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Amazon did it to themselves by turning this HQ2 search into a circus. It's pretty clear that they knew where they wanted to go from the start and tried to use t

by m_ke 8y ago

Amazon did it to themselves by turning this HQ2 search into a circus. It's pretty clear that they knew where they wanted to go from the start and tried to use this as leverage to squeeze out as much out of NYC and DC as possible. It's also obvious that they're using HQ2 to build up political leverage in Seattle. As a software engineer who lives and grew up in Queens it would have been nice to have amazon in new york but we don't really need them. LIC is growing fast and we'll have no problem getting someone else to come in and take the space that amazon would have occupied.

listenallyall 8y ago
>> LIC is growing fast Don't you realize much (most?) of LIC's growth is from businesses attracted to the area by various pre-existing government incentives, such as: Commerical Expansion Program (tax abatements), Accelerated Sales Tax Exemption Program, Commercial Revitalization Program (property tax abatements), Commercial Rent Tax Special Reduction, Energy Cost Savings Program, Industrial & Commercial Abatement Program, Industrial Business Zone Relocation Tax Credit, NYCIDA Commercial Office Space Incentives, Open Industrial Uses Sales Tax Exemption Program, Qualified Emerging Technology Company Incentives (tax reductions), Relocation and Employment Assistance Program (tax credits), Sales Tax Exemption for Manufacturers https://www.nycedc.com/service/financing-incentives https://www.nycedc.com/service/financing-incentives Whatever arrangements or incentives were made to build Cornell Tech, keep in mind that in addition, all donations to Cornell's $7 billion endowment are tax-deductible. I will take a wild guess that it is almost exclusively very rich people who benefit the most from this deduction.
- m_ke 8y ago
  Yes, fully aware of it. I'm actually working out of an incubator that's part of another tax incentive program (START-UP NY https://esd.ny.gov/startup-ny-program https://esd.ny.gov/startup-ny-program) and am not against most economic development programs.
- CalChris 8y ago
  Sorry but being opposed to this incentive targeted exclusively and non-competitively at Amazon, #4 in market cap, does not mean being opposed to incentives.
  - listenallyall 8y ago
    Non-competitively? Seriously man, where do you get your news? Over 100 cities submitted proposals, and LIC's was not the largest incentive package. https://www.curbed.com/2017/10/19/16504426/amazon-hq2-bid-urban-planning https://www.curbed.com/2017/10/19/16504426/amazon-hq2-bid-ur... Wikipedia says 238 proposals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_HQ2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_HQ2
- lkrubner 8y ago
  None of the incentives that you mention are in any way relevant to Amazon story since the incentives you mention are available to all businesses and thus are fair and just in exactly the way the Amazon deal was unfair and corrupt.
  - listenallyall 8y ago
    1200 million - NYS Excelsior Jobs Program https://esd.ny.gov/excelsior-jobs-program https://esd.ny.gov/excelsior-jobs-program 897 million - Relocation and Employment Assistance Program (REAP) https://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/benefits/business-reap.page https://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/benefits/business-reap.pag... 386 million - Industrial & Commercial Abatement Program (ICAP) https://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/benefits/benefits-industrial-and-commercial-abatement-program-icap.page https://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/benefits/benefits-industri... All of the above were available prior to Amazon's HQ2 search, and remain currently available for any company that fulfills the requirements. Go ahead and complain about the $500 million "capital grant" if you want, but $2.5 billion was taking advantage of existing, established, programs anyone can participate in. The only thing "corrupt" are the politicians who managed to convince people like yourself, who seem unable to perform a Google search, that LIC would be better off without this project. source for figures: https://ny.curbed.com/2018/11/16/18098589/amazon-hq2-nyc-queens-long-island-city-explained https://ny.curbed.com/2018/11/16/18098589/amazon-hq2-nyc-que...

by m_ke 8y ago

listenallyall 8y ago

>> LIC is growing fast Don't you realize much (most?) of LIC's growth is from businesses attracted to the area by various pre-existing government incentives, such as: Commerical Expansion Program (tax abatements), Accelerated Sales Tax Exemption Program, Commercial Revitalization Program (property tax abatements), Commercial Rent Tax Special Reduction, Energy Cost Savings Program, Industrial & Commercial Abatement Program, Industrial Business Zone Relocation Tax Credit, NYCIDA Commercial Office Space Incentives, Open Industrial Uses Sales Tax Exemption Program, Qualified Emerging Technology Company Incentives (tax reductions), Relocation and Employment Assistance Program (tax credits), Sales Tax Exemption for Manufacturers https://www.nycedc.com/service/financing-incentives https://www.nycedc.com/service/financing-incentives Whatever arrangements or incentives were made to build Cornell Tech, keep in mind that in addition, all donations to Cornell's $7 billion endowment are tax-deductible. I will take a wild guess that it is almost exclusively very rich people who benefit the most from this deduction.

m_ke 8y ago
Yes, fully aware of it. I'm actually working out of an incubator that's part of another tax incentive program (START-UP NY https://esd.ny.gov/startup-ny-program https://esd.ny.gov/startup-ny-program) and am not against most economic development programs.
CalChris 8y ago
Sorry but being opposed to this incentive targeted exclusively and non-competitively at Amazon, #4 in market cap, does not mean being opposed to incentives.
- listenallyall 8y ago
  Non-competitively? Seriously man, where do you get your news? Over 100 cities submitted proposals, and LIC's was not the largest incentive package. https://www.curbed.com/2017/10/19/16504426/amazon-hq2-bid-urban-planning https://www.curbed.com/2017/10/19/16504426/amazon-hq2-bid-ur... Wikipedia says 238 proposals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_HQ2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_HQ2
lkrubner 8y ago
None of the incentives that you mention are in any way relevant to Amazon story since the incentives you mention are available to all businesses and thus are fair and just in exactly the way the Amazon deal was unfair and corrupt.
- listenallyall 8y ago
  1200 million - NYS Excelsior Jobs Program https://esd.ny.gov/excelsior-jobs-program https://esd.ny.gov/excelsior-jobs-program 897 million - Relocation and Employment Assistance Program (REAP) https://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/benefits/business-reap.page https://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/benefits/business-reap.pag... 386 million - Industrial & Commercial Abatement Program (ICAP) https://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/benefits/benefits-industrial-and-commercial-abatement-program-icap.page https://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/benefits/benefits-industri... All of the above were available prior to Amazon's HQ2 search, and remain currently available for any company that fulfills the requirements. Go ahead and complain about the $500 million "capital grant" if you want, but $2.5 billion was taking advantage of existing, established, programs anyone can participate in. The only thing "corrupt" are the politicians who managed to convince people like yourself, who seem unable to perform a Google search, that LIC would be better off without this project. source for figures: https://ny.curbed.com/2018/11/16/18098589/amazon-hq2-nyc-queens-long-island-city-explained https://ny.curbed.com/2018/11/16/18098589/amazon-hq2-nyc-que...