Legally obligatory Miami manifesto
So It Turns Out, #30
So,
Here are some things I thought about this past week, while visiting Miami.
So it turns out Miami is a city
Having spent >48 hours in Miami while employed in the general space of “technology and/or business,” I am now legally required, in the Year 2021, to write what I saw, and construct from it a general referendum on governance, business, technology, the future, and American life. (See, e.g., Devon Zuegel, Keith Rabois, this SF Gate roundup, etc.)
Ideally, I should also express deeply felt and extremely angry opinions about San Francisco as part of this process. Alas, as a non-resident of that city, I have no thoughts on that, other than that the dim sum at 1-800-Lucky in Wynwood, Miami, is nowhere near as good as the dim sum in Good Mong Kok Bakery in SF’s Chinatown (Duh).
So maybe let’s break a small piece of new ground by writing about it from my own angle, as a resident of DC.
Miami — a preview of DC coming attractions?
As a DC resident, my view of Miami is rather different than the view that SF residents have. Yet perhaps they’re challenged by Miami in similar ways. After all, SF and DC are quite similar:
Population:
SF: ~880K
DC: ~700K
Key words:
SF: Surveillance capitalism, regulatory evasion, tourism, inexplicably expensive real estate
DC: Surveillance in defense of democracy and capitalism, regulatory capture, tourism, slightly more explicably expensive real estate
Dress code:
SF: Officially, you can wear anything you want. Unofficially, there’s a lot of rigid sartorial uniform.
DC: Officially, there are often uniforms. If there isn’t…well, have you heard of Jos. A. Bank? (Unfortunately, I have. Please, men of DC, dress better.)
***
So, to these DC eyes, what is Miami? Miami certainly isn’t a rival to DC — it’s way larger, if nothing else. Perhaps instead you could say that Miami is the patched, upgraded version of Los Angeles.
Maybe some of those patches are traits you see in DC. As others have noted, Miami is a city that yes, has traffic, but actually has a functional system of public transit. It seems to have preserved its cool old stuff in parts, like the historic hotels in South Beach, but seems still to be able to do some degree of proactive urban planning, and to build tall buildings (though taller than ours by far). It has good food from a variety of cultures. It’s a city that understands that you should be able to walk to a good cocktail bar.
But others are traits that DC doesn’t have. It has big tourist draws, but actually developed them to scale (Miami Beach’s attitude to tourism is utterly unlike Venice Beach or DC’s National Mall). It has big companies, but isn’t twisted around a single industry the way that DC or LA is; it’s not a company town. It’s fashionable, but seems to lack the weird self-depriving body hatred of Los Angeles, or the weird shaming body modesty conservatism of DC.
Overall, it feels like a place that’s just more open.
***
But more than that, it’s a preview of coming attractions and challenges for DC. The rule of thumb, after all, is that climate change is moving weather north at about 25 miles a year. As the crow flies, DC is about 1000 miles north of Miami, so Miami 2021 is DC 2060, give or take. The heat’s coming. But what else will?
Will DC in 2060 — assuming we don’t replace This Whole City with Zoom’s great grandkid AR teleconferencing technology — still be so stodgy, so conservative? Will we swap business suits for swimsuits? Will we adapt our built environment for the demands of the time we’re in, and can we keep on building new, tall buildings to give homes to our growing community? Will we diversify our community, and our businesses? Will we talk to strangers, or will we be afraid?
***
I’m not sure, in honesty, that anything I’m saying about Miami is real, or mirage. There’s something traditionally American, after all, in visiting another place briefly and declaring it a challenge to your future. But I’m excited, and braced, by the challenge of imagining what the best of the Miami-of-dreams and the DC-of-reality could be.
May these birbs bless your bathtime
May this rescued fox bring you peace
May this sk8er boi see you later boi
(Disclosure, I guess: Tony Hawk’s video game series is published by my former employer)
Disclosures:
Views are my own and do not represent those of current or former clients, employers, friends, or my cat.