Suarez is speaking with Elon Musk — and is likely to join local officials touring Musk’s tunnels
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez plans to speak with Elon Musk Friday to discuss ways the tech titan can help Miami.
In an interview Wednesday, Suarez confirmed to the Miami Herald he has scheduled a telephone call with Musk. There is no plan — yet — for Musk to visit South Florida. The talk is likely to include discussion of building tunnels underneath Miami — the subject of the initial Twitter exchange between Musk and Suarez that led to Friday’s planned confab.
“@boringcompany road tunnels under Miami would solve traffic & be an example to the world,” Musk wrote Jan. 18. “Spoke with @RonDeSantisFL about tunnels last week. If Governor & Mayor want this done, we will do it.”
Said Suarez Wednesday, “If he was here for cafecito tech talk, that would be big. It would be splashy. I’m going to ask him to come.”
It was not immediately clear what role, if any, DeSantis is playing in courting Musk at this point. A representative for the governor did not immediately provide a response to a request for comment.
Suarez is also likely to join a group of South Florida officials to visit Boring Co.’s tunnels in Las Vegas and Southern California in about two weeks. The delegation will include Broward County Vice Mayor Michael Udine, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis and executives from Florida East Coast Industries. Last week, Udine and Trantalis spoke with Boring Co. president Steve Davis about building tunnels in Broward. One could be needed under the New River to provide a way for planned commuter rail traffic on Florida East Coast tracks to increase without impeding county marine and road traffic.
Suarez spoke with Boring’s Davis last month regarding tunnel construction.
Suarez has gained national attention for his social media efforts to bring prominent technology professionals and venture capitalists to South Florida. On Jan. 28, Suarez and SoftBank executive Marcelo Claure announced a $100 million initiative to invest in Miami-based or Miami-bound companies.
Broward officials have been working diligently to grab some of the momentum, creating Twitter hashtags like #founderinbroward, #everyoneunderthesun, and #magicregion, a reference to Plantation-based software company Magic Leap.
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 4:37 PM.
