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Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

nytimes.com

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Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#221

Post by airstrike »

jhall1468 wrote: post #210
function_seven wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While parent (and others) may be attempting to revise history, I think this outcome is probably for the best. Whatever growth occurs in NY will be organic. Not government-subsidized hyper-growth which can throw things out of whack. Real growth brings with it real increases in public funding, that can be used to fund real increases in infrastructure demands and demands on other public services. When a local government…

> Whatever growth occurs in NY will be organic. Not government-subsidized hyper-growth which can throw things out of whack. It's not going to be organic. Instead, these same deals are going to be spread out to a bunch of other companies, most of which will pay less than Amazon on average and the "subsidies" will take longer to be a net positive. Again, people confuse bribes with standard deals. Any company is eligibl…

> It's not going to be organic. Instead, these same deals are going to be spread out to a bunch of other companies, most of which will pay less than Amazon on average and the "subsidies" will take longer to be a net positive.

Only if you assume those other companies collectively hold the same bargaining power that Amazon did, which is an assumption I can't agree with

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#222

Post by i_cant_speel »

drugme wrote: post #194
CydeWeys wrote: post #5

A shame. As an employee of a Big N company in NYC, this would have provided upward pressure on my salary (even if personally I wouldn't want to go work for Amazon). But I didn't like the big tax breaks, and as a taxpayer of the city I'm glad my money won't go towards subsidizing the expansion of one of the world's most valuable companies. It's too bad Amazon wasn't willing to pay their fair share.

As shame. As an employee of a Big N company in NYC, this would have provided upward pressure on my salary. The fact that that's all you can think about ... is exactly why people are starting to lose their love for Big Tech in general.

I was hoping they would move to my city for the same reason. There is nothing wrong with hoping something works out in your own self interest.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#223

Post by RPLong »

I guess I didn't realize how many commentators here were New Yorkers. XD

Everyone's moving to more comfortable places with lower costs of living. NYC is not an attractive place for job candidates unless those candidates are already in NYC. Even companies with a strong presence in NYC are expanding in places like Nashville, Omaha, Dallas, Denver, etc. rather than in NYC.

At some point, New Yorkers ought to ask themselves why everyone wants to move to these nice midwestern cities.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#225

Post by avolcano »

raiyu wrote: post #203
munificent wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yeah but they will get that tax break regardless I just don't understand this argument. It's like "Someone's gonna get fucked, so I'd prefer it be me." That tax break is real money . Money that your community will not be able to spend on education, infrastructure, police, parks, all the things that make a place worth living in. Why would you hand that over to a company that doesn't need it?

I rather the money go to bringing tech jobs to NYC and making it a true technology hub then leave it in the hands of the city to spend billions on useless subway lines that are 3x the construction cost of anywhere else in the world: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-...

Ah yes, "useless" subway lines that carry [checks notes] 5.6 million trips a day.

I'd rather have money go towards our public transit system, no matter how fucked up it is at the moment, than spend another cent on bringing tech jobs that will come here no matter what. NYC's been a "true technology hub" for a long time, regardless of one giant company deciding to abstain from coming here.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#227

Post by loudmax »

magduf wrote: post #170
skh wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My current pet idea is that the Electoral College ought to be replaced with the CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies. That way we could do away with the facade that presidential elections currently create.

That's actually not a bad idea. We've already proven that the American people do a terrible job selecting a president with the current Electoral College system, so letting the F500 CEOs select the President surely can't be any worse.

I understand your sentiment, but I have to disagree. No matter how bad things are, we can always do worse.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#228

Post by spookybones »

jhall1468 wrote: post #164
specialp wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. The 25k number was just to make a splash and notice they aren't doing that again. Because there aren't really any other areas that could give them 25k skilled employees. They will scale up in Nashville which is expected since it is a growing area, and they will still be in NY due to the talent. The "HQ2" show was primarily to extract large concessions which almost worked. My initial reaction as a NY'er was "…

There's absolutely no way they are scaling up NY to the same degree they would have with the subsidies. There's no reason to. The value proposition is gone, so now Amazon will slow-roll growth in NY like they will any other office. The fact that you (and many others) consider this a win is an attempt to revise history. This tax deal was all about Amazon expanding very quickly. That deal is gone. But feel free to pat…

You seem to have no understanding of local culture or the present state of Manhattan and Brooklyn as already massively gutted by wealthy transplants. Ask the majority of people who grew up in San Francisco and Seattle. This is a win. You also seem to have little understanding of the current situation of the NYC subway system infrastructure. You could argue Amazon’s workforce would have forced improvements, except this hasn’t happened in decades despite the increasing wealth and foreign investors here. Just read about Cuomo using $5mil of MTA to bail upstate ski resorts three years prior.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#229

Post by JBReefer »

elicash wrote: post #128
supernova87a wrote: post #121

As much as the anti-gentrification politicians would claim a small victory, this is a loss for NYC and the future development / resilience of its economic base. Cities will keep on losing this kind of battle until some form of government or policy arises to counter the power of corporations (which are de facto increasingly taking the role of governments). Under our current regulations and incentives, I'm actually gla…

> this is a loss for NYC and the future development / resilience of its economic base. I don't see any reason to prioritize the "economic base" over the people currently living there. Those things do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. They can, but often do not. Those elected officials seem, to me, to be representing the best interests of the people who voted for them. What's best for the tax base of a certain geograph…

LIC is essentially a neighborhood cut from whole cloth - it used to be all taxi yards and vacant warehouses, bit of high end printing.

No one lived there until very recently, and the people that do are rich as fuck - it's basically a discount Midtown East. The poor people who live in the nearby projects came out strongly in _favor_ of Amazon opening up and lobbied the city hard - turns out Amazon also needs janitors, cafes etc.

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