3 November 16-22, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ MIAMI BEZOS IS BACK! AMAZON FOUNDER ANNOUNCES HIS RETURN TO THE MAGIC CITY. BY IZZY KAPNICK T he prime property that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought in In- dian Creek’s Billionaire Bunker is evidently more than a mere vaca- tion spot for the second-wealthi- est man in the U.S. On November 2, Bezos announced he is moving back to his high school stomping grounds in Miami after living in Seattle since 1994 when he founded online retailer Ama- zon out of his garage. He said his parents, Jackie and Miguel Bezos, recently set up shop in the Magic City and that he is following suit. “My parents have always been my biggest supporters. They recently moved back to Miami, the place we lived when I was younger. (Miami Palmetto High class of ‘82 — GO Panthers!) I want to be close to my parents, and Lauren and I love Miami. Also, Blue Origin’s operations are increasingly shifting to Cape Canaveral. For all that, I’m planning to return to Miami, leaving the Pacific Northwest,” Bezos wrote, referencing his spaceflight company. Bezos bought a $68 million estate on the island of Indian Creek Village in August, then snapped up a neighboring $79 million 14-bedroom mansion in mid-October, ac- cording to Business Insider. The Amazon chairman is heading to Miami with his fian- cée, media personality and former sports news anchor Lauren Sanchez. His parents re- portedly own a home in nearby Coral Gables. Along with the move’s announcement, Bezos posted an old video of Amazon’s first office in Seattle in the 1990s, a cramped space with clunky CRT computer monitors, a fax machine, and a power cord strung through to bring in extra power. “I’ve lived in Seattle longer than I’ve lived anywhere else and have so many amazing memories here. As exciting as the move is, it’s an emotional decision for me,” Bezos wrote. “Seattle, you will always have a piece of my heart.” Bezos is one of several marquee tech-in- dustry leaders who have made the Miami metro area their home over the last three years. New Times’ list of local billionaires de- tails the post-pandemic influx of ultra- wealthy residents to Miami, perhaps most prominently Paypal cofounder Peter Thiel and Citadel hedge-fund chief Ken Griffin. (Now that it’s official Bezos is calling Miami home, he far-and-away tops the list of wealth- iest Miami residents.) Bezos’ new neighbors in Indian Creek Vil- lage include investor Carl Icahn and NFL leg- end Tom Brady. Tucked in Biscayne Bay across from Surfside, the gated, guarded island con- tains less than 40 residences and is one of the most expensive stretches of property in the U.S. It boasts a golf course, country club, and its own municipality and police force. Forbes estimates Bezos’ net worth at $161 billion, making him the second-wealthiest per- son in the nation behind Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The outlet reported that the 59-year-old, who stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021 and took the role of executive chairman, owns ap- proximately ten percent of the company. Bezos and his family’s history in Miami- Dade runs deep. Born in Santiago de Cuba, Miguel Bezos came to the U.S. on a refugee visa after Fidel Castro’s government seized his father’s lum- ber business following the Cuban Revolution. The elder Bezos stayed at a refugee camp in Miami-Dade County at Camp Matecumbe along with hundreds of other children who were part of “Operation Peter Pan,” an exo- dus of youth from the island. Miguel went on to secure a computer sci- ence degree from the University of Albuquer- que. He married Bezos’ mother, Jackie, in New Mexico and adopted Bezos before the family moved to Texas while Miguel was working as an Exxon engineer. The Bezos crew later relocated to Dade County, where Jeff Bezos attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School and, at one point, worked as a cook at a Miami-area Mc- Donald’s. He graduated as valedictorian of his high school class in 1982. In an interview with the Miami Herald fol- lowing his graduation, he discussed his plans for real estate development and a desire to build colonies in space. In Wired’s 1999 Bezos profile, Bill McCreary, a longtime Miami Pal- metto science teacher, spoke of Bezos’ fasci- nation with space in his teenage years, telling the magazine, “Oh, he had ideas about space promotion.” Since the days when he last called Miami home, Bezos has built an online retail empire, bought out the Washington Post, and founded Blue Origin, his rocket and spaceflight company. In July 2021, he traveled to space with his brother Mark Bezos, aviator Wally Funk, and Dutch teenager Oliver Daemen in an auto- mated suborbital flight aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard craft. | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez at a Versace fashion show in West Hollywood, California. Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images ▼ MIAMI “OPERATIONAL COSTS” PAYBYPHONE TACKS ON NEW FEES FOR PARKING TEXT ALERTS IN MIAMI. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN I t seems even local parking fees can’t escape rising inflation. Beginning November 13, the Miami Park- ing Authority announced its mobile payment operator PayByPhone is adding a 15-cent fee for text alerts to customers about their parking ses- sions. The parking authority said the text fees come in response to “increased domestic and global post-pandemic operational costs.” Customers will have the ability to opt-out to avoid the fees. The Miami Parking Authority also announced PayByPhone will be available in its parking ga- rages starting next year. Per an agreement with the city, a new parking- validation program is launching at participat- ing restaurants and re- tailers as well. The PayByPhone app, launched in 2001, allows people to pay for their parking via a mo- bile application rather than scrambling for coins to put into a meter. Mi- ami was reported to be the first major U.S. city to accept online mobile parking payments through its partnership with the company in 2008. WLRN previously reported that PayByPhone was receiv- ing 35 cents in fees per transaction within Miami. As a global leader in mobile parking pay- ments, PayByPhone has provided service to more than 70 million users in more than 1,200 cities across seven countries, according to its website. PayByPhone has tacked on the fee for op- tional text messages in other parts of South Flor- ida. There is a 35-cent fee at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, a 15-cent fee at the Univer- sity of Miami, and a 10-cent fee in South Miami. Payment service company FLEETCOR re- cently acquired PayByPhone from Volkswagen Financial Services. [email protected] PAYBYPHONE IS ADDING A 15-CENT FEE FOR TEXT ALERTS TO CUSTOMERS ABOUT THEIR PARKING SESSIONS.
