https://www.crainsnewyork.com/op-ed/...ast-and-future
Why do I support Amazon's arrival? Two reasons: The past and the future
Critics should consider the fate of cities that reject change
Seth Bornstein
December 21, 2018
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I recently finished the second volume of Mike Wallace's Greater Gotham, which covers 1898 to 1919 and sheds incredible light on the changes that took place in this city in less than a generation (and at more than 1,000 pages, the book changed my triceps too). It points to the fact that we must always reinvent ourselves. If not, we become an artifact, like Venice. Once a world-class city, it's now primarily known for overpriced cappuccinos and sinking into the sea. We don't want to go that route.
Let's take a trip down memory lane. In 1979, when I started my career, my first task was to attract a quality drugstore to southern Queens. There were none, as most neighborhoods were redlined. Queensboro Plaza was notable for greasy doughnut shops and illicit sex. Commuting outbound on the E or F line to Kew Gardens in the morning, I was often the only one in the subway car—though a drunk once tried to knife me but succeeded only in slitting my New York Times down the middle. (I was ticked, as I was just about to complete the Friday crossword.) And of course, it's easy to forget when the streets were a mélange of car-window shards and crack vials. Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be.
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People and businesses did not want to be here. Efforts were made to retain the borough's great companies; Eagle Electric and Swingline come to mind. (Oh, how I miss that gigantic neon stapler bearing down over Sunnyside Yard!) This city once had hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs; now it has just 75,000. Incentives were offered to stanch the loss of jobs, but it was like shoveling sand against the tide. Manufacturing found greener pastures, and the great smokestacks that defined our borough disappeared. (To remember what some of them left behind, catch a whiff of Flushing River or Newtown Creek at low tide.) We were triumphant when Citi opened its tower in Long Island City nearly three decades ago; we thought it was a harbinger of financial institutions that would jump across the East River. But the economic downturns in 1987 and 2008 put a big damper on the financial sector as our savior.
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The world's most diverse county needs a diverse economy. Queens still has manufacturing, albeit on a smaller scale and hopefully more environmentally friendly. Citi did beget other financial organizations, such as the U.N. Credit Union. Tourism, which employs more than 50,000 people in the borough, has played a key role as people flock for an authentic New York City experience. (Try to beat our variety of dumplings: momos, gnocchi, kreplach, empanadas and other carb-encased treats.) Movie studios also have made our economic base fatter, bringing with them a touch of glamour. (Was that Bill Murray dribbling souvlaki sauce down his chin on Ditmars Boulevard?)
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Throughout our history, the city adapts. We always have. From an oyster-trading post to the country's biggest port to a manufacturing center of everything including buggy whips and pianos (which we still do—thank you, Steinway!) to the financiers who traded under a buttonwood tree and went on to open offices in counting houses to cultural arts and mass media, we need to be cutting-edge. Technology has become that edge, and it cuts across every sector (though possibly not buggy whips).
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Why did Amazon choose Queens? For a company in any sector that wants to be at the intersection of technology, diversity and a well-skilled labor pool, the choice is apparent. My loved ones ask, "Do they really need billions of dollars that could go to rebuilding our infrastructure, schools and hospitals? A helipad, for God's sake? I need a helipad on 46th Street because the 7 train stinks." My response is that most of the economic- development incentives are as-of-right and/or in the form of tax offsets, not cold cash. They're tax credits on new jobs, not retained jobs. It can be considered seed money—yes, on a colossal scale. (Maybe this is a good time to think about how we hand out incentives, as we are in a different environment now.) But look at it this way: If 25,000 new jobs pay an average of $150,000 each per year, that's an annual payroll of nearly $3.8 billion. The incentives are "paid back" by spreading a lot of money through the city and putting a lot of bread on a lot of tables. And these are new jobs that will add to our tax base.
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https://thebridgebk.com/backers-bqx-...ps-prove-case/
Backers of the BQX Say Amazon Helps Prove Their Case
Streetcar supporters say office growth along the route will grow 50% within a decade, spurring need for more transit
A rendering of proposed BQX lines crossing between the boroughs on the Pulaski Bridge over Newtown Creek
A mockup of the proposed streetcar on display a year ago in the Brooklyn Navy Yard
By STEPHEN KOEPP
December 21, 2018
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The proposed Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX) streetcar system has been moving forward at a crawl for nearly three years, sometimes even appearing to be permanently stalled. Along the way, ambitions have been tempered. In August, Mayor de Blasio announced a new plan in which the rail system would be shorter (11 miles, down from 16), pricier ($2.73 billion, up from $2.5 billion), and later (running by 2029, instead of 2024).
The progress so far, along with debate about the plan’s worthiness, hasn’t left Brooklyn and Queens residents holding their breath for that low-cost, scenic ride from Gowanus to Astoria.
But then along came Amazon and its plans to spend $2.5 billion to create an office complex for 25,000 workers in Long Island City, right along the BQX’s proposed route. Amazon’s plan has delivered a see-what-we-mean moment for BQX supporters, who contend that commercial and residential development along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront will make the rail system an essential transit link.
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The BQX already has the substantial support of the business community, including the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. “I’m sure many Brooklynites will be commuting to Long Island City to work at Amazon,” chamber CEO Hector Batista told The Bridge for a story on the company’s arrival. “So this is actually a great time to get to work on projects like the BQX light rail in order to help us continue to grow our local talent and economy.” The BQX group is chaired by Jed Walentas, CEO of Two Trees Management, developer of the multibillion-dollar Domino Sugar factory redevelopment site in Williamsburg.
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Yet the project still faces major obstacles in terms of logistics and cost, including the argument that the money would be better spent on other kinds of transportation projects, like bus lines. The proposed streetcar would be built by a public-private partnership and paid for partly through the increased tax revenue collected from rising property values along the route. But it would still need about $1 billion from the federal government, the mayor’s office acknowledged this year.
Some elected officials and other opponents, however, think the BQX would be a costly distraction from focusing on improving existing transit. Earlier this month, City Council Member Carol Menchaca, who represents Red Hook and Sunset Park, ripped the plan as a “terrible” idea in a hearing at City Hall. Speaking to transit chief Andy Byford, the council member declared: “Your visionary plan is in conflict, I think, with this idea that no one likes except for developers and can have an impact … on your plan if so much energy is going from the [government ] agencies into this plan.”
In another twist, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, who supports the BQX plan, said earlier this month that Amazon should help pay for it. “A substantial and meaningful investment by Amazon that helps ensure the feasibility of [the BQX],” she said, “would be a fair investment into its new home and a welcome opportunity for a good corporate neighbor to directly benefit the existing, impacted communities of Western Queens.”
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NEW YORK is Back!
“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
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