Posted on 12/13/2018 8:41:13 AM PST by RightGeek
New York City Council members grilled Amazon executives about the company's plan to build a secondary headquarters in New York during a contentious hearing Wednesday that was interrupted several times by jeering protesters.
The council members, who have no vote on the project and no apparent path to block it, demanded to know why the city and New York state were offering Amazon up to $2.8 billion in tax breaks and grants to build the new headquarters in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens.
"We have a crumbling subway system, record homelessness, public housing that is in crisis, overcrowded schools, sick people without health insurance and an escalating affordable crisis," said City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, a Democrat. "Is anyone asking if we should be giving nearly $3 billion in public money to the world's richest company, valued at $1 trillion?"
Brian Huseman, Amazon's vice president for public policy, said the project would provide "over $186 billion in positive economic impact" over 25 years.
Johnson countered, "That analysis was done by someone who was hired by the state of New York, not by neutral third party academics or companies that can provide that economic analysis."
[SNIP]
(Excerpt) Read more at fox5ny.com ...
So then, the city council, the elected officials of New York City, had no input on the incentives given to Amazon?
Then who exactly makes these decisions? And shouldn’t these grandstanding politicians go complain to them??
Some public official, somewhere, had to sign off on giving city money to put the deal together.
Better question is...why does Amazon want to set up camp in such a cesspool?
Because of the $2.8 billion in bribes.
Because of the $2.8 billion in bribes.
Frees up a lot of cash for "donations" all around the country. /s
That infrastructure issue is huge. Do they even factor in infrastructure stress and increased emergency and maintenance services when they sell out? grrrr…...
The democrat she-mayor of Dallas, Laura Miller, kicked up a fuss about all the incentives Jerry was requesting. He wanted to build his complex taking over the old Cotton Bowl stadium plus the area surrounding it. To do so he needed tax incentives and in return his work would not only build a world-class stadium but also encourage others like restaurants and hotels to build up surrounding the stadium. It would have been a win-win for the city because the area Jerry wanted had a lot of low-income people living in run-down housing. The City of Dallas would have continued to win after the stadium was built.
But Laura Miller said no and she got the other decision-makers to say no.
Dallas lost out to Arlington and especially Frisco which is now going gang-busters on development.
About the old Cotton Bowl, the City of Dallas put I don't know how much money, but it was in the millions to fix up the Cotton Bowl. The UT/Oklahoma game played there for maybe a year or two and then they moved the game to Arlington after Jerry finished his stadium. Gee, what goes on at the Cotton Bowl now? Hell if I know.
The dems here are still complaining about the lack of jobs and businesses in that part of Dallas. And Jerry's tax incentives would have gotten the whole ball of jobs and businesses rolling for them.
So, yeah, you demoncraps keep complaining about tax incentives.
The council members, who have no vote on the project and no apparent path to block it, demanded to know why the city and New York state were offering Amazon up to $2.8 billion in tax breaks and grants to build the new headquarters in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens.
It sounds to me as if this city council needs to be disbanded. They have no control over an appropriation of up to $2.8 billion? LOL.
Because New York is such an expensive place to live and do business, that city had to pay Amazon a lot to move there. In contrast, the Virginia part of the move required the state and local governments to pay only a little more than they were planning to spend anyway to improve transportation in and education in the area.
"We have a crumbling subway system, record homelessness, public housing that is in crisis, overcrowded schools, sick people without health insurance and an escalating affordable crisis," said City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, a Democrat.
If you were wondering what "an escalating affordable crisis" is, it's a problem that's completely imaginary. The health care crisis is the direct result of Obamacare. And the reason for the tax break is good old fashioned economics, which in NY mmeans, corruption.
Fifty years later, the City of New York seized a bunch of properties in the area through an eminent domain process and gave the approvals for the Barclays Center to built at the location place where the new Ebbets Field would have been.
I live in the NYC area, and the word on the street here is that NYC screwed themselves because they offered $2.8 billion in tax incentives and grants to get Amazon to locate their headquarters in a place where they had every intention of moving even if they got $0 from New York City/State.
Amazon must have gotten a really good “deal” to go there.
I wouldn’t park the time of day in NYC.
The OU/Texas game is still played in the Cotton Bowl.
Are you sure? I have seen it at ATT for a number of years.
New York is nearly as mobbed up and reliably buyable as Washington State. They are together among the most corrupt places in the US.
In a word, they are pliable.
The NYC Council is just upset that THEY aren’t getting THEIR POUND of flesh from Amazon!!
Since these yahoos don’t have a dang say in this endeavor, why the hell did Amazon even entertain them and attend their self-pity party?!?
The OU/Texas game is played the second Saturday in October in the middle of the Texas State fair in the Cotton Bowl.
From the State Fair of Texas web site:
AT&T Red River Showdown
University of Texas v. University of Oklahoma
Saturday, October 6, 2018 – Kickoff: 11 a.m.
More than 100,000 people travel to the State Fair for the AT&T Red River Showdown game between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners. The game, played in Cotton Bowl Stadium since 1929, is an iconic staple of the State Fair.
Game tickets are purchased through each university’s athletic office. A ticket to the 2018 Red River Showdown includes admission to the State Fair of Texas on game day – Saturday, October 6, 2018.
Link: https://bigtex.com/plan-your-visit/attractions-events/college-football/
The Red River Rivalry has never been played at AT&T Stadium.
The Big 12 conference championship has been played there and the Cotton Bowl (bowl game) is now played there, but the Texas/OU Red River Rivalry is contracted to be played at the Cotton Bowl, in Fair Park, during the Texas State Fair every year through 2025.
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