Monday, January 6, 2020

Albany and New York City offered more corporate welfare to Amazon


Marketscreener


State officials offered Amazon.com Inc. almost a billion dollars more of incentives than was previously known to win its second-headquarters contest and were even prepared to pay part of some employees' salaries if the tech company developed a campus in New York.

Documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show the scope of what state and local officials initially put on the table as part of the 2017 HQ2 competition, in which more than 200 cities submitted bids to host a facility that Amazon said would house 50,000 jobs.

The company said in November 2018 that sites in Northern Virginia and the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens would split the new headquarters. New York state and city officials agreed to give $3 billion of incentives to the e-commerce giant to hire as many as 40,000 employees.
Facing opposition from some local elected officials, Amazon abandoned its plans for New York on Valentine's Day last year.

The Journal obtained the records through a Freedom of Information Law request to Empire State Development, the state's economic development authority.

The documents show that in its first formal bid to Amazon, in October 2017, the state offered to provide up to $2.5 billion of incentives to the company for a campus in New York. The offer also applied to sites that state and local leaders proposed in the Hudson Valley, Albany, Central New York, Buffalo, Rochester and on Long Island.

The state's initial offer included $1.4 billion of tax credits based on the number of employees hired and $1.1 billion of various grants. That was $800 million more than the ESD agreed to in a memorandum of understanding signed a year later: The state provided $1.2 billion of tax credits and $505 million to reimburse some construction costs. 

Before Long Island City was selected, different New York localities made site-specific incentive offers. Nassau County officials offered $2.2 billion in tax exemptions to build a facility at the Belmont Park.
On top of the state's final $1.7 billion package, New York City ultimately offered Amazon up to $1.3 billion of extra incentives through two programs open to any company.

Officials also presented alternative campus sites, including near the World Trade Center in lower
Manhattan, on the island's West Side near Penn Station and in downtown Brooklyn. The city proposed that Governors Island, a former Coast Guard base between Manhattan and Brooklyn, could serve as an "island retreat" for Amazon employees.

ESD initially proposed to spend $500 million to create a Center for Commercial Innovation near the selected site that would let Amazon partner with various colleges for research relevant to its business. The site would also subsidize job-training programs, according to the proposal, and the state pledged to pay 25% of certain graduates' first-year wages with Amazon to help it achieve workforce diversity.

9 comments:

ron s said...

So AOC was right? This was a stupid deal after all? Certainly seems that way. Corporate execs are much more savvy than City and State rubes and out-negotiate them every time.

Anonymous said...

$ 3,000,000,000 / 40,000 workers =
$ 75,000,000 per worker?

Anonymous said...

@ron s said... "So AOC was right?"
We really only have 12 years left ?

Anonymous said...

"So AOC was right?"
To block only certain Twitter users ?

JQ LLC said...

A lot of people said it was a stupid deal. But everybody always focuses on the hottie.

Pamela Anderson supports the release of Julian Assange. Wish that would have got as much attention

Anonymous said...

@JQ LLC

Not to digress, but Pamela is by no means is a hottie. Even when she was of the casting couch running with her silicones in the sand even then she was no big deal. Now after a few hundred thousand miles she is a lot worn :) :)

Not sure who called AOC a hottie, that's a trip to the eye doctor.

JQ LLC said...

@Anon re: Hotties

I know she's reviled here and everywhere as much as she's adored (Alex recently admitted as such), but she is gorgeous. She reminds me of a young Ali McGraw

Pamela was smoking in the 90's. She's not a looker like she was because of the botox but her heart and mind are in the right place supporting Assange. Because if that guy gets extradited and convicted or dies in custody in England, then journalism is as sure as fucked.

Anonymous said...

" her heart and mind are in the right place"

Hope her other body parts are in the right place also. Especially her mouth!
Never could forget her:
https://www.pornhub.com/view_video.php?viewkey=852032634

Assange is getting some sloppy seconds hahahahaha

Anonymous said...

JQ LLC said..."Journalism is as sure as fucked." Yesssssssss
JQ LLC you do a good job here on Queens Crap but how long before Google fuxks this site ? Unless you are a university educated radical leftist and agree in goose step you will be subject to censorship. That is a fact Jack...