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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

#691

Post by rajataghi »

tom-_- wrote: post #611
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…

How long would it be before other businesses would fully occupy the particular block of Long Island City Amazon was prepared to invest in? And would the employees of these businesses earn on average equal to or greater than the average NYC Amazon employee? These aren't rhetorical questions, and I don't know enough about Long Island City to have a confident guess at the answers but when evaluating whether Amazon HQ is…

It's like Amazon will occupy and populate all of the buildings from day 1. They will also eventually hire people or transfer people over, I remember reading that they plan to bring 25,000 jobs over the next 3 years.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#692

Post by QML »

all_blue_chucks wrote: post #673
cletus wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pay one person a salary of $1m and you can pay 9 people $55k to average $150k. The average means nothing. Will there some site lead earning $20m/year bringing up the average?

25,000 x $150,000 = $3.75 Billion dollars of new taxable income, regardless of how it is distributed.

Those billions aren’t uniformly taxed: that’s what they were pointing out.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#694

Post by ceejayoz »

hopler wrote: post #560
sokoloff wrote: post #543

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You're getting downvoted, but I don't think it's an unreasonable theory. Cuomo might run for President at some point; having Bezos happy and throwing a million or two into a PAC wouldn't be a downside for him.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#695

Post by skookumchuck »

anth_anm wrote: post #682
skookumchuck wrote: post #586

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't any more "bullying" than you shopping various car dealerships to get the best deal on a new car.

It's more like asking for a discount cause you want 20 cars. Guaranteed sale is nice, but if I think I can clear out those cars pretty easily without a discount I'm gonna be a lot less inclined to do it.

That's not bullying, either.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#696

Post by ausjke »

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

yes Amazon ruined the show itself, it feels too proud about itself these two years probably.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#697

Post by ihuman »

legitster wrote: post #59

A bit disappointed. The narrative really turned on Amazon during this process. But I feel like every organization shops around for deals - Amazon was the first company to do it transparently and openly tell cities what they have or are missing. There was a real opportunity to bring tech industry to heartland cities. In the end all they proved was this kind of stuff should just stay in the backroom. And good paying te…

> And good paying tech jobs stay on the coasts

But NYC is on the coast. What do you mean by this?

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#698

Post by JDiculous »

thetinguy wrote: post #579
nodesocket wrote: post #460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just don't understand the logic of politicians such as Ocasio-Cortez. Amazon HQ was going to bring 25,000 high paying jobs to the area, providing growth and opportunities for her constituents. Her argument against is that the Amazon HQ would further gentrification and she was appalled by the government subsidies. So she'd rather limit new growth, prevent new jobs, and stifle wealth to prevent luxury condos and Star…

Do you think there are 25,000 high skilled workers in new york sitting around waiting for Amazon to show up? No, those workers are in high demand. So the only option is too pull from outside the region further driving up the cost of housing. Its pure numbers. What about the low skill jobs? Amazon doesn't employ cleaners and other low skill workers. They contract those jobs out, so the low skill employees see no benef…

> Amazon doesn't employ cleaners and other low skill workers. They contract those jobs out

Is this any different from how other companies do it?

> they'll be taking jobs from other organizations, like small businesses, who can't afford to compete with Amazon.

How many small businesses in LIC are competing with Amazon for business/workers? Does LIC even have tech jobs? I lived in NYC for 5 years working in tech, and I don't recall ever interviewing for a tech job in LIC.

> So, what's the benefit to new york?

25,000 jobs with $100k+ salaries. I get that there aren't enough native native New Yorkers to fill the jobs, but since when is NYC not a city of transplants? Amazon or not, this is already the state of things, and I don't see that changing. I mean LIC is already a ghost town of glass luxury residential apartment towers.

> the choice isn't 25000 jobs or no jobs. Its 25000 jobs with amazon and some number of jobs from other businesses. Other businesses will employ those high skill workers because there aren't enough to go around.

Is there a strong demand to build out jobs in LIC matching the 25k that Amazon would've? I'm not being facetious, genuinely wondering. I only went to LIC a few times, and my impression was that it seemed like a ghost town of glass luxury residential apartment towers. I don't recall seeing a thriving office/commercial center. Seems like everyone just commutes into Manhattan to work.

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#699

Post by [deleted] »

electricslpnsld wrote: post #281
bobthepanda wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another fare and another point of failure in what is probably already a long commute? Sounds unappealing. LIC will never become a second Midtown because its transport connections are so poor.

> because its transport connections are so poor. In what sense? I used to work in LIC and it was pretty easy to get to. Lots of lines go though Queensboro Plaza.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus

#700

Post by josephv »

robterrell wrote: post #665
will_brown wrote: post #588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know about having more talent, but amazon definitely has more ego...At least LeBron didn’t demand special tax deals and non-public data from cities to bring his talents.

OMG don't give basketball players this idea. Cities would totally write tax exemptions into law to land LeBron!

Haha, this is brilliant. Exempt NBA Star X from all state income tax if they play for the team - that seems completely believable.

Obviously NBA rules relate to tampering would come into play, but it would be a compelling story for the 24 hour sports new cycle.

I've read about athletes at least considering the income tax of a state in their decision, but I'm not sure it's ever been a deciding factor.

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