Unfortunately, a Manhattan judge dismissed two lawsuits challenging the Hochul administration’s plan to give away $1.2 billion in NYC property taxes to developer Vornado to build giant office towers around Penn Station (Daily News).
The Governor and Vornado say no building is imminent because of the post-COVID collapse of the Manhattan office market, but Empire State Development has successfully kept the project’s wrong-headed General Project Plan in place, paralyzing more realistic and cost-effective approaches.
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Other NY corporate giveaway news:
- A company’s request for subsidies from the Buffalo-area Lockport IDA included a fake report generated by AI – but the IDA may give the company subsidies anyway (Investigative Post). The intrepid IP also writes about how wastewater from Genesee County’s STAMP industrial park might violate federal environmental law.
- ICYMI, the president of Suffolk County’s Riverhead Central School District supports a bill blocking IDAs from abating taxes that would go to schools (Riverhead Local).
- The Editor of City & State called for the state to issue an RFP for the Penn Station redevelopment plan.
- Good Jobs First writes about two cities that show how economic development can be transparent.
- At Boondoggle, Pat Garofalo covers one town that said no to corporate handouts.
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Fun Fact: The New York Wheel was proposed in 2012 and supposed to open in St. George, Staten Island not far from the ferry in 2017. Hyped as the world’s biggest ferris wheel at 630 feet, the Wheel was supposed to draw 22 million tourists a year – and, of course, get lots and lots of tax benefits. Fortunately for New Yorkers, the project was canceled. Relatedly, just last week, Mayor Adam and his NYC Economic Development Corporation announced city taxpayers would invest $400 million in waterfront improvements and a mixed-use residential development as part of the Staten Island Action Plan.
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