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Seattle City Council Members Visit New York To Warn About Amazon HQ2 (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Two politicians from Amazon's hometown traveled across the country to New York to deliver a cautionary message about the company's expansion in the city. Members of the Seattle City Council, Lisa Herbold and Teresa Mosqueda, are urging elected officials in New York to pass legislation now that will address potential housing and transportation issues that will inevitably follow in the wake of Amazon's decision to build a major new campus in Queens. Both are speaking Monday at an event hosted by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which has been backing efforts to organize workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island.
Amazon announced in November a major expansion in Long Island City, New York, and Crystal City, Virginia. In New York, Amazon would spend about $2.5 billion to create an 8.5 million square foot campus on the East River waterfront facing Manhattan from Long Island City. In return, the internet giant is set to receive almost $3 billion worth of state and city incentives. While Amazon could generate more than $27.5 billion in additional tax revenue for the city over 25 years, local politicians and community activists have already come out against the deal. Opponents fear the high salaries promised by Amazon and influx of as many as 40,000 employees eventually will push out residents in one of the city's fastest growing neighborhoods, and lead to even more congestion in the already overburdened subway system.
Amazon announced in November a major expansion in Long Island City, New York, and Crystal City, Virginia. In New York, Amazon would spend about $2.5 billion to create an 8.5 million square foot campus on the East River waterfront facing Manhattan from Long Island City. In return, the internet giant is set to receive almost $3 billion worth of state and city incentives. While Amazon could generate more than $27.5 billion in additional tax revenue for the city over 25 years, local politicians and community activists have already come out against the deal. Opponents fear the high salaries promised by Amazon and influx of as many as 40,000 employees eventually will push out residents in one of the city's fastest growing neighborhoods, and lead to even more congestion in the already overburdened subway system.
NYC metro area is over 13,000 square miles (including suburbs). And most people live in huge skyscrapers that increase livable square footage. They have a total population over 24 million people. GDP p[er capita is over 84,000.
Seattle covers 142 sq miles. Most people live in buildings without elevators. The metro area covers 8,186 square miles, with most . Their total population is around 3.7 million.
Yes, Amazon is a big deal, single-handedly raising the wealth in a city that AFTER the job increase is only 1/7 the population. The upper class in Seattle is dominated by Amazon.
We will barely see them in NYC.
The idea that Amazon's 25,000 jobs will be more than a drop in the bucket for the Big Apple is a freaking joke.
It's like the captain of a 100 ft dinner cruise warning the captain of a cruise ship that those news passengers sure do eat a lot of food, and they better stock up on the steak.
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This isn't about warning NYC of the Evils of Amazon. This is about preventing Amazon from establishing a new HQ outside Seattle.
Because if Amazon did that, they'd be in a position to tell Seattle bye-bye....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Seattle city council is not in a position to give anyone advice about anything, outside of how to spread an opioid epidemic in their city.
The EC was put in place to allow states to disenfranchise their voters. Number of electoral votes was based on population (free people + 3/5 slaves) plus two votes, so a state wasn't "punished" for disenfranchising a majority of their voters. Whereas if votes in Federal election were based on actual votes, states that allowed Blacks and women (yep, NJ did even in the late 1700s) to vote would have a major advantage. The reasons for the EC were shameful and the institution is outdated.
but will they even notice 40 000 additional workers in such a big city?
There will not be 40,000 additional workers. The workers will just be displaced from other businesses ... or potential business that will now never be created.
The constraint on business in NYC is availability of employees, and the constraint on new employees is housing cost, and the constraint on housing is the lack of new construction, and the constraint on new construction is the denial of most building permits.
This is why subsidies on the DEMAND side of employment, while simultaneously constricting the SUPPLY side of employment, is completely idiotic.
Voters need to be educated on basic economics so corrupt politicians that support these giveaways can be held to account.
"This isn’t about being anti-growth or anti-corporation. It’s about corporate accountability and shared responsibility," Mosqueda said in an interview with Bloomberg ahead of the event. "These companies do well because of our workforce and infrastructure, and they’ll continue to do well if they invest in that infrastructure."
So a town that Amazon is fleeing, excuse me, "avoiding" is telling their competition that the best way to invite new businesses is to wrap them in a cozy web of yet more new rules, policies, procedures, laws and regulations? Do they ever wonder why Amazon might be looking for new places to grow?
Mosqueda said New York must act now with new taxes to generate revenue that will be needed for affordable housing. She also cautioned against letting... gestures pass as being adequate to address complex and costly problems of housing and transportation.
So a city of less than one million, that is doing a notoriously bad job of managing their social problems, is busy telling a city of over eight million how to use socialism to manage the problem of having too many jobs?
Ok. I live in Washington and I've watched the city of Seattle crap on itself (no really) over the years till they have the problems they've created. But what the heck is two CITY council members flying across the country on the cities dime doing in New York? YOU'RE A CITY COUNCIL MEMEBER! THAT'S IT! Try working on your own disaster of a city you've created (not Amazon or Microsoft or anyone else) and here is a clue: USE THE PHONE TO GIVE NEW YORK YOUR OPINION! Save the tax payer money instead of taking a New York vacation.
Maybe there actually scared because Seattle is only a couple pony town (Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon) and if they push Amazon will be out all that tax money people spend...... Naw, they're not that smart.
New York, feel free and absorb Amazon HQ2 and start sucking jobs from Seattle. It won't be hard when the Seattle city council thinks you're the causes of all the problems in Seattle. Wait, isn't the city council supposed to keep the city working right? Right.
Not trolling. Sarcastic, but not trolling. The President of the United States controls neither spending nor taxation. That's Congress's job. What you're actually saying is that the (almost always Republican-controlled) Congress ran up more national debt under Obama than under all other presidents before him combined.
As a rule, Democrats raise taxes to cover their spending, while Republicans borrow money to do so. There are exceptions, but they are rare. Thus, the national debt is mostly a Republican-caused problem. Tax cuts (the heart of the Republican platform) inherently increase the national debt. Anybody who says otherwise is kidding him/herself. It's like selling products at a loss, but making it up in volume.
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