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As the city and state start to get to work on West Side redevelopment, the Mayor said that one entity won't be getting tax breaks if it moves. Mayor Bloomberg was asked if Madison Square Garden would continue to get $10.9 million in tax breaks if it moves West to the Farley Post Office building (that's what a map in the draft Environmental Impact Statement notes). Bloomberg decisively said, "Not if I'm mayor they won't. Madison Square Garden isn't going to move, and there's no reason to justify that."
He also added, "I've always been opposed to bribing companies to come and to stay. MSG isn't going to move [out of Manhattan]." Wait a minute - isn't bribing companies to stay part of what makes the city tick? Granted, the Goldman Sachs incentive deal may have been engineered by former Governor Pataki, but the recent JP Morgan Chase deal was brokered by Bloomberg's and Governor Spitzer's teams.
Last month, the Daily News' Michael Daly pointed out that the most of the $11.6 million that a jury awarded former Knicks employee Anucha Browne Sanders, whose claims that MSG was a hostile work environment were believed by a jury, is covered by the tax breaks MSG gets from the city. Still, given that the Mayor's term ends in 2009 and a potential MSG move wouldn't be until after that, who knows what will happen.
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So, they tear down Old Penn Station, drill it underground, so they can put an arena on top.
Now, they want to finally put the train station back above ground (or at ground level, at best), and the arena people still aren't happy. When will everyone be happy?!
Corporate welfare...gotta love it.
Surely Bloomberg's been the recipient of corporate welfare through his company...
The Bloomberg administration has been far better than its predecessors in terms of corporate retention deals. The Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan deals to move to downtown was a strategic boost to the downtown office market. Some incentives were necessary to get them to risk life and limb to settle downtown, which is also not as desirable as midtown. Granted the subsidies were massive and they went beyond what I think the mayor's office wanted to pay to get them to do it.
Bloomberg.
How many tax breaks did he get when he put up his new HQ?
NY Post: plenty of tax breaks on new printing plant in the Bronx.
NY Times: huge tax breaks for new HQ and for new printing plant in Queens.
It's all BS.
And besides, Bloomberg will not be mayor in 14 months. He's just pissed that he didn't get his Jets Stadium project, and that the MSG folks were part of the people that helped kill it.
Oh, those fighting billionaires...
WOO HOO! Way to smack them down.
Somehow I doubt MSG contributes anything near what the financial companies do for our economy (didn't I just read that GS alone employs over 100,000 people?). The city doesn't need MSG with the new arena in Brooklyn, and the Dolans certainly don't deserve our sympathy. As for the Knicks, is it really worth that much money to keep that trainwreck of a team in midtown Manhattan?
Not to mention that it is completely unforgivable to the MSG ruin another Penn Station with what would no doubt be an at-;east-as-ugly eyesore.
the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
I agree with MT - it would be absolutely unforgiveable for the city to allow MSG to destroy another beautiful building for a horrifying arena. Why is this not an idea that has been simply laughed out of the room?
Who said an arena had to be horrifying, OB? The deal is not getting done without the Garden moving. Just accept that and move on. I'd rather they at least TRY to do something right than do nothing at all.
If MSG or anyone else wants to build an arena, they should buy the land, and all the permits without any government help. Arenas and stadiums really don't generate enough income for any city to really make a big impact. They are luxury items that aren't needed. I have the perfect spot for a new MSG - Fresh Kills where rubbish can stand on top of more rubbish.