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>> 1) Incentives are not given up front. They are given proportional to the results Amazon has achieved. Amazon must make a report each year detailing their pro

>> 1) Incentives are not given up front. They are given proportional to the results Amazon has achieved. Amazon must make a report each year detailing their progress before any award is given. What is progress? How do you measure progress? Many politicians claim that the past decade was progress. I don't see it. >> 2) The city-level incentives are available to any business. State-level incentives (I think 300m) are not. Any business? I bet that the average entrepreneur living in NYC would disagree. >> 3) Amazon has pledged to invest in the local community as part of the deal. There are plans for an elementary school and tech education center. Of course, because Amazon is such a generous corporation. Just ask politicians in Washington; they've also witnessed that incredible generosity first hand on many occasions. >> 4) The NYC tech sector is more diverse than SV. 47% of tech workers in NYC are immigrants [0]. Is there any evidence supporting the claim that Amazon will ship in majority groups to displace minorities or immigrants? This will affect real estate prices and will displace people who are living there right now who can already barely afford it. >> 5) There is direct investment in tech education for minority groups in the city [1]. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that they will receive a chunk of these jobs in the future. If you support increased diversity in tech, it is inconsistent in your beliefs to not support 25k more tech jobs in NYC. I don't buy these benevolent corporation arguments. Even if you assume that Jeff Bezos was a saint, I'm pretty sure that the many layers of selfish or apathetic middle-managers working under him will find a way to divert much of the funds back to themselves somehow. >> 6) LIC built almost 2.8k rental units last year. [2] I think they have built 6k this year so far. 28k units were built city-wide last year [3] Great in theory; but in practice, NYC is full of homeless people.

tylerhou 8y ago
> How do you measure progress? For the past decade, we've severely deteriorated as a society - Yet politicians will call it progress. Citation? By most metrics we've improved as a society in the last 10 years.
- jondubois 8y ago
  >> Citation? Donald Trump, Brexit, Facebook, opioids epidemic, cryptocurrencies, increased rents, soul-crushing corporate jobs for all.
  - zjaffee 8y ago
    How exactly is this different from a broader practical standpoint than Bush, the war on terror, reality tv, heroin and crack epidemics, the dotcom bubble, increased rents along side decaying cities, endless suburban sprawl with no major transportation projects being taken seriously, and as always, soul-crushing corporate jobs where before you also had to wear a tie everyday. The world moves forward just fine, and there hasn't really been many differences between America today and America in the 80s from a broader political standpoint. Maybe our country was a better place when unions mattered and the wealthy had a legitimate fear of a socialist revolution should concessions to the middle class not be made, but the fall of the soviet union in many ways put that fear to rest.
  - jdminhbg 8y ago
    How hard do you think it would be to compose an equivalent list for any time period in history?
  - smsm42 8y ago
    There's no pleasing some people. High unemployment? Terrible. Low unemployment? Oh, it's soul-crushing corporate jobs, it's even worse!
- specialist 8y ago
  Not all of us see wage stagnation, growing inequity, debt accumulation as an improvement.
  - longerthoughts 8y ago
    Net improvement doesn't require universal improvement. I'm not convinced that the world is better off now than it was a decade ago, but citing things like wage stagnation as proof that things have gotten worse is about as compelling as citing GDP as proof that things have gotten better. We will never see the day when all conceivable metrics have improved for all people.
  - tylerhou 8y ago
    Crime is mostly down; base wages have stagnated yes, but real total compensation has been steadily increasing. Hundreds of thousands of people rise out of poverty every day. Inequality has grown, though, which is probably bad. Debt accumulation is not necessarily bad.
kodablah 8y ago
> How do you measure progress? For the past decade, we've severely deteriorated as a society If you are unsure how to measure something, surely you shouldn't present a result.

tylerhou 8y ago

> How do you measure progress? For the past decade, we've severely deteriorated as a society - Yet politicians will call it progress. Citation? By most metrics we've improved as a society in the last 10 years.

jondubois 8y ago
>> Citation? Donald Trump, Brexit, Facebook, opioids epidemic, cryptocurrencies, increased rents, soul-crushing corporate jobs for all.
- zjaffee 8y ago
  How exactly is this different from a broader practical standpoint than Bush, the war on terror, reality tv, heroin and crack epidemics, the dotcom bubble, increased rents along side decaying cities, endless suburban sprawl with no major transportation projects being taken seriously, and as always, soul-crushing corporate jobs where before you also had to wear a tie everyday. The world moves forward just fine, and there hasn't really been many differences between America today and America in the 80s from a broader political standpoint. Maybe our country was a better place when unions mattered and the wealthy had a legitimate fear of a socialist revolution should concessions to the middle class not be made, but the fall of the soviet union in many ways put that fear to rest.
- jdminhbg 8y ago
  How hard do you think it would be to compose an equivalent list for any time period in history?
- smsm42 8y ago
  There's no pleasing some people. High unemployment? Terrible. Low unemployment? Oh, it's soul-crushing corporate jobs, it's even worse!
specialist 8y ago
Not all of us see wage stagnation, growing inequity, debt accumulation as an improvement.
- longerthoughts 8y ago
  Net improvement doesn't require universal improvement. I'm not convinced that the world is better off now than it was a decade ago, but citing things like wage stagnation as proof that things have gotten worse is about as compelling as citing GDP as proof that things have gotten better. We will never see the day when all conceivable metrics have improved for all people.
- tylerhou 8y ago
  Crime is mostly down; base wages have stagnated yes, but real total compensation has been steadily increasing. Hundreds of thousands of people rise out of poverty every day. Inequality has grown, though, which is probably bad. Debt accumulation is not necessarily bad.

kodablah 8y ago

> How do you measure progress? For the past decade, we've severely deteriorated as a society If you are unsure how to measure something, surely you shouldn't present a result.