Inside the Mind of a City Builder: Willy Bermello on Designing Miami

Today's guest is someone whose work you've [music] experienced even though you may not know his name. He's helped shape how cities move, how ports function, how airports grow, and how global commerce flows. [music] From Miami to Latin America and beyond, his fingertips >> [music] >> are on the infrastructure that millions of people rely on every single day. This is a game changer's conversation [music] in the truest sense of the word. I'm honored to welcome Willy Bermello to Game Changers. Welcome to Game Changers coming to you from our podcast studio here on the campus of Florida International University's College of Communications, Architecture, and the Arts. And today I have a very special guest, and the fact

that we are here at the School of Architecture at FIU, it's completely fitting to have my guest Willy Bermello. He is the principal and vice president of Bermello Ajamil & Partners, a global and award-winning architecture and engineering design firm spanning over 30 years. And if you've traveled in South Florida at all, which everybody has, you whether you're at an airport or a seaport or wherever you're going, you have likely been touched by this firm's influence. Right? So, welcome Willy to Game Changers. Thank you. I'm happy to be here at Game Changers with all of your audience and back here at FIU at the home of the Panthers. That's right. That's right. Paws up for that

one. We're going to give We're going to give Jeanette Nuñez a paws up here as as he go go like this. Uh she's All right, paws up. She's doing a great job, man. >> [laughter] >> So, Willy, you born in Cuba, you went to UF, you did your master's degree at University of Pennsylvania if I'm not if not mistaken. As as a child growing up, what what influenced you to take on this interest in architecture? Well, my my dad would take me um on weekends to learn how to drive, and he would take me to these new developments and subdivisions. And what was interesting about the subdivisions was that I was seeing the newest modernism

in Cuba happening in Havana um in the late 1950s. And it drew a lot of interest to me as a kid. And I had an ability to draw, and I you know, when they would ask me what I wanted to be, I would tell my grandfather and my aunts and my uncles, I want to be an architect. And it just so happens that at that time uh Cuba had a a an excellent School of Architecture. And some of the modernist movements of the international style uh had really taken place and was really moving forward with Cuban architecture. And we had a lot of influence from from from Europe. Uh so, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius um

were all um common visitors to the island. And and Cuba really was on the vanguard of architecture, you know, in the early 1960s and basically in 1950s. So, that was a great influence on me, and since I was a little kid, I just enjoyed it. I had a talent for drawing, and I was very focused. Um I never diverted from that. People would ask me, "What do you want to be?" I said, "I want to be an architect." >> You knew from the start. >> it from the start. >> [clears throat] >> Interesting. And so, you came over when? We we came to my You know, you always remember the day that you arrive in

Miami. And we arrived here on October 22nd, 1960. I was 9 years old. We came here with $5 in our pockets. This is not a figure of speech. It's It was Literally $5. >> $5 for my mother, my dad, and myself. So, we had 15 bucks between the three of us. And we went straight from the airport to a little hotel where my father would use to stay during times that we would come here normal times in vacation, not in times of exile. It's called the Short Crest Hotel. It's on 15th and Collins. And we stayed there for a week until a family that the gentleman was a an executive from uh Standard Oil Company

in Havana. Uh and when he arrived here, the the company obviously uh treated him well and and provided for him. So, we had money enough to pay our bills so we could leave the hotel because we had been there for an entire week, you know, just cranking up a bill. Uh and then we lived in North Miami in Normandy Island, which is um like North 73rd 79th Street Causeway area. We lived there for about a a whole month in a in a small I would call it a motel. It was a one-bedroom efficiency at the Sir Richard Hotel in Normandy Island. We were there for one about about about a month. And then my dad

started working for the CIA, and we moved into a little house just behind Riverside Elementary School. And I was Southwest 8th Ave right in the heart of Little Havana, and we were there um for a couple of years. >> Wow. So, the CIA. And how did how did he land that? Was he involved in in in in similar work in Cuba? >> my father when we came to Miami, he had been a magistrate in the government of Castro during that year. All of the magistrates left the island once they realized the big lie >> Right. of the promise of the revolution was not what people thought it was going to be, and it was going

to be a Marxist-Leninist uh movement, and um so, when he when he came to the US, he immediately was recruited. And uh my father was at an age that he was not operating in the clandestine operations. But what my father and a group of other four men did is that they they ran the back of house for the CIA. So, all the different companies, all the accounting, all the support was done out of a little office uh and on Southwest 8th Street and about 45th Avenue. >> Wow. And I would go there as a as a kid um when I was in middle school, I was I attended Kinloch Park Middle School. And right after

school, you know, um one of the gentlemen that worked there, who was like a runner, he would come pick me up, and we would go there. So, I'd be there in the office, and they were all working, and I had no idea what they were doing. Well, what they were doing is they were taking care at that point of the widows and the the wives of the men of the Bay of Pigs that were at that time in prison in 1961. So, um uh and my father worked for the for the company for about 5 6 years, and and then he went into the publication business. Wow. What a story. It was an interesting story.

Absolutely. Absolutely. So, all right. So, you you you go to UF, you you finish your master's degree, and at what point What do you do after Pennsylvania? So, so I'm at I'm at Penn. I I I graduated in 1973 from Florida. Magna laude I had And and when I graduated from Florida, I I went to Florida with the Cuban Loan Program, which was available at the time for students um that needed assistance, and I needed assistance. We my my parents were not that well off, so the Cuban Loan Program came in very handy. We paid it back. We did not depend on the Biden administration to give me a handout. We actually paid Paid everything

back. paid everything back. And when I graduated from Florida, I I applied to all of the like Ivy League schools, Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, Penn, and they all accepted me. But Penn was different. [snorts] Penn gave me stipend, tuition. They kind of they opened the wallet, and it it was hard to say no to all the money that they presented. So, I went I went to Penn. I was there for 2 years and got a double master's in city planning and a master's in architecture. So, I end my second year, and um I've always been very competitive. And I and I and the competition I I loved I adored my dad, but I was very competitive

with him. And my father had a doctorate in commercial science. So, it was Dr. Guillermo Bermello. So, I always wanted to have also the in front of me, Dr. So, I applied to the MIT doctoral program, and I was accepted. And I'll never forget this. It was the spring of 1975, and I tell my wife, "Listen, I'm just going to go up to to Boston, I'm going to go meet with the chair, etc., and I guess I've just been accepted." She was very happy, and so, I I get there, and I go in the building, and I walk around the main floor, and I see that all the doctoral candidates, they're all writing books. They're

doing research, but which, you know, was maybe naive of me thinking that they were going to be involved in more exciting things. And after I did my little tour, self-guided tour, at that time there were no iPhones. So, I find the first phone booth, put a dime in, and I call my wife, and I said, "Honey, pack our bags. We're going to Miami." We're leaving. She said, "What happened?" Well, what happened is I want to be building stuff. I don't want to be writing books. There's always time to write books when I'm older. Right now, I want to build. And that was the end of my stint at MIT, and we came back to Miami,

and we um uh it it was, you know, it was really there's no coincidence in life. It was something was just God given. I had a professor by name of George Wallace. And Dr. Wallace was the founder of WMRT which was the premier planning firm in the country at the time. And they had just gotten a big contract to do the Miami neighborhood comprehensive development plan in 1975. It was going to be a 25-year plan up to the year 2000. And they hired me and I came down so I came with a great job, great company, working in the Grove and it was you know, it was like a storybook ending to my graduate program.

I got >> Right. Right. So you went from from you know, being an architect by trade into the development world. How was that transition and how were you able to then So in in in a sense actually the the first work that I did in Miami was planning related which was great because it gave me >> [clears throat] >> a great feel for the overall community. I studied the entire city of Miami and the surrounding communities and that gave me tremendous exposure. Gave me great exposure also to our elected officials Yeah. and our planning department, our building departments, going to city commission hearings. Had I been working as an architect probably be doing some drafting

in an office and not getting a broad exposure. But that gave me over 2 years I really knew the entire city. I knew the Miami River. I had gone it up and down twice. Things that normally would not experience I had experienced it. So it gave me a tremendous a tremendous backdrop backdrop. And then I in 1970 at the end of 1976 starting 1977 I joined the firm that I used to be a draftsman during my college years when I would come home during the holidays. And I joined them as a just as an as a as an not an intern but as a recent graduate and I became then a junior partner in that

company. That company became the company that I later founded. Wow. Because it evolved through partnerships. I started buying people out and before I knew it I owned the company and then I took new partners and That's incredible. So you So you have a curiosity, you expose yourself into different facets of the development space because like you said it's not just architecture a lot of people just pigeonhole themselves into one thing and they're not seeing the big picture. One of the things that I always ask our guests is what's more important to to your success? Net worth or network? Well, I will tell you I will tell you this. I my my net worth was zero.

So that that I'm sorry. I had I been in Cuba it might have been a different situation but here there was no silver there was there was no silver no silver spoon. Our spoon was a plastic spoon disposable plastic [laughter] plastic spoon. So it that that was not in the cards for me. You know, I I didn't my my parents did not give me a Porsche when I graduated. >> [laughter] >> That was not in the cards for me. So for me it became that you know, those that formative years of working for the city of Miami through this planning company visiting all of our neighborhoods listening to people people like at that time Sergio

Pereira who was working for the community development. We later became great friends member of the Kiwanis. He then became a county manager. >> [snorts] >> It gave me so many touchpoints. I met so many people because I would make presentations in community meetings and public hearings. And before I knew it I was developing relationships at a rate for someone of my age that was totally unknown for. Right. So I would tell you that other than almighty God blessing me along the way it was the relationships more than the talent more than the net worth and then I would say the relationships and a total commitment just for work just for hard work a tremendous ethic.

So that I'm maintaining a level of integrity with everything that I did ethically. Sure. That would leave a mark with people that I would meet along the journey. Right. That they can count on you and you're more than just work. You're about family, you're about relationships, you have your your faith. You know, you you had a a tremendous civic impact over the last 30 years in South Florida. A lot of people may not know this but so you you helped you were a co-founder of the community the Coral Gables Community Foundation. You were president of the chamber. You were co-founder of the Kiwanis the Calle Ocho Festival. You helped bring the Grand Prix of Miami

which I am a massive Formula 1 fan so that's something we need to talk about offline. >> [laughter] >> You know, a number of organizations that you've worked with public and private and and you're also a pastor at Alpha and Omega. And so you obviously have this tremendous commitment to to the civic side of things because you could just get completely focused in on work, make lots of money, make lots of deals, right? But at the end of the day what you know, that's not the legacy you necessarily want to leave behind. It's the impact you've had on people. So tell me about what drove that desire to be so civically engaged. You know, it's

it's it's hard for me to tell you how how it all evolved how the dots started to connect. >> [clears throat] >> You know, I I got a a great deal of pleasure by seeing how one person can change someone's lives by things that sometimes you don't even know how that is really helping. And um what happens is that when you when you do something and people benefit from and there people that are standing on the sidelines you immediately get recruited by those that are observing and drawing an opinion of you and then thinking well this person can really help us here. And it's been like one after the other. So about 15 years ago

so might you know, it's an example I had a friend of mine um Pedro Muni a contractor who one day said, "Can you join me for breakfast? I I have a a group that I would like for you to meet and I think you're the person that could help them." Introductions like that for me are very commonplace. And the persons that they were introducing me to was Claudio Perez and Dr. Jose Hernandez who are the leaders of the Agape which is a a faith-based non-for-profit that is based in South Dade and they rescue women that have been victims of domestic violence human trafficking substance abuse. They also have like a diversionary program for the jail

system. And an area that I had never been involved in. Right. I I met with them. I went and visited and once I visited and saw and heard from the women and their plight and what they were going through it just touched me. And I said, "You know, this is something that I may be able to help you." They wanted to expand their program. They wanted to take it to a different level. They didn't have any money. And I said, "Well, let me maybe maybe I we can do something here that might be special." We we founded a foundation that I chair that I still chair it. I want to retire now. We raised $35

million and built them a new campus. Wow. >> With the help from federal government, state government, local government and Baptist Hospital and also the generosity of of the Jose Milton family. So those things for me happen all the time. Mhm. I just happen to be helping someone and someone comes by and says, "Can you help us here?" Yeah. So I go from helping someone here to helping someone there. Right. And and I and I enjoy that. I enjoy that as much as the architectural side of creating monuments and iconic buildings that people that bring some joy, that bring some pride, that emotional side >> Mhm. >> happy that you live in Miami and not maybe

in Peoria, Illinois. Nothing against [laughter] Illinois. But I I think the the helping people is something that I have enjoyed and I see that also church where I I try to touch people and help them and guide them transform their lives. So that that for me is a high. It's you know, for some people it may be different things. For me that knowing that someone's lives was transformed, they went to a different level than where they were at. That that gives me a lot of pleasure. And it's you never know what someone's going through like you said and just a word of support could absolutely transform their day. A lot of people are struggling out

there whether it's financially with you know, addiction with anxiety with cancers a number of things. And you know, being in a position where you can impact them not only from from an emotional state but also financially, you know, helping create that structure that infrastructure to support them is an incredible thing. You build these large-scale public-private projects that leave a legacy physical right that you can see, you can touch, tangible. From the ministry side, you're working with things that you can't see, right? The soul, right? The emotions and things like that. And so, tell me about your time in in ministry and and as a pastor and what has been, you know, some of the most

incredible moments for you in in terms of uh what you've gotten from it. Well, there was there was one moment that for me was very interesting. We we um ran a a program for 5 years. So, I lead the the business ministry at Alpha and Omega Church, where I'm an associate pastor. Um and about 5 years, actually maybe 7 years ago, we started a program working together with FIU. I don't know if you're aware of this. The Small Business Development Center that's run out of the business school here at FIU and Alpha and Omega. We we did a joint venture and we would do monthly workshops at Alpha and Omega where we would bring some

of the faculty members in the business school to teach basically business principles, how to prepare business plan, how to market, uh how to maintain your cash flow, how to start a company, all those things that are important for small business. Sure. And um and we did this for about 5 years, every month. Um we must have touched, I have to tell you, over 3,000 business people in those 5 years, people that would come in. And there was one day that um I'm there um and I I usually I was a facilitator. So, um there would always be one or two persons from FIU, which were the subject matter experts. Uh and by the way, they

did a great job. Um and um and they would present and there would be questions from the public, etc. And at the end, I always I would always have people raise their hands. And this lady, she raises her hand and I say, "Yes, who are you?" And she says, "Well, I I have to come to the front." I Yes, please come to the front. She comes to the front and she gives me a hug. She starts to cry. I get emotional. I said, "Tell me, what's what's wrong?" And she says, "I heard you on the radio with Pastor Legault. I don't come to this church, but I heard what you were saying about the program

that you have at FIU, so I have been attending. And 3 months ago, after one of your workshops, I came afterwards and I talked to the gentleman at FIU and they assisted me getting a $25,000 loan." I said, "Well, what did you do with your loan?" "I bought a food truck. I specialize doing lemonades. And my food truck and my business has been doing so well selling lemonade in the Wynwood area that I'm now going to buy my second truck." Uh that's phenomenal. To me, that was like, "Wow." >> Yeah, it's life-changing for that person. >> this is a lady, probably single head of household, you know, minority. I don't know where she came from,

maybe Salvador, Nicaragua. Uh she she wasn't Cuban, she wasn't she wasn't, you know, you could [clears throat] tell that that, you know, that her she did not have a lot of means. >> Mhm. But here's someone that listened to me on the radio, came to our program with FIU, got some assistance, got some guidance, got a loan, Mhm. and all of a sudden, she's an entrepreneur making money, increasing her volume of sales. I said, "Wow, can you imagine?" So, you know, I I tell people sometimes it's just one person. Yeah. But that's a generational change. That lady has a family. Mhm. All of a sudden, there may be her sons or daughters, her brothers or

sisters that all of a sudden are being touched by something that you said, by a helping hand that you gave. And to me, that's just you know, that's just something that gives me a great feel that, you know, I will leave this earth I don't know making it better, yeah. Yeah. And that is a life-changing experience for her. You know, having heard you on the radio, having been there and taken the action, cuz a lot of people will think about it and then, "Ah, well, I don't know, maybe someday I'll do that." But she had the guts, the perseverance. And you know, as as a small business owner myself, I understand how how much risk

you take on, especially you have a family, you have a mortgage, you have kids. You have, you know, you need to go out there, hunt, get it done, put your put your neck on the line, so to speak. Uh and it's not easy, you know? So, that I have such a tremendous respect for for entrepreneurs, right? Because it's uh it's a big step that they take. So, that that, you know, every time that I'm doing something and I I think, "Well, should I be doing this?" I think of the story of this lady. Because, you know, that day on the radio talk show, >> [snorts] >> you know, like we're having this podcast now, and

there may be something that we say, something that somebody thinks about because of our conversation or references that we make that are helping someone's life, someone's that's making a decision. That lady probably was desperate at the moment and she said, "I'm going to go listen to this workshop." And at that workshop, she saw there's an opportunity for me. I can in fact get a loan if I go to the Small Business Development Center at FIU, they're going to help me. They'll prepare my credit application. They will help me with a loan application. They'll give me guidance. And all that happened because of a simple radio talk show. Right. So, it's those moments that you realize

that it is worth it, that spending time helping people. Yeah. It's um because there's a lot of there's a lot of need. There's a lot of >> There's a lot of need. You know, we may not see it because, [clears throat] you know, we we have a financially I mean, we may be living in the right place, we have but there's a lot of need and I see that particularly at church and I see that when I go to Agape and I hear the stories of the ladies that are there. And there we're breaking generational curses. Because it is I totally believe that some of these women they lack hope, they lack faith and they

don't really see themselves of being of value and we give them a rebuilding that's faith-based. Uh we give them Bible teachings. We have a chaplain, women chaplain that is there. And our our goal is to break that curse. Break that cycle, yeah. That cycle. Because once we turn that woman around, it's not just a woman, it's the family. Mhm. It's their offspring, the baby. And we have a baby and me program so that we never separate the women from their newborns. Cuz many of these ladies that come to us at Agape, they [snorts] have been in prostitution. They have been pimped by their pimp. Yeah. Yeah. And when they get pregnant, all of a sudden,

they get cast out. So, we receive them pregnant or with a recent newborn. And we don't send the newborn somewhere else. You know, let's say the state doesn't come in, we take them both. We keep them both. We rehab her and we take care of the baby with her. So, I mean, those programs, you know, they're just impacting. And um which to me is more emotional, more more fulfilling Sure. than sometimes just the beauty in the architecture that I do, which is a different >> Absolutely. a different kind of gratification. >> Right. It's more of a selfish gratification. It really doesn't um touch necessarily someone else other than the people that drive by and take

a photo. >> that's one of the most incredible, you know, impacts that you can ever have by being here, you know? And sometimes individuals just need a hand up, not necessarily a hand out, but just a hand up. Maybe it's just listening to them, right? Having a conversation. And a lot of times, like you said, it seems commonplace to us at at a certain point based on our experiences that seems obvious. But at, you know, to them, these resources that are available, maybe had no idea that they were available. And they could be life-changing. And so, preaching about that, letting people know that, you know, that that is available is tremendous. Uh I will tell

you this and I know you'll be showing probably some of the uh views of some of these projects that I've done that are very beautiful. And the thing to keep in mind is >> [clears throat] >> these beautiful projects that I've done have allowed me the time to invest in people and in the community. Um and that's really where the dots are connected. Those great projects have provided the economic well-being Right. uh and the ability to give me a position um in the community, within my company, to allow me then to touch Sure. where the real difference is being made. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes, you know, if you're working 10 hours a day in a factory,

which is nothing wrong with that, you come home tired. You don't have the opportunity to do the things that God has given me the opportunity to do. So, those beautiful things that people will see in your podcast, those beautiful buildings, the Pearl in the Port of Miami, the one for Royal Caribbean, the Four Seasons Tower, all these wonderful buildings um at the airport, also. I mean, that allows me the time, whether it's with Agape or with church, whether it's been the foundation or the chamber or what we're doing now, it was Leaf for the firefighters and the police in Coral Gables. These are the things that have allowed me the time to be able to

make a difference in these areas. Right. Right. Because I realize if I was doing a different kind of job or my role was different, I would not have that platform. Right. >> Those buildings give me a platform. And um and that platform allows me to do something. Because I you know, we're we're all a manifestation of the choices we make in life. >> Absolutely. You know? Amen to that. >> sit back and do nothing. Or you can act and do something that helps the people around you. Help especially people around you that you don't even know who they are. Because you know, Jesus Christ said that there was no reward in returning love. Someone that

loves you and you love them back. What's the deal? Mhm. That's expected. Right? The issue is when you love someone that doesn't love you back. When you love someone that they don't know you. They've never done anything for you. You're not doing as an expression of gratitude. Right. And that's where the tire hits the road. Uh and to be able to be in positions that allows me to do that um is precious and it's a blessing. And that speaks to your character and what a lot of people don't realize is that you know, they'll see you they say, "Okay, you know, he has you know, he can do all this because he has all this

all this money and wealth." Well, no because wealth just amplifies who you are. You can give your time, you can give your energy, you can give without giving a single dollar, you can impact the lives of people, right? And so you we see other people with lots of money that don't do anything and it's just you know, kind of hoard it to themselves. And you know, you end up going to your grave with a lot of money and what? I'll give you I'll give you an example now now that we're here in in FIU and at the School of Architecture. Very few people know this. Uh well, Dean Trainer knows this. Professor Jaime Canaves knows

this. But we over the last 13 years um we have hosted the graduating one of the graduating classes in the School of Architecture at our company. What that means is that every other week we have a group of 15 to 18 students in Professor Canaves's architecture class design class coming to our office. And usually I'll have two or three of my partners or associates in the firm with me sitting with the students um reviewing their work, giving them comments, mentoring them. Um talking about the business, giving them guidance. And um if I was to add the hours of those 13 years the number of students that we have touched who have come through our offices

um I will tell you that from that program which you know, it's something that we do uh pro bono Mhm. >> um and it's not institutionalized, it's something that one professor here who happens to have been a classmate of mine at Florida, we decided this is good for the students, it's good for the community. >> Sure. And uh we went ahead and did it. The there has been a benefit side benefit and that is that at the end of every year I have seen 15 to 18 students who shows up on time, who's prepared, who communicates well, who has talent who presents well. So I don't have to interview. Because I know exactly who's who

and who's not. Mhm. So at the end of every school year I'll tell Jaime, Jaime, X, Y, and Z Johnny, Jimmy, and Mary I'd like to hire them. >> One of those. And right now we've hired over 40 students that have graduated from FIU. Um so and the ones that we haven't hired benefited from the hours endless hours >> Absolutely. of being in our office hearing us talk about their projects and guiding them. That's something that doesn't exist anywhere in the country, I can tell you. That does not exist. There might be visiting lectures where you get someone come in, you know, once a year, once in a blue moon and that's it, you never

see them again. In our case they're in our office every other week throughout the school year and that's precious and it's special. Absolutely. So changing gears growing up in Miami, a lot of infrastructure boom over the last 10, 20 years what has Miami done wrong in your opinion in terms of the building and and you know, you're in in planning and so forth and what have they gotten right? Well, I I tell you um Miami has become um a world-class city. Um it's I have been spending a lot of time trying to convince the company that bought my company. And they're based at so we're right now close to 4,000 employees or architects and engineers

>> and we have over 70 offices worldwide, we're in five continents. But the headquarters are located in Dayton, Ohio. Have you ever been in Dayton, Ohio? No, but I can imagine it looks like Peoria, Illinois. >> I haven't been in Dayton, Ohio either, but it's population 500,000 and just to put it in perspective there's not a single international flight out of Dayton, Ohio. Uh [snorts] so Miami being the gateway um capital to Latin America. >> Mhm. Um the fact that Miami has just mushroomed whether it's um in the high-tech, private equity uh cultural facilities sports even though the Miami Dolphins can't get out of their own way. Um uh you know, I think that Miami

uh really has blossomed into you know, uh the Hong Kong of the Americas. For sure. >> Um and and uh I I wish that at times, you know, we had different more enlightened leadership in different areas. I wish we would have that. I wish that our different communities would work better together and unfortunately they they don't. There's no incentive really for uh one jurisdiction to necessarily work with other other than personal courtesies. Um I I think if there was one area where I think our community has missed the boat is in transportation. Um Absolutely. >> of years there's been the aspiration that we're going to have uh transit that's going to hit and serve our

um residents to the north and that hasn't happened. And then we have the residents to the south and that hasn't happened. >> And the west. >> hasn't residents to the west and that hasn't happened. So I would say that our biggest miss uh because I recall when the metro line was built um in the late 70s is that since that time, since that era with transportation we really have dropped the ball in a big way in this community. And I realize we're an automotive um city, we are not we did not develop as a city like Philadelphia or Chicago or Boston or New York um with the rail lines which are more radial cities. Um

but still uh I think we have missed opportunities there and then the planning and the leadership uh have frankly failed us with respect to the issue of transportation. And the second area is that I wish we would have done something better with Homestead Air Force Base. I think that's um in in terms of aviation. >> Interesting. Um that's an asset that is just sitting there. It's the largest land area owned by the federal government and uh it's just like mothballed and I think land is too precious to not think of that in a more grand way. Uh whether it's for data centers, education, culture uh etc. I think it's the one area that I think

large land area that I think has been missing. You know, FIU has a north campus. Um I think that's something that needs to be done about that. It's kind of like a step sister to the main campus. And um but I I think the university working also closely better together UM, Miami Dade College FIU uh and then you have, you know, smaller private colleges that in this area that I think they're working together the higher education is everything. Mhm. If our kids leave here because there better opportunities elsewhere or because affordability is impossible uh shame on us. So Yeah. making sure that we have the right transportation system affordability so that our young people that

graduate can stay here and don't have to go to Pahokee or two hours north of here because they can't find housing. >> That's that's an issue that we need that we need to that we need to resolve. And so but other than that, I think Miami is hot. Yeah. Miami is has just about I would not want to live anywhere else. Let's put it like that. Sure. Uh although I'm pretty much limited to Coral Gables, that's kind of like my that's my hunting ground, that's my hub. Yeah. Um but I I I I really I love Miami, I love the 305 and um I remember the days where Miami was you know murder capital of

the world. >> Mhm. You know, um it was, you know, right after the cocaine cowboys. Sure. And uh yeah, people in in in the country it was difficult to recruit. If you're trying to bring someone to come to Miami, they didn't want to come to Miami. Now, it's just the opposite. Everybody in my office, the people that live in those other work in the satellite offices, they're all getting excuses to come visit with me. Everybody loves loves it here. They love our weather. They love the the diversity. The fact that it's an open society, you can go to other I mean, people don't realize this. You go to Philadelphia. Yeah. And if you weren't born

there, >> Mhm. if your last name was not a particular McGillicuddy or something, you know, you're out. >> Miami is open. Um and uh now, maybe a little too open. I remember like in the in the '70s and '80s, there was more of a leadership power structure in Miami that got things done. Today, that has dissipated and it's difficult to say um if you're going to get something done, maybe a little tougher uh getting a consensus. Yeah. But um but still, I'd rather be here than anywhere else. So, uh and I think people are seeing that. There was a recent article in the Herald, uh I think it came out yesterday, uh with Steve Ross.

And um uh where where he and the owner of uh Citadel, Ken Griffin, >> Mhm. were basically saying that come come to Miami. Miami's exploding. I think they were saying Florida has 110 billionaires living in the state. So, um you know, Miami is the city. Miami has become a world city. Yeah. Like New York, like San Francisco, Chicago, London. We're right up there. And maybe even even better. I mean, if we get the the Expo now with the World Cup, I mean, just I mean, everything's happening >> So much happening. >> Everything's happening here. Uh Willy, thank you so much for being on. You're a game changer not only in what the impact you've had

in the physical spaces, but also the spiritual spaces as well. Thank you so much for coming on, my friend. If there's something and there was a lot that we talked about in this episode that you need to share because like we said, it could be some one word or one one sentence that could impact the lives of others and be a game changer in the lives of others. So, make sure to like and subscribe and share this with somebody who needs to hear it. Willy, thank you, my friend. Sergio, thank you very much. God bless. >> time.