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Why would Amazon do that or comply? It is not a private company's job to solve some city's social problems. That is government job. Amazon can just pack up and leave to some other city, they are not tied to NYC. Those tax credits are not coming out of New Yorkers... they are coming out of Amazon. If Amazon doesn't come, the city would miss $27 billion in taxes instead of $3 billion.
Texas does not have the exorbitant taxes compared to NYC. If we had the same low taxes, we would not have to give any companies any incentives, they would flock here by themselves.
Because Amazon is going to put a huge drain on the city’s resources. Public transportation to LIC is bad enough as it is in terms of congestion. Now is going to be worse. Housing prices will go up. Traffic on the roads will be worse. Depending on how Amazon implements it’s NYC expansion things could indeed get worse for many people. Therefore Amazon is obligated to be a good corporate citizen.
In short it is their job to help solve the city’s social problems.
States give out tax credits to big companies all the time, and the norm is they have to hire that state’s residents. NYC and NYS need to put this requirement on Amazon at a minimum. A d a preference for in state college graduates.
What City Council should be doing is justifying their existence by coming up with a raft of demands that Amazon should comply with in exchange for tax credits. But they are too dumb to do this so they engage in their populist screams.
A black man who drives Uber and who drops off many who work in tech called them out on this. He reminded people that the poor of LIC were displaced LONG ago by those who pay $2k monthly for a studio and that what people want is an opportunity to access these jobs that Amazon brings. He also stated that Google and other tech companies had also obtained benefits through assorted zoning changes, and possible tax incentives, though not as large as that being given to Amazon.
So if an Uber driver can figure this out why cannot those who we pay good salaries do their work.
1. Amazon has to expand the pool of potential employees by developing assorted training initiatives, including internships so that "nontraditional" people begin to learn about how they can fit into the industry.
2. Amazon can cooperate with the public school system to introduce a curriculum which will better prepare interested parties in obtaining those jobs that dont require a college degree, that is other than packing boxes.
3. Amazon can be made to understand that it is not just the Ivy's which produce suitable candidates but so to do schools within the CUNY/SUNY system.
4. Amazon's tax credits shouldn't be based on hires as we shouldn't have to pay for transplants or Amazon stealing people from Google or FN. The credits should be based on NEW jobs added by NYC RESIDENTS.
The city has tremendous problems of income inequality and a mismatch between the skillsets (hard and soft) of much of its labor force and that which its employers require. Amazon should be made to assist the City in resolving these issues and for that they can be rewarded with incentives.
But the dunces in City Council will fall for that menace Ocasio who screams that Amazon should be driven out of NYC and that NYers should then get her guaranteed income for doing no work (welfare).
You’re quite right and you cane up with an excellent list of things Amazon could do. Perhaps their tech researchers could work with the MTA to lowe operational and capital construction costs. I definitely agree those tax credits should be based on hiring people from NYC colleges, from BMCC to Columbia and everything in between. Amazon should definitely be made to recruit from CUNY and SUNY.
Because Amazon is going to put a huge drain on the city’s resources. Public transportation to LIC is bad enough as it is in terms of congestion. Now is going to be worse. Housing prices will go up. Traffic on the roads will be worse. Depending on how Amazon implements it’s NYC expansion things could indeed get worse for many people. Therefore Amazon is obligated to be a good corporate citizen.
In short it is their job to help solve the city’s social problems.
Amazon is bringing in lots of high paying jobs that are being taxed. The government could use those taxes to solve whatever issues 25,000 jobs will bring, in terms of traffic, congestion, subways, housing, schools, etc. If everyone in NYC paid how much Amazon will bring in taxes after credits, the NYC local budget would be ~$300 billion a year. If the government can't solve these issues with the money they will be getting, frankly, they should all resign. It is not Amazon's problem that their tax money is being allocated to fund a Commissioner of Equity, Chief Democracy Officer, Office of Nightlife, and other projects (such as Department of Homeless Services money being spent on a "Choose Your Pronoun" pilot project). The re-allocation of tax money is the government priority whose decision makers are being elected by the citizenry. Apparently New Yorkers want their tax money to be spent on various social justice causes and not on homelessness, housing, or transportation issues. That is not Amazon problem.
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Originally Posted by NyWriterdude
You’re quite right and you cane up with an excellent list of things Amazon could do. Perhaps their tech researchers could work with the MTA to lowe operational and capital construction costs.
What can tech researchers do to lower MTA costs? MTA costs have nothing to do with technology at all. Even if we had teleportation devices between stations, MTA would still employ 300,000 people and run the teleportation system at a loss. MTA's primary purpose is not to provide efficient transit with comprehensive coverage, it is to employ as much people as possible.
Because Amazon is going to put a huge drain on the city’s resources. Public transportation to LIC is bad enough as it is in terms of congestion. Now is going to be worse. Housing prices will go up. Traffic on the roads will be worse. Depending on how Amazon implements it’s NYC expansion things could indeed get worse for many people. Therefore Amazon is obligated to be a good corporate citizen.
In short it is their job to help solve the city’s social problems.
States give out tax credits to big companies all the time, and the norm is they have to hire that state’s residents. NYC and NYS need to put this requirement on Amazon at a minimum. A d a preference for in state college graduates.
It seems people are over estimating the strain on the city. Amazon will be phasing in the jobs over a span of several years (I’ve heard it’s in the range of 5-10 years). It’s not like 25k new people will show up on January 1st. Also I still largely maintain that Amazon will be poaching employees from other companies within nyc, specifically digital media and advertising (since I think their move to nyc is to scale their advertising business). Of all the cities up for the HQ, nyc is the one that can absorb the HQ with the most minimal impact.
It seems people are over estimating the strain on the city. Amazon will be phasing in the jobs over a span of several years (I’ve heard it’s in the range of 5-10 years). It’s not like 25k new people will show up on January 1st. Also I still largely maintain that Amazon will be poaching employees from other companies within nyc, specifically digital media and advertising (since I think their move to nyc is to scale their advertising business). Of all the cities up for the HQ, nyc is the one that can absorb the HQ with the most minimal impact.
Main revenue driver for AMZ has been and is expected to be AWS (cloud services). Biggest users of AWS: Wall Street and US Gov-t. Hence the move to NYC and VA. Most new jobs will probably be filled with local talent. The projected 25K jobs is a drop in a bucket for a city with population of 8+ million.
Main revenue driver for AMZ has been and is expected to be AWS (cloud services). Biggest users of AWS: Wall Street and US Gov-t. Hence the move to NYC and VA. Most new jobs will probably be filled with local talent. The projected 25K jobs is a drop in a bucket for a city with population of 8+ million.
AWS *and* and their digital advertising business are their growth areas. VA area to be close to the government which gives them access to the industry and local talent pool familiar with working the government. NYC to give them acces to NYCs primary industries and talent pool from finance AND media.
AWS is high margin and high growth but there is a lot of money in digital advertising. Amazon is a distant third next to Google and Facebook in that arena and more brands are moving ad dollars to digital as consumers media consumption habits shift. I can speak on good authority that they are scaling that business. I said this before but will again: Amazon used this RFP to mine data from all across N American about which cities would be most appropriate for scaling and growing their other business and/or developing new businesses. The winners were NYC, DC/VA and Nashville for their expertise and talent in specific areas.
But yes, totally agree that new jobs will be filled with local talent and that these 25K jobs will not challenge the city too much in the way of transportation, housing, infrastructure, etc.
Amazon is bringing in lots of high paying jobs that are being taxed. The government could use those taxes to solve whatever issues 25,000 jobs will bring, in terms of traffic, congestion, subways, housing, schools, etc. If everyone in NYC paid how much Amazon will bring in taxes after credits, the NYC local budget would be ~$300 billion a year. If the government can't solve these issues with the money they will be getting, frankly, they should all resign. It is not Amazon's problem that their tax money is being allocated to fund a Commissioner of Equity, Chief Democracy Officer, Office of Nightlife, and other projects (such as Department of Homeless Services money being spent on a "Choose Your Pronoun" pilot project). The re-allocation of tax money is the government priority whose decision makers are being elected by the citizenry. Apparently New Yorkers want their tax money to be spent on various social justice causes and not on homelessness, housing, or transportation issues. That is not Amazon problem.
What can tech researchers do to lower MTA costs? MTA costs have nothing to do with technology at all. Even if we had teleportation devices between stations, MTA would still employ 300,000 people and run the teleportation system at a loss. MTA's primary purpose is not to provide efficient transit with comprehensive coverage, it is to employ as much people as possible.
Amazon will hold job fairs in the projects as well. I’m sure project residents who have degrees will get hired, as Amazon will use this to justify their tax credits. Do essentially Amazon agreed to help out after all. They also mentioned resume building workshops.
Because Amazon is going to put a huge drain on the city’s resources. Public transportation to LIC is bad enough as it is in terms of congestion. Now is going to be worse. Housing prices will go up. Traffic on the roads will be worse. Depending on how Amazon implements it’s NYC expansion things could indeed get worse for many people. Therefore Amazon is obligated to be a good corporate citizen.
In short it is their job to help solve the city’s social problems.
States give out tax credits to big companies all the time, and the norm is they have to hire that state’s residents. NYC and NYS need to put this requirement on Amazon at a minimum. A d a preference for in state college graduates.
Most Amazon workers will either be in adjacent areas, Manhattan, or in the suburbs. The crumbling transit infrastructure is a purely political problem, not a population/usage one. Housing is also just as much a political issue too. LIC could hold well north of 25k new housing units but the powers that be cave to NIMBYs and others with certain ideological agendas to derail such.
Most Amazon workers will either be in adjacent areas, Manhattan, or in the suburbs. The crumbling transit infrastructure is a purely political problem, not a population/usage one. Housing is also just as much a political issue too. LIC could hold well north of 25k new housing units but the powers that be cave to NIMBYs and others with certain ideological agendas to derail such.
Dude, have you not seen LIC is one huge construction zone?
The infrastructure is not crumbling. I remember the 80s in NYC. Parts of the Manhattan bridge were shut down for 16 years because the bridge is crumbling. The state approves a capital budget for the MTA. Every 5 years they claim complete proverty so they can get the funding they want.
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