Getty New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo .
More and more New Yorkers are getting angry about the multi-million dollar deal that New York’s Governor Cuomo made to lure Amazon into the city. New York politicians, from the city council to the Congress, are weighing in and criticizing the plans, which they say will make rent skyrocket and will put even more pressure on the city’s crumbling infrastructure.
Now, the New York Times is weighing in. In an editorial on November 14, the Times slammed the deal, saying that it may be good for landlords and kombucha makers, but will not benefit ordinary New Yorkers. The Times singled out Governor Cuomo and said that he had helped Amazon to “steamroller” over the normal procedures in order to hand him a deal on very easy terms.
The Times Changed Cuomo’s First Name to ‘Amazon’
Before the deal with Amazon went through, Cuomo said that he wanted the deal so badly that he was ready to change his first name to “Amazon” just to make it happen. That was back on November 5, before anyone knew for sure whether New York would get to host Amazon and lots of other cities were in the mix. Cuomo said, “I am doing everything I can” to bring Amazon to New York. He added, “We have a great incentive package. I’ll change my name to Amazon Cuomo if that’s what it takes. Because it would be a great economic boost.”
Now that New York has won out, New York Times is taking Cuomo at his word. They’ve gone ahead and started calling him Amazon Cuomo, as you can see here:
“New York can proudly say that we have attracted one of the largest, most competitive economic development investments in U.S. history,” Amazon Cuomo said. They seem to have done so by overpaying.”
The Times says that New York is paying out so much money in tax incentives to Amazon that the state will end up shelling out $48,000 for each job that Amazon creates. The Times says that by contrast, Virginia is only paying about $22,000 for each job that Amazon creates in Crystal City.
The Times writes,
“Landlords and real estate developers can rejoice at the prospect of soaring property values and rents, and restaurateurs, craft brewers and kombucha makers will see new customers among the 25,000 jobholders with an average salary of $150,000 that Amazon promises to hire over 10 years.
But the plan calls for the state to dispense $1.525 billion to the company, including $1.2 billion from its Excelsior program, which will reimburse Amazon $48,000 for every job. ”