Dear Mayor De Blasio:
I know you're term limited and can't run again for Mayor of our city. However, please don't use your last years in office to run as the umpteenth self-declared Democratic candidate for President. Instead, use the freedom of knowing that you can't run for Mayor again to tackle some of the deeply rooted problems that endanger the long term well-being of our city, which you can then do without worrying about the polls.
Here are some items: Address the pension liabilities that threaten to eat up more and more of our budget for vital City services. Address the traffic congestion crisis in several parts of New York, including midtown and downtown Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn. Future proof the City and our infrastructure against rising sea levels and more intense and more likely extrem weather conditions such as Sandy. Continue to build up additional public transit options where the MTA falls flat. Promote the use of carbon-neutral and emission-reducing technology (Recycling and use of Biomass). There are more. But you know that already.
69
@Pete in Downtown
I believe there is No term limit- he can run again. That's the point
@robin
No, he cannot run for another term as mayor of New York City.
9
The idea of de Blasio running for president is downright hilarious. The lack of self-awareness is astounding.
Bill de Blasio, the man who never met a fight he couldn't lose. He's taken on Cuomo, the NYPD, Uber, etc...lost every time.
For those outside of NYC, here's all you need to know about Bill de Blasio's effectiveness: One of his - albeit minor - campaign promises when first running for office was that he would ban the horse-drawn carriages in Central Park.
Well, he lost that fight too. Pretty early in his term. If Bill de Blasio couldn't beat the horse lobby - a relatively weak special interest in the big scheme of things - do you think he can handle big challenges?
He's the blandest, weakest, most ineffectual mayor we've had in my more than two decades in this city.
148
@Vin
He's the ONLY mayor we've had in two decades since Sir Bloomberg bought himself a third term!
4
@Vin
Hilarious. Thank you.
7
This Mayor is a pandering hypocrite. Forget about 2020. He's DOA.
7
Michael " Flipper" de Blasio is running for President of what in 2020?
5
If he runs no one except his family will care.
4
De Blasio is a hypocrite. He joined Cuomo in welcoming Amazon because he didn't want the governor taking all the credit.
Then AOC was elected and the ground moved under him. She and the mayor are financially illiterate and anti-everything capitalist. That, and with the local retail workers' union looking for a scalp, Amazon decided NYC is not a hill worth dying on.
6
who in their right mind would ever want deblasio for president???
9
How much political courage and thoughtfulness do you expect from a windsock?
9
He killed the Groundhog.....need we say more about how well he handles things....
6
Its not just him, the majority of people do not understand why they were making such huge demands if Bezos is worth $140 billion. Bezos should be ashamed of himself, but lets not forget he just left his wife and children for a married woman. Why would anyone worth $ 140 billion get a tax break. Just to idiotic to justify.
3
Talk about changing sides in the middle of a battle, that's exactly what Mr. de Blasio is doing when it comes to the Amazon deal.
First, he and Governor Cuomo couldn't work in secret fast enough before springing it on New Yorkers (and the City Council) who virtually had no say in the matter, and only after it all blew up because of the mass intense feedback, VOILA! -- the Mayor suddenly reveals himself as a "progressive" who was really against Amazon after all.
Give me a break.
58
…..a whopping 43%.
...that's the percentage of New York City residents polled two months ago by Quinnipiac University.
Mayor de Blasio doesn't even have the support of half the New Yorkers in this city.....
No surprise; he's been a poor Mayor - he's failed NYCHA -you can see the deplorable conditions of this city's public housing - he's been in office 5 years as conditions deteriorated.
Scott Stringer, City Comptroller, issued a report which highlights the failure of the de Blasio administration to curb the declining graduation rates of over 100 city high schools in New York City's poorest neighborhoods - the rates are below 50%. The overall graduation rate is increasing due to being skewed by the high achieving schools with rates in the 90's.
He's proven he's inept as a Mayor - his running for President only confirms my belief he's leaving the city he did nothing for, and now expects the nation to embrace him.
Mr. Mayor, you don't stand a chance.
Now Mike Bloomberg, that's a different story...…..
6
So you want to run for President on a stance of being opposed to jobs? I think even progressives need a job.
4
So you run a campaign based on losing jobs? How does that beat trump?
7
DiBlasio is delirious if he thinks he has a chance with American voters.
7
Say it ain't so. Bill de Blasio running for president? This is just sad. The Democratic Party needs him like it needs another run from Hillary Clinton.
Bill de Blasio is certifiably delusional if he thinks the country needs or wants him.
7
Let’s be perfectly clear: de Blasio has literally ZERO chance of becoming President. I switched parties and donated to the republican because he is so incompetent. He has been terrible for NYC and the Times really has to stop pretending he is a contender. The only reason he is mayor is because he won the democratic primary by running a popular tv ad right before Election Day that made him stand out against a very large field of contenders.
He is intent on ruining high performing schools, regulating vital transportation options like Uber that are godsends to our city, and driving away jobs and business. Regardless of his positions, he is lazy and incompetent.
Democrats will do much better than de Blasio who is perhaps the worst politician elected to any major post in the entire country.
6
Are these reporters clairvoyant?
If not, how else explain their assumption, as a matter of course, that de Blasio's criticism of Amazon is a political stunt? It's really inconceivable he could actually be miffed and disgusted by these high-handed corporate tactics?
In the face of unrelieved de Blasio bashing in this newspaper, going on years now, you'd never guess the City was previously governed by whining billionaire Mike Bloomberg, who bought the office not once, but 3 times, and before him, the likes of Rudy -- neither of whom brought out this sort of animus, despite richly deserving.
2
He’s got about as much chance of winning a Democratic primary as Giuliani had of winning a Republican one. Hard to believe he doesn’t know this.
4
Typical politician hold up your finger,figure which way the wind is blowing and make a stand.Amazon overall would have been good for NY and a lot of silent Democrats know this. The mayor is just another opportunist with no real convictions other than the status of the position. There are better Democrats.
6
I will personally go door to door to campaign against de Blasio. The man couldn’t run a candy shop, never mind a country.
8
This is the true color of the Mayor- an opportunist. His stand always moves with the wind. It isa shame and disgrace that he serves as the Mayor of the great city of New York. He is a political animal and dreaming of higher podition, it is not going to happen- you have fooled the New Yorkers. But people know who you are and you stand fir nothing.
3
Bill de Blasio has been a mediocre Mayor at best. The city is increasingly a mess. This guy needs to spend more time doing the job he’s got.
This Amazon thing tells you all you need to know about our blow in the wind Mayor de Blasio
de Blasio running for President is laughable.
5
Not only does de Blasio have no chance for the US Presidency...
After his petulant anti-business antics - none of the current crop of Progressives will, either...
Not that that's a bad thing...
4
Railing against Amazon might score a few points with a precious few voters. But it will do little to hide the Mayor’s neglect of New York City and the long list of failed campaign promises that trail him like his cronies still hoping for handouts and favors.
A run for POTUS? Spare us your delusions Mr Mayor and please focus on the needs of New York City first - the job to which you were elected.
5
de Blasio's heart is in right place on most issues but as an administrator and politician he is a doofus. Presidential candidate? Fuhgeddaboutit.
1
Thanks, Mr. Mayor, for getting rid of 25,000 jobs. Can't remember when he had a mayor with such a distinctive record of destroying jobs.
13
@Shadai
NYC is doing fine without Amazon, but by the way Amazon is still adding jobs in NYC by 10,000 now without tax breaks. it was all just public relations to get free money from NYC.
3
@Ralph Petrillo Are you honestly saying that there are 10,000 Amazon jobs paying 150K a year in NYC? Really? Where?
Free money? A negotiated tax break to which the Mayor agreed to and then reneged on.
1
NYC is not a union town, unless you consider who controls the politicians.
Ask the average New Yorker whether they’d be willing to pay 10-20% more on their Amazon, Wayfair or other New Economy retailers so that Teamsters could overstaff warehouses and drag down these companies as unions have done in almost every industry they dominate. And we’re not even addressing the insane NYC construction premiums that featherbedded six-figure union jobs exact on affordable housing, public works, and transportation — which Amazon was receiving tax credits to offset.
7
I wouldn't even vote for him to sit on my co-op board, let alone President. The homeless situation is a mess, city traffic is a nightmare, income/property taxes are oppressive, out of control budget growth, and new public housing scandals that crop up every few months (e.g. lead paint, no heat/hot water, broken elevators, etc.). Yup, he did such a great job with NYC, let's give the rest of the country a taste of what we are suffering through.
24
De Blasio has made a mess of NYC traffic. Bike lanes hardly used, wonder how much was spent to paint roads. If he wants help the poor, start a business and create jobs.
13
This is by no means the most constructive comment, but no one in NYC actually likes or roots in anyway for the mayor, right?
Across all walks of life, indifference at best toward our current mayor is what seems to unite New Yorkers of both parties. 2020. Really?
24
Mayor de Blasio is quite a guy. First he makes a deal with Amazon, that apparently he did not vet with the appropriate local authorities, and then he tells Amazon that it is their problem to figure out how to solve the issues in LIC.
In fact, it is Amazon's duty to meet with the local authorities and other local stakeholders to answer their questions and resolve their concerns.
But the Mayor, as one of the prime sponsors of the deal, had a responsibility to advocate for it. However, at the first sign of resistance he suddenly wanted to re-negotiate. He was a big shot negotiator until his constituents said, no you're not.
Amazon is no saintly company, but for sure they had a right to expect that the Mayor, who had agreed the deal, should at least assist them in finding a way to bring the local stakeholders and Amazon to a reasonable dénouement.
Instead he and the Governor stood back and whistled past the graveyard hoping everything would work itself out.
In my experience, and I have just a bit, when this happens, the locals are looking for some kind of baksheesh. Sometimes it is only to care for their constituents, but more often it is to line their own pockets.
When this starts happening in a project, I do exactly what Amazon did, I back out immediately. It is too difficult to determine whether someone is advocating for their constituent or their own personal gain. Best to get away from such people.
25
Run for President? Based on what? Walk around above ground or below ground, and you'll see NYC is back to its 1970s-80s level of filth and decay. What's he going to say, "Now I can do the same for the whole country?" Next.
37
De Blasio has a history of favoring developers over tenants and homeowners. It was the same with his support for Amazon's headquarters move which would have transformed, for the worse, another NYC neighborhood.
Now he has turned his other face and speaks harshly of Amazon.
This is de Blasio, a con man in my opinion. Fake policies; fake names, etc.
14
AOC is right--again. NYC was nutz offering Amazon that $3B bribe. Better that money should be spent as AOC suggests, or on anything else but given away to Amazon. These 'incentive' bribes are always a losing deal for the communities who give them.
7
@Cody McCall There is no "that money" because the other 24 billion was refused.
13
DeBlasio and Cuomo were gleeful over Amazon’s original decision to come to LI City because they thought — delusionally — that they could get some presidential campaign contributions out of the company and maybe even an endorsement from Bezos’ Washington Post. That’s why they were so quick to offer $3 billion.
When the deal died, DeBlasio switched gears so fast that he made the master opportunist Chuck Schumer look like an amateur.
New Yorkers do not always take kindly to someone so two-faced.
18
If the mayor had thought more about meeting with the opportunistic politicians who help scuttle this deal before the whole situation reached a boiling point he could have actually done something helpful. Instead, LI City will remain an underdeveloped mess and nobody wins. The mayor should have done a charm offensive - now everyone will pay the price for these poor political skills.
14
I guess Amazon made the right call with the true nature of deBlasio's duplicity revealed.
20
If de Blasio thought Amazon was not a good deal, he should not have wasted taxpayer dollars to make them an offer, only to want to re-negotiate after they accepted. That is not progressive; it is a typical NYC real estate deal.
Given the pace of change, perhaps it is unrealistic to think that any company can make credible promises about what their workforce of the future will look like and what their real estate needs will be. Good reasons for not playing ball with Amazon. However, once you agreed to participate, don't cry foul when they accept your offer!
11
The Bill de Blasio I saw on Meet The Press (& elsewhere) appears the one Democrat who can trump Trump. He's a smarter, straighter, tougher New Yorker. He's even taller…& towers over him in compassion & more--note the size of his hands! Like most New Yorkers he's onto the Trumps' & GOP's cons. Let's not get led into the weeds of policy to finally get picked off by Republican sniping, yet again. That said, standing up to Amazon could be an asset. We need the steeliest progressive Democratic presidential candidate to go toe to toe in 2020.
1
@Artkey. This self delusional fool couldn’t win anywhere but a few cities that are so used to urban decay that they are immune to it.
3
But it's not de Blasio who rejected Amazon.
Members of the NYC public did. So did some on the City council. And most important: it's that the control of a State Senate Board, which de Blasio and Cuomo expected to use as an end run around the City, shifted.
De Blasio would have more credibility, if he'd not joined Cuomo in the secret promisings to Amazon. Bill de Blasio also has it within his power to restore the big (not as huge as NY State) Guiliani cuts to the subway and bus system.
He also shouldn't have endorsed Hillary Clinton during the 2016 democratic presidential primary.
10
@Yaj The public overwhelmingly was in support of the deal. Check any poll.
This was just about the unions collecting their scalp and Amazon taking no interest in being a whipping boy for the mayor and his ilk, most of whom have never created a job.
20
I heard all 45 minutes of de Blasio's session with Brian Lehrer last Friday. He certainly had harsh words for Amazon, but he spent a significant amount of time also disagreeing - strongly - with the "activists" who stirred up the pot sufficiently to lead to Amazon's leaving. He was very explicit and strong in his disagreement with AOC's celebrating the loss of the deal. He stressed over and over that the majority of those polled in the local area were for the Amazon deal.
The press - that's you too NYT - should spend equal time, as DiBlasio did - questioning the good sense of the noisy minority whose noise killed the deal.
Sure Amazon's not as nice a place to work as GM and Ford and Chrysler were, in the days of strong labor movement. But the noisy ones might have saved their energy after the deal was closed to push their position, rather than cutting off New Yorkers' noses to make themselves feel good.
15
The residents and local businesses did not want Amazon. The ban on unionization should have been an automatic deal killer.
6
@Zejee A lie repeated does not make it true. The residents of NYC and NYS overwhelmingly wanted this deal to succeed. Check Quinnipiac check Siena College.
https://poll.qu.edu/new-york-city/release-detail?ReleaseID=2589
https://scri.siena.edu/2019/02/12/majority-support-nys-deal-with-amazon/
There. Did it for you. Might also want to ask the neighbors at Queensbridge NYCHA:
https://nypost.com/2019/02/15/nycha-residents-blast-liberal-activists-for-killing-amazon-deal/
1
I think we are going to hear about this epic fail from republicans for quite a while.
I would not want to be Mayor Bill on stage with the Donald debating this one.
11
Who's the bigger opportunist/hypocrite - Bill or Andy?
Is that what they call a "Hobson's choice?"
OK. They have company in the collection of Queens politicians that too AOC's beating JC as some kind of "referendum," which - although I wish it were - it really WASN'T.
I've been following this closely, and it's simply an absolute no-brainer that while the Amazon deal MIGHT HAVE created new jobs for existing New Yorkers, ... it would have been a terrible thing for both affordable housing and our on-the-criticial-list subway system.
Now ... which hack of a politician has made the most noise - and very little beyond that - about affordable housing?
I'm not sure "flip flopping" is quite the career-ender that it used to be for politicians, but if there's any justice, Bill is already looking for a job like "head of CUNY" - poor university! if that comes to pass - where it won't be necessary for him to answer, "And what does NYC have to show for your 8 years that it wouldn't have gotten from Nicole Malliotakis?" True, we'll never know, but all signs point to Andy Cuomo being better able to work with the average Republican than even the poor excuse for a Democrat now serving as Mayor.
5
de Blasio is just showing his politician's opportunistic viewpoint. If the deal had worked - he's be pounding his chest as the bringer of good fortune. He has zero chance of going anywhere in 2020 because he is just an ineffective opportunist with no vision. The knee jerk rejection of the Amazon deal by AOC and her gang was stunning ineptitude. No one should mistake a primary win with a 14% turnout and an opponent who was asleep at the switch as a mandate. Real damage has now been done to Queens in particular and NYC in general with the lost of those 25,000 new jobs. Not because it was Amazon but because of the message it sends to every other quality job creator considering opening up or expanding in NYC. Progressive? Not really when you have hurt all those small businesses in LIC that would have grown and lost all the ancillary jobs that would have been created to support all the additional demand. Spare us from fresh person Congress members! They really ought to learn about economics before driving the bus off the cliff. Sad situation.
21
Local small businesses did not want Amazon. They would have been forced out—as businesses were forced out in Seattle. Higher rents, higher taxes, and Amazon competition.
5
@Zejee Sorry. Where do you get your facts? Both Quinnpiac and Siena College polls showed 70% approval *for* the deal. Reveling in the collapse of this deal just reveals how out of touch the Dems have become.
13
Enough of the political spin! The rich property owners and well educated workers are the primary beneficiary of an Amazon HQ. Ordinary NYers are losers. They see 2 Billion of their money go to a uber wealthy corporation instead of fixing infrastructure, education, and the police. There is no need to entice Amazon to locate in NYC. If it made sense, they would come. The incentive money was a con. Amazon will still have a presence in NYC because they have to be here. It is the center of the financial industry. The location may be smaller, but we do not have to pay them.
8
@alanNot true. They will not see any of that $2B doing what you would like, nor any of the estimated much bigger number of billions that would have been available if the deal had gone through.
7
@C. Richard I have yet to see an "investment" in a sports stadium or any other work project generate the jobs and tax revenues promised. Can you name one that works? Look back in a few years. You will see Amazon will have a major presence in NYC just like Google. We did not have to pay to get Google.
10
Fact remains: the residents and local businesses did not want Amazon. We know how it turned out in Seattle. It would cost more than benefit New Yorkers.
6
This guy couldn’t get re-elected to his current job if New York went to a jungle election and allowed two Democrats in the general voting. He thinks he stands a chance on the national stage?
18
de Blasio running can accomplish nothing beside taking votes away from Sanders, who, along with Warren, are the only two candidates from the same range of the political spectrum as de Blasio that have any chance of capturing the nomination. He shouldn't use it as a trial run for 2024 either because drawing votes from Sanders and Warren will not be forgotten by progressives. Gabbard running in the field against Sanders is more productive in my mind because she is more of a niche foreign policy candidate and hopefully tests well in the primaries as a potential VP candidate. de Blasio is well known enough that he doesn't have to be an also ran in the primaries to get considered for the VP spot (not that he is likely to get it either way, but running will decrease his chances).
1
The photo with this article speaks volumes. Cuomo and de Blasio wear their best suits and ties, befitting what they saw as a formal occasion. The Amazon rep is in dress-down mode, emphasizing the intended casual nature of the company's future interface with the various levels of government in New York. That casual nature extended to Amazon's own projections of tax revenue, which another Times article reported as being only a third of what Cuomo and de Blasio touted.
Amazon's casual soft-sell included a lack of direct involvement by Jeff Bezos, with no current visit to NYC until after his company pulled out. It's a take it or leave it approach seen as the epitome of laissez faire economics, even as its success is bereft of consideration for the whole-cloth needs of the myriad communities of consumers and workers that have contributed to Amazon's expansion and Mr. Bezos' net worth. Whenever municipalities have moved to draw the company into accepting a deeper level of integral responsibility for local concerns via taxes, Amazon has demurred and sought greener pastures.
Progressive objections to Amazon in New York centered on murky terms of performance accountability. The sourcing, salary levels and retention terms of jobs under consideration were not fully disclosed for review. Nor were Amazon's supposed commitments for transportation and area housing development. They preferred it that way. Be chill, chew up what you can and move on. That is not fair, decent or just.
12
@Peter Myette
Brilliant!
2
I'm sorry, I have as much local pride as the next New Yorker but if it's one thing we shouldn't be exporting to the rest of the nation — it's our political class.
We create dynasties and manufacture corruption in Albany. We never met a super rich man we didn't like (because they might give us something) and we adore people who put on a show "broadway style". We are Gotham, proud, loud and certain nobody can tell us anything new about how the world works.
Beneath the shiny spiraling glass veneers of our skyscrapers is a 400 year old byzantine labyrinth of arcane traditions which resist all efforts of reform with no transparency. All designed to feed the monster, the Janus faced god of Real Estate and Wall Street.
De Blasio didn't slay that monster. He didn't come up with a road map for reform — no innovation at all. Our transit system is crippled. Our schools are segregated and elitist. not because we care about children) Our garbage bags pile up and feeds the world's largest rat population. Our homeless are shuttled around through an infamously unsafe and inadequate shelter system. Our overworked middle class pays 50 percent (or more) of their income in rent.
De Blasio has not addressed any of this. He is a showman. He has one act — tall, lovable. feel good dad from an idealized multicultural family with a smart ambitious wife and two lovely children. They looked great together on the campaign trail, but there was no second act.
31
Calling yourself a progressive does not make you one. I'm sure Cuomo thinks he's also a progressive as does Bloomberg for God's sake. For example, a true progressive would have dedicated themselves wholeheartedly to affordable housing rather than invoking the elusive term "saved units" to pad out the pathetic numbers - a ploy first used by Bloomberg. A true progressive wouldn't have proposed a billion dollar streetcar line to nowhere along the Brooklyn/Queens Gold Coast, that would have served no purpose and was done purely at the behest of developers. Curiously though, it would have suited Amazon's needs perfectly...The only think I liked was de Blasio's "millionaire tax", because it's just - and it made Andrew Cuomo apoplectic.
11
Two thoughts come to me from AOC's interview embedded in this article: Thought one: She accurately (but unintentionally) puts the lie to the notion that wealthy corporations have all the power; the masses have quite a bit of power. Thought two: She says that NY should invest the $3B in new jobs. How in the world can NY now invest the $3B tax break that would have gone to Amazon if Amazon is not going to pay that $3B in taxes?
26
@Bob Smith Amazon doesn't pay taxes. So her argument is the same as your argument .
9
@Ian
Dear Ian,
Amazon did not pay Federal taxes this year but they paid millions to the state of Washington.
The $27B, that was projected to be paid in state and city taxes to New York and NYC was real money .
New York state, the state of Washington and now the state of Virginia could care less if Amazon pays Federal taxes as long as the tax money rolls into their state and city coffers, which it does.
You can decry the Amazon deal on other grounds (bad labor union policies etc.), but the money was there for New York and now it is not.
AOC had her arguments against the deal and since I don't live in New York, I have no opinion about how logical or illogical they were.
The Mayor on the other hand with the Governor, negotiated a deal, apparently without having the authority to do so.
They threw Amazon to the locals and instead of at least backing their own deal and remonstrating with the local authorities, they stood back and did nothing to advocate for the deal they made with Amazon.
I am in a business where I often partner with other companies for specific projects. I know what it is like when your partner (in this case the Mayor and the Governor) are unwilling to help you sell the deal.
That is exactly what happened here. Those two are cowards. Not often but a few times I have had such cowards as partners and it is like playing tennis doubles with a blind man.
The Governor was a coward, the Mayor is a two faced coward.
5
They don’t pay federal taxes because of poorly written legislation but they do pay state taxes and so would have all the people they hired. The NY Times reported a figure of 30 billion in taxes coming in over time. Seems like giving them a 10% break is not as obscene as much as it’s been inaccurately described.
This was a blown opportunity. Period full stop.
1
Amazon leaving was just a preview of growing influence of leftists/socialists within the democratic party in NY. A time might eventually come when there will be race to prove who is the biggest socialist with all the crazy policy ideas. All said and done, our country is what it is only because of capitalism! May be New York headed in slightly wrong direction?
28
Yeah. And ban that crazy socialist idea: the right of workers to unionize. We can’t have that.
5
If I still voted in NYC, I would never have voted for de Blasio.
What kind of person cheers on the Amazon deal until they walk away and then trashes it?
Did he forget that he was part of the team who put together the deal which Amazon agreed to?
What a weakling.
42
@Mimi In his defense, Amazon just walking away from the deal without a discussion basically proved what everyone feared about them.
5
Proving once again why he is one of the worst Mayors in our city's history.
48
New York City is objectively worse off because of Bill de Blasio.
So no surprise he'd flip flop to the wrong side of this issue as well.
29
DeBlasio is totally without shame. Is he really trying to jump on the Anti-Amazon Express that is opposed to the deal he negotiated?
22
No, they did not take their ball and go home, AOC and the community leaders took the ball and did not give the ball back. They lost out on 25000 jobs, plus the number of jobs that would be created by other businesses if amazon moved into queens, how stupid can some elected leaders and community organizers be?
33
AOC supported the residents and local businesses who did not want Amazon. Unemployment in NYC is 3%. Those high tech jobs would go to HB1 visa holders or out of towners. The rents would go up, so would property taxes. Amazon however pays no taxes although Amazon would severely strain public services which are already strained.
10
@Zejee You keep commenting that residents did not want the deal. This is a patent lie. Ref. both Quinnepiac anz Sienna College polls. Also tenant associations from at least 7 NYCHA projects sent letters *after* the project was dead expressing the disappointment and dusgust.
12
Anyone can see through Mr de Blasio that he’s just another disingenuous politician, swinging whichever way is most beneficial for his future political career.
He cares more about himself than for NYC, or for America. He would go as far as making a deal with the devil if it would befit him.
28
de Blasio would like to have everything his way. In particular, what he wants is to be President and not Mayor. It was obvious from the moment he declined to endorse Hillary and this from her onetime campaign manager. He is simply an opportunist. He was for Amazon until it was better for him politically to be against it. I wish he'd disappear.
31
@Michael
I suspect we don't agree on all that much - more people way right of him despise the Mayor than the 10% that both talk and act more liberal than he is - but I'm with you 100% on that.... And I think we'll get our wish, too! He's poison to upstate, and it's still entirely possible that he'll flame out in a corruption scandal. The article on Hulan Jack in yesterday's Times demonstrates that time times may change ... and ethnicity is irrelevant here.
As long as there are billions of dollars to use for personal or pol. gain, pols like Bill will find a way!
--
Within minutes of hanging up the telephone with the Amazon executive, Jay Carney, Mr. de Blasio decided to turn against the company; he said that he and his aides “immediately reached a broad and fast consensus that this was outrageous.”
--
[reports the NYT] NOBODY is that stupid. Amazon not only sent a public warning that it was not going to go along with being a punching bag. Starting with "he said" ... the paragraph above should have concluded:
he said that he and his aides immediately reached a broad and fast consensus that they had been snookered by either or both of a superior politician [yup, his arch-enemy, too] or the oh-so-very-superior brainpower embodied in one of the 3 most brainy companies on earth.
Having noticed that "there was a change in the weather" they couldn't run away fast enough from the position they had staked out! Too bad Colbert won't bother to montage 30 BdB-heart-Amazon clips.
4
Corporations and individuals both come to NYC for the same reason: opportunity. What differs nowadays is that corporations do not want to pay for that opportunity; while young graduates sacrifice to gain a foothold here, living with roommates to afford the rents commanded by an overly-subsidized real estate industry, companies have come to expect to be paid to show up via tax breaks, etc., that no individual receives - all the while prospering solely due to the presence of those struggling individual newcomers. It matters not at all that the tax expenditures/subsidies given to companies will be exceeded by the tax receipts from their commercial activities (a calculus that does not factor in the losses experienced elsewhere in the community by the existing tax-generating entities that the giant companies displace). What matters is simple equity: companies should be willing to take the same chance and pay the same opportunity cost as their workers - not get a leg up to advantage the company at the expense of the workers on which each company's success depends. That is a real community, when every contributor is regarded as crucial, not only the biggest players. Business should also realize that they are to blame when the infrastructure supporting NYC's commercial and cultural attractiveness deteriorates due to companies' endless, greedy insistence on tax avoidance. Business behavior is now killing the goose that laid the golden egg; government officials should say no.
7
The Mayor promised to have the most open administration in history.
He then negotiated a massive deal in secret.
He communicated that deal poorly, leading to assumptions that the "tax breaks" were in the form of a cash pile that could go elsewhere.
Now he blames the company and everyone else - so quickly we've all gotten whiplash.
In the meantime, real estate prices in the city are falling as people flee to lower tax jurisdictions, causing a budget shortfall.
Boarded up and empty retailers remind us of the worst of times.
Local restaurants + coffee shops are closing as the $15/hour minimum wage rolls out and rents soar.
Headhunters are calling many of us - seeking executives to relocate to NY and CA - as executives flee.
Then there is the homeless problem, the mass transit problem, the choked traffic problem, the growing City payroll and pension problem...
But it isn't just the Mayor who is pandering and disconnected from the crisis that is coming.
In the debate last night for Public Advocate, each candidate for this powerless office tried to one-up the other by angrily declaring that "we need" more schools, more investment, more everything...with not a single realistic proposal made to either prioritize, or fund, these "needs."
And so the Mayor SHOULD keep his eye on the Presidency for 2020 and hope that he can get out before the momentum on the downturn accelerates any further.
Killing the HQ2 deal will someday be remembered as "Peak Big Apple."
11
From what I read, even the most conservative financial projections showed a 900% return over time on those tax credits, subsidies, et all that the city and state offered in the agreement.
Would the train platform have been crowded where the headquarters would have been? Well, yeah.
Would residential and commercial real estate prices have gone up in that local area? Of course, and rents along with it.
Doesn't this happen in NYC all the time for various reasons? I mean, look at what has happened to Brooklyn real estate the last 10, 15 years. Times Square has a pretty high price per square foot now, but it wasn't that long ago that it was mighty cheap. I'm sure the local residents there can give many more examples.
It may chafe people to give a wealthy company that many breaks, but I think the economic basis of the deal was quite compelling......
16
He was for it before he was against it?
29
Well he’s correct. It’s all about money and greed. Of course it’s a two way street. There should be laws about bribing corporations with tax payer money. Until then this is what you get. So when the republicans are at last voted out of the majority and the ridiculous Citizens United is over turned maybe then sanity will prevail.
1
Since when is an accurate description of what happened an "abrupt shift"?!
Why is it the reporters do not recognize that anger is the right and correct response to Amazon taking this action?
Do you not know about the months of forcing many American communities to spend millions on doing research they gave to amazon for free which Amazon should have to pay for themselves and then offering tax breaks to a multi billion dollar profits company who pays no federal tax anyway!?
Do you not know about the propaganda campaigns and history of manipulation and depraved indifference & the harm caused to profit above and beyond reason (deliberately selling at a loss to destroy competition) of Amazon?! Maybe you want to take a look into what happened to the writing, publishing and book selling industry.
I think the remarkable thing here is that the Mayor ever entertained the idea of allowing this psuedo criminal enterprise to come to NYC.
5
He's been less than a stellar mayor. He should set his sights lower, not higher. Maybe Amazon will hire him.
23
@CMP For what? Any openings in their warehouse?
7
No one stood up to Amazon. The deal changed so Amazon decided to just take Virginia's offer. Why is de Blasio upset? Those who stood up can be happy because Amazon isn't here, which I assume was their goal. Amazon is happy with Virginia. Why the whining?
6
The only place where The Mayor can successfully run is at the gym he goes to every day.
39
The notion that this vain, corrupt and ineffective buffoon thinks he is remotely fit to be president is laughable and sad at the same time. Funny, too, how his wants to mount his white steed and charge off at those vile corporations who trample on the people - yet his own bloated city bureaucracy could not even take care of the basic protections for the poor in city housing, showing that government can be just as callous and vile, perhaps more so as they are given actual power not vested in private enterprise,
The voters of NYC made a mistake in electing this man and compounded it mightily by reelecting him for purely partisan "must vote for a Democrat no matter what" reasons. Let's not put the icing on the cake by offering any support for this man climbing onto the national stage.
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@George S
Alas, GW Bush showed the world that the American presidency is a viable career option for men with a resumé brimming with failure. Look who is in the White House now because of Bush Junior.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
7
As an upstater and often the recipient of jabs, mostly good humored, regarding our lack of sophistication; I find it amazing that NYC elected this man not once but twice. Honestly he makes John Lindsay look good. President? Please!!! His disgusting flip flop on the Amazon issue shows he has taken political pandering to heights heretofore unseen. Of course looking at the spate of candidates jockeying to succeed him I can only see a long, slow, steady decline for a great city.
12
Go for it Mr. Mayor! I'd love to hear you campaign on how you lost 25,000 middle class jobs, billions in tax revenues, and gave NYC a black eye. Quite a class act achievement. Keep up the good work!
41
I doubt the lunch counter guy, the coffee stand lady, the cleaning person, the Uber driver and all the thousands of other native New Yorkers who would have seen their incomes greatly enhanced by Amazon's presence but whose jobs would not have paid enough for the workers to be "imported" by Amazon would agree with what happened here. And DeBlasio wants a pat on the back? It is the height of elitism on the part of the people who were annoyed by having Amazon come in to assume that even people who make and struggle to get by on much less than the bandied-about figure of $150,000 per Amazon executive wouldn't have liked to make a living off of this too. They unfortunately did not get a vote. DeBlasio can pretend to be working for average New Yorkers all he wants but here as in so many other areas he has failed miserably.
15
It's a familiar de Blasio strategy: Fail and blame.
At least Cuomo was consistent.
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@Chris
How exactly is Amazon breaching their oral contract a DeBlasio fail?
In Seattle Amazon moved in and the prices of homes and apartments jumped so high from the greed of the local GOP supporters. Also the food prices became very high. The mom and pop stores that closed because of them is a disgrace. Amazon in six years will have only robots in all there warehouses no people. We will be laughing at Virginia when that happens and all their tax breaks will go to Bezos and family.
11
@D.j.j.k.
It is as if no one remembers the entire industry he destroyed not by introducing an improvement or new invention but by simply selling at a loss until they all had to close!
How was that even legal?!
How did a corporation stay in business for 20 years without making a profit if it wasn't a criminal enterprise?!
3
Djjk: don’t let the facts stand in the way of your argument. WA is a D state, not R. Amazon started in Seattle, it did not move there. Amazon has been successful because it makes shopping faster, easier and cheaper. Oh, and it has created many hundreds of thousands of well paid jobs directly and indirectly.
7
@Barry
What good is having the Amazon jobs if you can't afford the rents or food as they found out in Seattle Washington. Working conditions I hear are barbaric in the Amazon where houses. You need to get your facts straight.
2
The Mayor never net with Mr. Bezos, and, Mr. Bezos never even visited the site. That is telling in who actually were the players in this deal. With all the jobs at stake, it would seem like Mr. Bezos had little involvement.
The deal when written about, no matter what the potential location seemed always to imply that fifty thousand people would descend on a location at once instead of gradually increasing to a potential of that number. Potential is the keyword and the disclaimer for Amazon.
If the site became home over a number of years to several companies the fifty thousand increase in workers would be a moot point because it would be gradual and without fanfare which is exactly what Amazon's plans were.
Amazon frightened many people in many cities, Boston especially, by that scenario.
Unmentioned in connection with Amazon decision is the decrepit and overwhelmed public transport and roadways upon which Amazon employees will have to depend.
Is it not possible that Amazon concluded that, besides the blowback from certain politicians, the ongoing failure on the part of the city & state to effectively deal with a well-known infrastructure problem (that is only going to worsen) made the deal (and willingness to put up with the opponents) untenable?
Mr De Blasio always needs a villain; the Trump analogy made in an earlier comment is apt.
12
Name one mayor of New York City who has ever done anything of national significance after leaving office.
I'll wait...
9
@AGuyInBrooklyn Bloomberg.
4
@AGuyInBrooklyn Besides Grover Cleveland and Calvin Coolidge no former mayor of any major city in the US ever became President, so that factoid has nothing to do with New York. Unfortunately one former NYC mayor has indeed achieved current national significance as a presidential counsel and haunts our airways as a total idiot.
7
de Blasio has about as much chance to be the Democratic presidential nominee as I do, and I have no chance. The difference between us? I’m not desperate for attention & deluded into thinking I’m an essential person who can run the country. The mayor’s ego runs faster than the #2 train running express from Times Square to 72 St. He’s a political hack with little charisma and the work ethic of a couch potato. He cannot be serious.
86
@Pietro Allar
Great. But now what am I supposed to do with all those "Pietro for President" bumper stickers in my garage?
2
Please, stay home and work on NYC projects.
Perhaps the plan collapsed because of the secretive nature of the negotiations - whatever they were - which were endorsed by both Cuomo and De Blasio as the easy path to riches. I don;t even understand how in NYS which has rules requiring extensive environmental reviews of major ( and not so major) projects HOW the initial "deal" was done. And obviously it wasn't a done deal, because Amazon was holding the reins.
But whatever - he's not a leader with any vision, hasn't shown that he can work the nuts and bolts of legislation. We don't need a Democrat without a plan other that getting elected ( and that goes for Cuomo as well). ( and how would he commute to the Brooklyn gym he goes to everyday?)
44
@Cheryl And show up for work around 11AM? He defines the Peter Principle to a "T".
9
Amazon is a business and had no moral, legal or financial obligation to accept the deal that the neighborhood agitators were demanding. The agitators who refused to accept responsibility for what happened are claiming, like children, that Amazon had no right to call their bluff and that not saying in advance "no, seriously, that's it" constituted bargaining in bad faith. Kids, if you don't understand the game you are playing, stay out of the playground and leave the game to those who know what they are doing. As for De Blasio, who failed miserably here and wants to have it five different ways, grow up and find a job you actually know how to do.
65
@Isadore Huss -- Amazon had every right to walk away. I think very few other than DeBlasio are arguing that point.
But the fact of the matter is also that nothing about this deal was worth it to the people who live in Queens now. This was all about lots of money for other people, a lot of new jobs bringing other people in, and tax revenues that wouldn't be spent in Queens.
14
@Isadore Huss
Sadly I can't thik of a job he is actually qualified to hold, other than public mooch.
9
I saw DiBlasio on Meet the Press. He blamed Amazon for not continuing to work to compromise, and there is a degree of truth to that. However although he stated he was a "proud Progressive" he clearly inferred that the Progressives, led by AOC ruined the LIC and Queens community's opportunity, opportunity that most LIC residents wanted. He was very clear that her economics understanding was incorrect- there was no $3M in money given Amazon that could be better used elsewhere- the $3 was incremental and calculation of incentives to Amazon over a long period of time and tied to deliverables Amazon was to provide to the city. He was VERY clear that the loss of the deal meant that residents of the community, particularly low income, those living in city housing lost the opportunity for high level professional jobs. He seemed to be straddling the fence between placating the Progressives and disavowing the convoluted logic that led to Amazon's withdrawal from the city. And I suppose as of today, he's decided which side of the fence he's on.
26
More ambition than substance. He talks up a good game, sort of, if you're a progressive idealist, but I don't think this man has much intellectual chops. He rides on others coat tails (NY was in great shape thanks to Bloomberg when he stepped in) and always seems two beats behind.
71
Not that de Blasio ever had a chance of becoming President except in his mind but his duplicity on the Amazon matter proves conclusively he is unqualified to be President.
De Blasio played a central role in this absurd secret deal with Amazon that gave them a $3 Billion gift. Now he presents himself as the leading critic of the deal. That is total hypocrisy. De Blasio is as qualified as Trump to be President !
63
The best description I ever heard of our mayor was from a friend, who said he was "the Trump of the left."
66
@James The Trump of the left is @AOC. In fact, I think she has Trump beat in the number of fact free comments made in less than 8 weeks in office.
1
“I have been a self-identified progressive since high school and I know that in all dealing with corporate America you have to take a position of demanding guarantees for working people.”
As opposed to a regressive? It’s wonderful that Bill de Blasio is fully embracing his political opportunism, but that doesn’t do much to change the fact that he’s been a completely unremarkable mayor.
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@ubique
In a free capitalist society worker guarantees work so long as the corporate entity can still make a profit. In a free society both sides of this situation put their best case forward and if it does not work, kill the deal. In the future, companies such as Amazon will probably try to stay away from socialist enclaves like NYC. NYC, for its part should recognize that you can't buy participation at the outset and then take it away with labor and other restrictions.
8
@Bill Your comment is intelligent if partially wrong. NYC has always welcomed capitalists, and deals that are on the down low happen all the time, but NYC is also a media center and this deal drew too much attention, especially in the toxic political environment we all now face. Amazon had every right not to come where it wasn't welcome, and those frowny boxes, a bit too clever, may have killed the deal.
12