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.
Nim·by
nounINFORMAL
plural noun: Nimbys
a person who objects to the siting of something perceived as unpleasant or potentially dangerous in their own neighborhood, such as a landfill or hazardous waste facility, especially while raising no such objections to similar developments elsewhere. "rural development arouses intense suspicion from Nimbys and conservationists"
One word:
Primary
AOC (Executive Director of Nimby International...)
Neil Young just wrote a song about her, “Cortez The Job Killer”
You get what you vote for.
..... Depending on who you support .... After Slaughtering 40,000 New Jobs, Progressive NIMBYs Are New York City’s Number One Enemy/Heroes
Any business or finance person knows what Ocasio did was unforgiveable. She blew a billion dollar deal.
She now has two mortal enemies in Cuomo and DeBlasio. I guarantee they are furious.
In addition she pissed off the unions who would have had construction work and periphreal business and jobs
AND
Im sure she pissed off the New York mob.
Cuomo and Deblasio are better connected and I guarantee there is a payback coming for the Puerto Rican Princess.
Go back to the start of the whole process, when Amazon generated big news by announcing their "HQ2" initiative -- to develop a second headquarters location in the U.S. somewhere outside Seattle.
Last November, the company caught everyone by surprise that their "HQ2" initiative would basically be an "HQ2 and HQ3" projects -- with TWO new headquarters (in Virginia and NYC). They probably picked the two locations, knowing full well that they only wanted one of them at the end of the day.
NIMBY: Not In My Back Yard
“Someone wants to [build something I don’t like or want] in my neighborhood? I don’t think so. Not in MY back yard!”
That’s how the acronym came about.
A friend told me that the “oh we didn’t know the local politicians wouldn’t love us” is a cover story and the real reason is that they were (shall we say) encouraged to use 100% union labor and contractors or stay home.
Exactly. What’s even more insane is that these same people who live there will re elect the same progressives that are responsible for Amazon pulling out.
She’s right for all the wrong reasons. The problem is NY’s taxes on businesses are too high. That gives politicians the power to lower them for selected powerful or crony businesses and keep them high on the less powerful and less connected.
It’s basically a tax on small and medium size business that politicians can waive for selected campaign donors.
The correct solution would be to reduce taxes on all businesses. But that would reduce politicians power to favor their buddies.
Better keep her out of Nebraska feedlots. She might get “accidentally” stomped.
I read the comments at the article - AOC isn’t alone at all.
I assume those who agree all have good jobs and don’t want the traffic, etc.
I went to Seattle to work at Amazon - great pay! Wish we hadn’t sold our condo in downtown Seattle just before it took a huge jump - mostly due to Amazon. Oh well..
Nah, she’s not right at all.
Yes, taxes are too high. Does that mean that the little guy gets screwed and the big guy gets a sweet deal?
In a way... yes. In a way no. Okay, so why?
This deal was going to wind up giving the state of New York $27 billion dollars in taxation.
Shouldn’t a business that’s going to give that kind of revenue to the state be able to swing some sort of a deal?
How does that hurt the little guy? The little guy’s taxes will be far less likely to be raised if the community they live in is getting tens of billions of revenue from another source.
Don’t forget, that $27 billion was just from the business. The employees of that business would be paying out all sorts of taxes as they conducted commerce in the region. (even if the employee taxation was figured in as part of the $27 billion, that still an amazing amount of money)
The us vs them tactic is way overused.
…………...for a state that allows a “discussion” about a living, breathing baby for the convenience of the mother, or for ANY reason...….., I say losing Amazon is well deserved!
Indeed, may there be more such losses to New Yorkers.
They should be happy if Walmart wanted to move there.
With regards to your statement: BINGO! We have a winner!
You are so correct. That’s why Venezuela is such a $hithole and why Kalifornia is getting there, why Detroit is already there.
Vote for the DemoRats, reap the rotten fruits of the DemoRats. But they won’t learn as they will keep voting Rat until it all crumbles down. Insanity on display in NYC.
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