Kathy Hochul and Eric Adams tout pro-business Midtown revival at power breakfast
By: Bernadette Hogan (New York Post)
Desperate times require desperate measures. It's gotten so bad that prominent Democrats cannot hide their true motivations behind 'Robin Hood' platitudes.
New York needs rich people a lot more than New York needs the middle class. Mayor Adams says so. Gov. Hochul says so. The rich are New York government's bread & butter. So, New Yorkers should be grateful for the rich and do everything in their power to encourage the rich to stay.
Of course Adams and Hochul are only looking at the situation from their perspective of self-interest. Where do the rich get their money? Adams and Hochul seem to think they can dupe the rich into becoming the government's tax collector.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The lovefest between Albany and City Hall was on full display at a Wall Street power breakfast Wednesday, as the mayor and governor looked to make a clear break from their predecessors in a show of solidarity — not only between themselves but also with New York's struggling business community.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams announced a pro-business shared vision for a "new" post-COVID-19 New York City at the Association For a Better New York's event at Cipriani's Financial District location.
Adams, 62, took the opportunity to forcefully stand behind the business community and let wealthy New Yorkers know he was on their side — a departure from his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, who famously took high earners for granted, and whose spokesman told billionaires to "kick rocks" during the early days of the pandemic.
"To continually attack high-income earners where 50% of our taxes are paid by 2% of New York … It blows my mind when I hear people say 'Leave,'" the mayor said.
Mayor Adams took the opportunity to stand behind the business community and let wealthy New Yorkers know he was on their side.William Farrington
"No, you leave! I need my high-income earners right here in this city," Adams emphasized, to applause.
Meanwhile, Hochul, in a preview of her upcoming State of the State address, said the current era was a "great opportunity" to make sure the beating heart of the city "never goes on life support," as she talked about reimagining the still largely vacant Midtown business district to make it more attractive to remote workers.
"I don't want to head into 2023 to 2030 and say, 'Boy, I wish we had done something sooner,'" said Hochul, 64.
Today I joined @NYCMayor and the New New York Panel's leaders, @RichardBuery and @DanDoctoroff, at @ABetterNY to talk about how we can make sure New York City doesn't just recover from pandemic, but that we build a city that works for everyone. — Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) December 14, 2022
"Take the same building that is 40% full, I'm looking at, can people live there? Can there be a childcare center there? Can there be a nice restaurant? Can we have co-working space? Can we just do something creative? Have a tech hub, you know, bring in dorm housing for students."
The governor also alluded to tax breaks for businesses and landlords in front of the biz-friendly audience of honchos, lobbyists and public relations operatives.
"There's a million things we can do, but I guarantee there's a barrier or law or regulation that says, 'No you can't.' And there'd have to be financial incentives because the conversion of office space, commercial space, into residential. Putting in all the bathrooms and the showers: It's expensive."
Gov. Hochul alluded to tax breaks for businesses and landlords.William Farrington
New York City was shelving vacant positions to cope with a $2.9 billion budget deficit and the mayor's pro-business rhetoric was a departure from past fiscal crises, in which the city looked to raise taxes to shore up its coffers.
Adams compared the current moment to the city's effort to build the Empire State Building in a year during the Great Depression, or lead the country's recovery after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"We are America's city, and the way goes New York goes America," Adams said.
"We were the epicenter of terrorism and we were the epicenter of COVID, but again we're going to get up. We're going to show the country why we are New York, and this new New York conversation is going to show how together we get all cylinders operating on the same engine to regain our economy, regain our city, and we leave no one behind."
Gov. Hochul said the current era was a "great opportunity" to make sure the beating heart of the city "never goes on life support."William Farrington
Both Democrats took many self-congratulatory opportunities to applaud the fact that they had a working relationship, unlike their predecessors, Andrew Cuomo and de Blasio.
Despite promising to announce a "combined recovery agenda," the politicians spoke in platitudes, not specifics, about ABNY's 159-page "'New' New York" plan, authored by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's former deputy Dan Doctoroff and Richard Burey Jr., CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation.
The unspecified plan was aimed at boosting office occupancy and subway ridership, which were only at 40% and 62% of pre-pandemic weekday levels, respectively. The loose agenda was reflected in meandering moments on stage.
Mayor Adams compared the current moment to the city's effort to build the Empire State Building in a year during the Great Depression.William Farrington
Hochul said that turning the page on the pandemic would give officials the chance to address "poverty, racism" and "wage gaps," while mentioning that she spends her weekends on the phone with Texas business owners trying to lure them to the Empire State due to New York's lack of abortion restrictions.
Adams repeated a frequent refrain of his, chiding the media for covering crime in the subway, which he claimed scares away people from the system, and insisted that the vast majority of commuters are safe.
He also renewed calls for Albany's bail reform law to be overturned.
"I will be honest with you, if we didn't have COVID, asylum seekers, crime, economic challenges, if we didn't have all these things, I wouldn't want this job. I want it because it's hard," he said.
"Winners want the ball when the game is on the line. Give me the ball."
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Blue sky ideas that are supposed to serve as Robin Hood platitudes really doesn't hide the fact that New York politicians depend upon the rich and will do anything to keep the rich in New York.
New Yorkers apparently believe that money makes the world go round. Why isn't this legalized prostitution for rich politicians? Who are Adams and Hochul really in bed with?
So... The Mayor of NYC and the NY Governor want New York businesses to do well? Sounds pretty good to me. How is this self interest on their part?
If you had bothered to read the article. They could give a rats ass about their rich and entrepreneurs. They don't want them to leave because they need their tax money to keep their bloated overspending going.
They are only talking in political abstracts on what they will do to make NY a better business climate. Don't want to be nailed down to anything concrete. I am sure they will blame Republicans when their non definite plans fail.
If they do manage to pass something taxes will have to be increased on those self same rich; because that is where all of the money is at.
I read it. It says the mayor and governor are considerably more moderate than their predecessors. It says they're open to consider tax breaks for businesses and subsidies for building owners for converting vacant office spaces to residential units. All stuff that the repubs would be supportive of if the article didn't read like a right wing op-ed.
Adams and Hochul are basing their arguments on the Laffer curve. Giving tax cuts to those paying taxes will magically increase government revenue.
What is being promoted are neoliberal ideas that depend upon the rich becoming the tax collectors for government. Hochul's idea of transforming commercial property to residential is intended to expand the tax base. Renters will be paying taxes as part of their rent payments; landlords will act as tax collectors.
Where do the rich get their money? From a magic money tree? No, the rich get the money to pay taxes by passing that cost along to consumers. These 'business friendly' ideas that favor the rich are really about increasing prices that provides government revenue. Consumers blame the rich for those high prices but the government is actually the driver for those price increases. Government taxes really are significant contributors to inflation because they depend upon businesses and the rich acting as tax collectors for government.
These tax the rich schemes only allow the rich to become richer. Consumers are the ones who are providing the money for those taxes. These neoliberal politicians are actually indirectly taxing the poor which allows them to blame the rich as a 'Robin Hood' platitude.