Steven Meiner sworn in as Miami Beach's new mayor; talks priorities during one-on-one interview
MIAMI - Miami Beach's 39th mayor says he has big plans for his new position.
CBS News Miami spoke one one-on-one with the city of Miami Beach's new mayor Steven Meiner about policies he wants to implement here in the city of Miami Beach and also questioned him about allegations from his past.
After two terms, now former Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber passes along the gavel to the newly elected mayor and former commissioner Steven Meiner.
"You heard in my remarks we're going to work together. Our resident's quality of life. That's what our residents wants," said Meiner.
The newest mayor of Miami Beach says his key focus is creating a community that is resident-friendly.
He says he wants to focus on responsible development and present laws that would put into place new standards for developers.
"It's fine to upgrade buildings and modernize buildings. But not at the expense of creating additional capacity or additional density. That's what we need to protect against. And that's the legislation I'm going to be bringing," said Meiner.
One thing Meiner stressed was public safety leading him to create a new position called a public safety enforcement advisor.
"Work with our police, our municipal prosecution team, the state attorney's office and also the judiciary when we maybe need to have guild decisions. It's going to be an important position reporting directly to me," said Meiner.
We questioned Meiner about the Miami Herald revoking their endorsement the morning of the runoff election due to sexual harassment allegations during his time working for the SEC.
"It's politics. We see it all the time. And it's one of the things I talked about. Staying positive and not going negative. And unfortunately hit pieces come out. And that's part of the political shame. Unfortunately, you just have to roll with it," said Meiner.
On top of Mayor Meiner being sworn into office, three newly elected commissioners were also sworn in.