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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

#551

Post by koheripbal »

bobthepanda wrote: post #182
raiyu wrote: post #70

After being a resident of NYC for 30 years and seeing the city change and become a technology hub and just a financial center I think this is a real loss for NYC. It would also be in Long island City which would provide a huge influx of new workers and move that neighborhood forward in development rapidly. The down side would be that it would push some residents and business owners out but this is simply a fact of li…

LIC is one of the most heavily redeveloped areas in the city with 40+ story towers popping up like candy. It didn’t need a development boost. In fact they tore up an existing redevelopment plan for HQ2

The redevelopment plan they scrapped was much much smaller than what Amazon was proposing. Several city blocks smaller.

The bottom line is that the Amazon deal had very broad support in NYC, and a very vocal irrational minority just ruined it for everyone.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#552

Post by wgerard »

RPLong wrote: post #530
wgerard wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At some point, New Yorkers ought to ask themselves why everyone wants to move to these nice midwestern cities. Not sure why you chose the midwest as a qualifier here - out of all the cities you listed, only Omaha would be considered a midwestern city. Out of the 15 fastest growing cities according to the Census, almost none of them are in the midwest [1] (Only one really: Columbus). Admittedly it's over a short tim…

I mean, you could focus on whether the word "midwest" is accurate, or you could take my point that there is a reason why people are moving out of places like NYC in favor of less dense cities that don't smell like urine.

> I mean, you could focus on whether the word "midwest" is accurate

It's actually pretty important, because the crux of your argument is that they're moving to places with much a lower CoL. If people are moving from NYC to LA/Seattle/etc., your argument doesn't really hold much water.

> or you could take my point that there is a reason why people are moving out of places like NYC in favor of less dense cities that don't smell like urine.

Where are you getting that information from? As far as I can tell, NYC has had about a 6% population growth since 2010. It actually matches the US overall population growth pretty well, which is pretty impressive for what is far and away the most populated city in the country.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#553

Post by leroy_masochist »

sokoloff wrote: post #543
lkrubner wrote: post #528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is incorrect: " that otherwise wouldn't be paid at all " The opposite is true, 100% of those taxes will be paid by some other business. Maybe you could make your argument about the New York City of the 1970s, but you sure as heck can not make that argument about the New York City of 2019. New York City is not starving for investment, rather, its biggest challenge nowadays is managing its fast growth. Other busin…

If that’s the case, why would the NY politicians put that money on the table? They did so voluntarily.

Because it made them look like they were doing their jobs by making a big, important deal? These are politicians we're talking about

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#554

Post by bko »

zelias wrote: post #55

If Amazon had just quietly announced plans to expand to LIC without the "HQ2 Search" dog and pony show they almost certainly would still be here. Google buys entire city blocks and nobody bats an eye. Turns out that publicly shaking down cities across the US tends to draw out the opposition. More publicity = more scrutiny = more angry opponents of your business decision

Most new Yorkers supported the project even when told about the subsidies. It's a vocal minority that sank the project

https://www.wsj.com/articles/majority-of-new-yorkers-support...

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#555

Post by pzone »

jotjotzzz wrote: post #93

NYC Subway is already falling apart. Fix that first! Less corruption, and get rid of de Blasio while we're at it.

The Subway is a mess primarily because of cronyism, corrupt labor unions and mismanagement on a typical, everyday "these people suck at their job" type. Fixing the MTA is important, but its problems are essentially independent of this Amazon deal.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#556

Post by [deleted] »

protomyth wrote: post #448
sjg007 wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol.. I live there. Polar vortex and all.. and that vortex impacted most of the country. The flip side is that houses are pretty cheap. You can buy in most brackets in almost any area you want to live in. Taxes aren't that bad. Cost of living is cheap. Summers are great.

Which side do you live on, the houses on the east side are up there. Taxes are that bad. I lived there for over a decade, and my family is still there.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#557

Post by csallen »

untog wrote: post #395
TulliusCicero wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't think > feel free to pat yourself on the back for not "falling for it" is condescending? Because to me it sounds super condescending, flippant, and dismissive.

It's about as mildly condescending as anything can be. I'm all for civil discourse, but there comes a point where we're just sanitizing it.

I don't think any of us would say that to a stranger in real life without expecting to cause great offense.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#558

Post by britch »

eanzenberg wrote: post #540
clydethefrog wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gentrification is the opposite of people moving up the economic ladder - it's the influx of more affluent residents.

Actually no, gentrification causes existing homeowners to increase their property values. It literally gives the existing community the opportunity to move up the economic ladder.

Yes and NYC is known for the many home owners and lack of renters.

Sounds like it'd be good for landlords, I'm not sure about the person living paycheck to paycheck to make rent.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#559

Post by ben509 »

jfnixon wrote: post #542
lkrubner wrote: post #528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is incorrect: " that otherwise wouldn't be paid at all " The opposite is true, 100% of those taxes will be paid by some other business. Maybe you could make your argument about the New York City of the 1970s, but you sure as heck can not make that argument about the New York City of 2019. New York City is not starving for investment, rather, its biggest challenge nowadays is managing its fast growth. Other busin…

So why did NYC bother to compete for HQ2?

Amazon being there would mean growth; whether it's greater growth than local businesses is hard to say.

But mostly, it's obvious growth that looks good for politicians who can say, "look, I brought jobs!" People notice it when a high profile company arrives whereas if your local chain expands, that's not even a news story.

Much of the political aspect of economics is due to the relative visibility of various events in the media.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#560

Post by hopler »

sokoloff wrote: post #543
lkrubner wrote: post #528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is incorrect: " that otherwise wouldn't be paid at all " The opposite is true, 100% of those taxes will be paid by some other business. Maybe you could make your argument about the New York City of the 1970s, but you sure as heck can not make that argument about the New York City of 2019. New York City is not starving for investment, rather, its biggest challenge nowadays is managing its fast growth. Other busin…

If that’s the case, why would the NY politicians put that money on the table? They did so voluntarily.

Corruption and wanting to meet a billionaire? Same reason politicians build stadiums for sports teams.
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