When Steve Berke ’03 ran for mayor of Miami Beach under the banner of the After Party, his platform revolved—somewhat hazily—around casino gambling and legalizing marijuana. A comedian and former tennis champion, he surrounded himself with bikini-clad models and released a music video called "Pot Shop," parodying Macklemore's "Thrift Shop."
But that's so two years ago.
This time around, Berke's campaign is serious, more or less. "I've matured as a candidate," he declares. His new slogan is "2020 Vision: a clear and focused six-year plan" to make the Florida beach community "a truly world-class city."
While the plan still includes decriminalizing marijuana so that police can concentrate on serious crime, the centerpiece of his campaign is a SkyLink gondola across Biscayne Bay, connecting Miami Beach to the mainland.
“It will be an iconic tourist bucket-list item, up there with the Eiffel Tower and the London Eye,” Berke tells the Miami Herald. He says Virgin Group CEO Richard Branson—whom Berke knows from his post-Yale days as a reality show entrepreneur on The Rebel Billionaire—is interested in buying the naming rights.
Worried that Berke has gone boring and mainstream? Fear not. He's got a video crew following every campaign move in hopes of turning it into an MTV2 show. And a couple of weeks ago, a mayoral debate "devolved into allegations of racism and a shouting match full of Spanish expletives," after which Berke accused an opponent on Twitter of stealing his video.
The nonpartisan election is November 5.
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