, Citizen M in the downtown World Center is like a little spot where I just like to sit in that open area facing the arena.

Yeah.

Um, you meet a lot of cool people. Like this weekend was the or last weekend was the E1 Sports. So, I actually saw like a bunch of people. got to meet people from like out of town and just interact or just sit there, pop up, sunlight's there, you got an open view window. So, I'll do that and then

I'll go to the gym. So, then I go and I walk over. Um, again, everything for me is walking or running or whatever it is.

Um, if it's on a Tuesday, then I'm coming over making it to Bickl probably run over there.

Okay.

Um, Bickl Run Club. If you haven't been in there, which if you haven't heard of that, you're under a rock cuz it's the

got to be one of the biggest long run. There's a lot of people under a rock around this place by the way.

Yeah. Which is crazy. Um so I'll go in there. There's a lot of fitness things. Um for the most part I'm working and then I'll walk like I'll stay up in Citizen M sometimes like walk back home maybe get a lunch or if I'm walking somewhere in the area. Um it's like 10 or 11 and I'm like okay I'm going to go home. And I literally just walk back home.

Okay. So then before we go I want to ask one question. Go ahead Kiko. What's the question? What's the daily like in downtown Miami for a beautiful girl like

That wasn't my question, but go ahead. I will add to

I may not be the best person to ask on that because um I think I'm more focused on like what I'm doing. Okay.

The feedback though is that it is hard. I don't think it's impossible. I think if you, you know, are looking for something, be intentional. Kind of set your non-negotiables. Um don't let these people play with you because it is a very fun city and city culture is. Mhm.

Um, but for me, I mean, I'm still looking.

There's a lot to do.

There's a lot to do. There's a lot to do. Lissa, before you go, name your top three places that you like to go and eat around here in downtown.

Ooh,

quick before we get poor.

Start with number three before the rain comes.

I know this is like a basic one, but Moxy's like, just never miss.

No, no, it's fire. No,

you're good.

It's funny you say that cuz everybody says it's so basic, but the food is good.

It is good, and I give credit where credit's due.

Number two, I did, too.

Um, number two. Oh, man. I wasn't ready for this

production.

Uh, mangrove.

You know what I just told you about that. I will say mangrove like the jerk place. I am Jamaican, so biased, but I think we have the best food, too. So, I would say if you haven't been to Jerk or Mangrove, Mangrove is kind of like the speak easy behind it to try it there. That's actually really good.

And you're number one.

And oh my gosh. Um, so much anxiety. Um,

you know, where is it that I go? Um, oh, so basic, but talking tacos because one, they're open up 5:00 a.m. and those bang shrink tacos.

But are you are YOU UP AT 5:00 A.M.?

OF COURSE YOU

LISTEN, I work hard and I play hard. So, like, if I, you know, want to step out for a second, Yeah. But sometimes it's 3:00 a.m. and I might be still working and the only place open is talking tacos. And those Bang Bang Tacos really hit. Hey,

shout out to a working hard working girl.

Thank you so much, Orisa.

Thank you guys.

Thank you so much downtown. We out. It's time to ring.

Stay tuned. We're going to go now to the lighting of the Christmas tree.