4 ms·
This keeps getting repeated but it’s nonsense. 1) There was $300-500 million in the deal that was just straight up cash to help them build the HQ area. That’s
by CPLX 8y ago
This keeps getting repeated but it’s nonsense.
1) There was $300-500 million in the deal that was just straight up cash to help them build the HQ area. That’s cold hard taxpayer money that can now be spent on subways or housing or anything else.
2) The idea that there will now be “0” taxes is ridiculous. First of all Amazon itself will likely still expand in NYC anyways, since there were clearly reasons why increasing their presence here was in their interest. And regardless, this is New York, we’re not short of development. Other businesses will just take over that area instead, like they do in every corner and crevice of this densely packed city, and they’ll pay their share of taxes instead.
- yostrovs 8y agoYou obviously didn't live in LIC or Williamsburg in the 1990s or early 2000s. Those places were crap for many years without real development. I didn't like the offer Amazon was given but you're wrong to simply assume that someone else will replace Amazon.
- redwood 8y agoUhh today the area is undergoing massive development.
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoToday is 2019, not the early 2000s. I don’t see how pst fears relate to now.
- subpixel 8y agoI lived in Williamsburg in the 90s and can tell you it was an amazing place to live then. It lacked for nothing. In my opinion it is utter crap now, thanks to what you call ‘real’ development.
- yostrovs 8y agoI did too. You couldn't get a meal in the neighborhood, save for awful Chinese or PR food.
- geofft 8y agoSo why did Amazon pick LIC/Williamsburg? There are basically two possible answers: because they thought they were uniquely in a place to salvage and redevelop it, or because it's currently in a state where it's getting active growth and popularity among the sort of workers Amazon wants to target. If the latter, that's going to continue with or without Amazon. If the former - which is also the only reason an Amazon-specific subsidy and tax exemption is justifiable - I'm curious why, and I'm also curious if they would have believed that in the 1990s or early 2000s, too.
- smrtinsert 8y agoHahaha. Trastafaria was amazing in the 90s, you are quite literally full of it.
- CPLX 8y agoI lived at the corner of Kent Avenue and N. 5th from 2002-2003, and have lived in Brooklyn for about 20 years.