WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MARCH 28, 2019 13
LETTERS AND COMMENTS
A BAD RAP ON
AMAZON FAILURE
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez is getting a bad rap on Amazon
HQ2. In full disclosure, I live the
Congresswoman’s district, and I am an
avid supporter of the Congresswoman.
I also worked on Wall Street for 20
years and now have my own business
consulting fi rm.
I believe she was correct in pointing
out the deal terms were terrible. I
blame Governor Cuomo and Mayor
de Blasio for negotiating a terrible deal
and doing it in secret without input
from the community.
I also want to ask the question as to
why Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
is getting a pass on this. Amazon HQ2 is
in her district. Where is she and where
has her voice been?
When Amazon fi rst started over 20
years ago, they incurred losses and
were able to carry those losses forward
and apply them to future earnings
and profi tability to reduce their taxes.
They have been receiving tax breaks
throughout their history.
Why is pointing out that they are
extremely profi table and then asking
them to be “a good corporate citizen”
and finance their own growth a
negative thing?
I believe that Amazon locating to
LIC would have been a net positive,
but the deal was terrible. It should be
reworked if it can be. But I have every
belief that businesses still want to come
to New York City and that this is just a
bump in the road.
The hand-wringing about scaring
off business is just hogwash. That
always happens whenever large
corporate interests, and especially
the large real estate players in NYC,
don’t get what they want. They
try to instill fear in the populace.
This too shall pass and NYC and LIC
will continue to grow and expand over
the long term. It’s in our DNA.
Joseph DelliCarpini, Astoria
JIMMY MCMILLAN
WAS RIGHT
A recent Quinnipiac survey brought
out that 41% of those living in New York
according to survey can’t aff ord to
live here. New York is pricing out the
middle class.
According to the survey, these are
some of the average cost: 1 gallon of
milk, $4.43; draft beer, $7; average
cost of Uber ride, $22; movie ticket,
$16; meal for two, $80; a Manhattan
apartment, $3,116 a month; an outerborough
one-bedroom apartment,
$1,198; and the list goes on.
In my opinion, these higher costs are
causing many to become homeless. My
wife and myself are on Social Security
and barely make it. I’m going to be
70 years old this year and I am still
working. I guess I will work till I get
too sick to work anymore. Now what’s
wrong with that picture?
Political activist Jimmy McMillan
once said, “The rent is too damn high!”
Ain’t that the truth.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Glen Oaks
Village
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SNAPS
JACKSON HEIGHTS STREET RENAMING
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TULADHAR
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OP-ED
Amazon jobs in LIC
are worth fi ghting for
BY CAROLYN B. MALONEY
As a New Yorker, I want to see
our city become the tech capital
of the Northeast, if not the world.
And while we’re well on the way to
getting there without Amazon, I
think Amazon’s HQ2 would cement
our leadership in tech.
That’s why I’ve joined the
governor, the mayor and business,
labor and civic leaders, and
community residents in urging
Amazon to reconsider its decision to
pull plans for its new headquarters
in Long Island City. It’s worth taking
another shot.
Jobs matter. A lot. And Amazon
was promising 25,000 of them,
paying an average of $150,000.
That’s on top of the 11,000 unionized
construction and maintenance jobs
HQ2 would have created. Sometimes
overlooked is that the new Amazon
headquarters would have caused
wages to rise at existing jobs by an
estimated $3.9 billion.
The tech sector jobs would help
diversify our workforce and
free us from our dependence on
the finance, insurance and real
estate (FIRE) sector that has been
so dominant.
Amazon employees would have
contributed roughly $27 billion to
tax revenue for the city and state
over the next 25 years, helping us
pay for new schools, modernize
infrastructure, upgrade the
sewer system, build more parks,
enhance resiliency and other
community needs.
We already have a talented
technology workforce which drew
Amazon’s attention in the first
place. More than 330,000 New
Yorkers currently work in the tech
ecosystem, more than currently
work in Silicon Valley. Cornell Tech
on Roosevelt Island is preparing
the next generation of tech leaders,
boosting our talent pool.
Those who criticized the Amazon
deal talked as if the $3 billion in
incentives was a gift from a pot
of money that could be redirected
to other purposes, but that
was fiction.
In truth, New York was offering
performance-based tax incentives
based on Amazon’s success in
creating jobs and economic activity.
If Amazon failed to meet its targets,
it would not have received the
breaks. For the most part, they were
getting lower taxes, not grants. The
exception was a $500 million state
grant that would have ensured that
the new campus would be built with
union labor.
Moreover, the tax incentives are
programs available to promote
job creation and investment by
any company choosing to come
here. When Amazon left, we lost
$27 billion in anticipated revenue,
and yet that much talked about
$3 billion is non-existent without
Amazon there to pay taxes.
Meanwhile, our state is hurting.
Governor Cuomo reports that
state revenues are more than $2
billion below projections and the
2017 Republican tax law’s cap on
the federal deduction of state and
local taxes will continue to hurt
New Yorkers and push wealth out
of the state. Having Amazon in New
York would have helped generate
critical revenue.
The things that made Amazon
choose New York are still here.
The city is a growing high-tech
powerhouse with the talent, the
infrastructure to cope with a
large company and the ability to
assimilate 25,000 new workers
without significant impact.
If we can demonstrate we would
welcome them, I am hopeful
Amazon will reconsider its decision
to leave.
Congresswoman Carolyn B.
Maloney, who represents a portion
of western Queens and Manhattan,
is the vice chair designate of
the U. S . Congre s s Joint
Economic Committee.
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