Posted on 02/16/2019 1:15:55 PM PST by DeathBeforeDishonor1
The story of Amazon’s selection of Long Island City for the company’s second headquarters stoked the hopes and dreams of many New Yorkers living within the Five Boroughs, with the company’s promise to bring up to 40,000 new jobs averaging $100,000 per year to Queens, by 2033. Unfortunately, due to the actions of a few elected Democrats, these hopes and dreams have now been squashed, as Amazon has now pulled out of Long Island City. Despite petitions and basic organizing advocating for the new HQ2, the combined Twitter presence of a rabid horde of regressive leftists led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez generated sufficient outrage for cancellation.
On the surface, the argument was apparently about the $3 billion in subsidies Amazon would have received for relocating up to 40,000 new jobs to the Five boroughs. However, Cortez also celebrated the announcement on Twitter as a call to action against perceived gentrification. In either case, 40,000 jobs bringing in $100,000 per year apiece would have yielded almost $400 million in local and state tax revenue each year, more than equaling any subsidies by 2030, and offering a potent revenue stream for both state and local coffers in the decades beyond.
Unfortunately, it appears the outrage politics that have proliferated since the advent of social media are now on the verge of consuming New York City’s future. Following the cancellation of HQ2, Cortez took to Twitter to celebrate depriving 40,000 New Yorkers of prospective employment. Cortez was joined half-heartedly by Mayor Bill De Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, both of whom deemed Amazon “unfit” to compete in New York City due to the breakdown in negotiations.
While the Twitter outrage machine may be cranking out propaganda in full force, the reality on the ground is that New Yorkers are extremely upset by the loss of a prospective major national headquarters with all its accompanying opportunities and benefits. Reflecting the dire reality of living within NYCHA, which is still falling apart despite promises for fixes from elected politicians, the Queensbridge, Astoria, Woodside and Ravenswood NYCHA houses’ tenant associations released the following statement.
“From the beginning, grandstanding politicians who refused to be at the table dismissed the work of those of us who were. They put petty politics above true public service and they spread misinformation to whip up the small band of opponents. Jim Van Bramer and Mike Gianaris used to be the politicians we came to when we needed help. This time, they didn’t even talk to us. They never asked what we, the people of NYCHA, actually wanted. They put their own political interests above their constituents and did not meet with us or even listen to us. The grandstanding politicians will try and blame Amazon and anyone but themselves for this disaster. Nobody should believe them – they let us down.”
Middle class and low-income New Yorkers would have been the primary benefactors of Amazon’s second headquarters, with benefits extending from tens of thousands of new salaried jobs down to the externalities derived from the tax dollars paid by those same jobs, a large portion of which would have helped fix the subway and maintain NYCHA. Instead of generating an abundance of opportunities, Long Island City is now left with a gaping hole and a reputation as a location that is hostile to new business, which may have an impact even more lasting than what would have happened had Amazon actually relocated to the neighborhood.
While the decision on Amazon is certainly disturbing, it is not the only assault on the middle and lower classes currently being mounted by New York City’s elected regressives.
YIMBY recently analyzed the issue of mechanical voids, which will soon wind its way through City Planning thanks to an ill-conceived text amendment proposed by opponents of high-density development. Beyond depriving New York City of the daring architecture which should characterize a world-class city, the amendment would also make it substantially more difficult for developers to reach heights that achieve absurdly high prices per square foot. Despite the hyperbole of their moneyed opponents, these kinds of towers actually do benefit New York’s middle class and poor, through eventual absurd property taxes that are based on the valuations achieved through sky-high positioning. Any loss of height in this instance is an eventual hit on the bottom line of New York’s local government, which depends on tax dollars to function, as well as the programs supported by property taxes.
Beyond the mechanical voids and Amazon, New York’s regressives have also proposed legislation to limit the security deposits New Yorkers are required to pay when renting prospective apartments. Without large security deposits, tenants with no credit or bad credit would be outright prevented from achieving housing security. On the surface, the cause may seem benevolent, but in actuality, it would prevent the flexibility many landlords now enjoy in requiring larger deposits for financially insecure tenants, leaving them out in the cold entirely.
These are three major issues now being actively advocated by a tiny minority of outraged Democrats that will have major repercussions for all New Yorkers in one way or another, but they will be especially damaging to New York’s most vulnerable. Reducing property taxes is damaging to schools, infrastructure, and local government itself. Eliminating landlords’ flexibility in requiring large security deposits would actually reduce the ability of low-income tenants to find housing security. And the implosion of Amazon’s HQ2 deal has now deprived these same groups of up to 40,000 job opportunities, and all of their ancillary benefits, including what would have been an additional $400 million in annual state and local tax revenues derived from those new salaries alone.
No, she’s an idiot. She’s not right about anything.
Making a mistake and being right, does not merit credit.
Yes, sure, reducing taxes across the board would increase revenues and proliferation of business.
We’re all in favor of that. I still say giving a tax incentive to get them to locate to your area, is a great thing to do.
Wouldn’t you be happy to get 90% of a pie than no pie at all?
She just cancelled the whole pie, and is just thrilled at her own brilliance, as if...
NIMBY = Not In My Back Yard
Any time a large business wants to move it, it’s a real positive. At the same time, you’ve just set yourself up for a massive negative too, if 12 years later they decide to move out.
If you manage the increased tax receipts correctly, you can plan for a loss of the revenue.
The problem these days is that nobody plans long-term. “Oh we’ve got this new money, well we should set up a long range project because we’ll always have this money coming in.” Well, actually no you won’t. At some point it will end.
Here in California, every time the economy heats up, the state comes up with great new ways to spend he increased income. They set up long range expenses, and then when the economy cools off, they are habitually head over heals.
It’s infuriating, because of course they have mired themselves into one expensive Leftist cause or another, and then we have to cut police, fire, libraries, hospitals... you name it because they can’t possibly lower the socialist programs.
You know all this, but it angers me and I needed to vent.
So when do these socialist ever do anything constructive ? Everything is destructive. It must be their nature.
Who knows! They both have crazy eyes.
My take was all those who agree with her never badly wanted a job.
I have no skin in the game over Amazon's decision I live on the other coast. But generally speaking I am against this kind of subsidy and especially for a company like Amazon and in a city like New York. If they cannot attract businesses based on their large base of people to serve and labor to draw from then they have other problems to deal with. I see the Amazon deal as something more symbolic - losing the deal exposes NYC and NYS as a difficult place; winning it would have probably attracted new investment in services and satellite businesses serving Amazon.
I don't know the details of the subsidy exactly but $3 billion upfront for $400 million a year starting in 2023 may not be such a great deal. I have read that 50% of New York City tax revenue comes from 1% of the residents. If true, then perhaps the civic leaders are afraid losing such a deal has exposed their charade. They cannot keep going if they are that far out of balance, they will end up having to kowtow to all the wealthy people just to keep them from moving away. Let's see if/how the SALT deduction changes have an effect.
IL douchbag nixed fracking upstate and destroyed 20,000 upstate!
I think Occasional Cortex has signed her own political death warrant with the Amazon debacle. She makes new enemies every day, and she’s already made MANY enemies in New York, almost all of whom are Rats.
She will soon learn she’s not invincible.
I think Occasional Cortex has signed her own political death warrant with the Amazon debacle. She makes new enemies every day, and she’s already made MANY enemies in New York, almost all of whom are Rats.
She will soon learn she’s not invincible.
No fracking in New York. Let them frack in Pennsylvania. It has ruined the state and contaminated the water.
So New Yorkers in Long Island City, Why would continue to vote for Democrats who screw you at every turn???
So sit down, shut up, get with her Marxist POGROM, put on your plastic smiley face and "cooperate"! Or you will force us to send you, and your entire extended family to the new GULAGS, opps, I meant to say "reeducational facilities", that AO COMMUNIST is planning to build for those who don't see how great, and glorious comrade AO COMMUNIST and her "Five-year plan", opps, I mean "Green New Deal" is.
Agreed!! I lived in Detroit for 2 years (81-83) and it was already going down. AND of course the people that lived there continued to elect the same criminals into office. It starts on the local level and then spreads to the national elections. Same people continue to drink the koolaid. It was at that time when I moved to a large city (Detroit) that I left the democratic party and switched to repub. Now unfortunately we have a uniparty.
the funny part is the ones who bought up all the housing near there on spec are now stuck with it...
“You get what you vote for.”
Actually the representative for the district into which Amazon was moving (Carolyn Maloney) supported it, and is ranting against those who opposed it (and cost her district a good deal). Voters in that district voted correctly; their Congressional representative, mayor, and governor all supported the Amazon move.
NJ is heading down the same path as Detroit, in the sense that the best and brightest are leaving so voting becomes lopsidedly leftist.
Both are prime indications of why the Founding Fathers restricted voting to taxpayers; they foresaw this over 225 years ago.
Sorry to hear that. I visited Atlantic City for a couple of days in the 70’s. Had a lot of fun. And yes our forefathers had a lot of wisdom drawing up the constitution. Some people want to see a convention of states. I understand the motive on the conservative side but can we really trust our government now and believe they wouldn’t hijack the process? We would all be living out our lives in gulags.
So you and AOC are simpatico? LOL!
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