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New York Times, Kelo takings of property, and corporate welfare
Interesting... the present site of the NY Times headquarters building was obtained by having State agency condemn the land, evicting a mass of small businesses, and having the agency give the Times a 99 year lease for a fraction of its value.
Nobody tried to buy from the small businesses voluntarily; condemnation was cheaper than a voluntary transaction.
"''They never even came to ask if I wanted to sell,'' said Joseph Orbach, who has owned the 16-story building at 265 West 40th Street with his brothers, Markus and Sidney, since 1978. ''They're just taking it.'' There are some 30 tenants, including architects and engineers.
At a condemnation hearing on Sept. 24 and in later interviews, owners expressed anger that a large corporate neighbor, The Times, was getting the benefit of a fully assembled 80,000-square-foot development parcel at a price of $84.94 million, in addition to city incentives that may reach $29 million."
(Some say the tax subsidies will be nearer to $79 million). One architectural report explains, "The New York Times Company wants a headquarters building that befits its position in the media industry, in the city, and in the world." A Times spokesman explained it had a it had a duty to seek profits for its shareholders: "as long as these kinds of incentives continue to exist, it is incumbent upon us, as a publicly held company, to seek the benefit of those incentives for our shareholders."
I wonder how the Times would treat any other corporation's statement to that effect.... then, as Mel Brooks observed, "It's good to be the king!"
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Does the New York Times still have the Gatling guns they used to protect their building during the 1863 Draft Riots?
"The Bull's Head hotel on 44th Street, which refused to provide alcohol to the mob, was burned. The mayor's residence on Fifth Avenue, the Eighth and Fifth District police stations, and other buildings were attacked and set on fire. Other targets included the office of the New York Times. The mob was turned back at the Times office by staff manning Gatling guns, including Times founder Henry Jarvis Raymond."
Probably, they are ob Bloomburg's okay list so it should not be a problem for them to have them
Robert Brown, in "Defending the Indefensible", observes that
"The New York Times had three Gatling guns, a weapon more advanced than anything the Federal Army had at the time, and used them to deter a mob (which went down the street and instead looted the Tribune, the staff of which was presumably less heavily armed than that of the Times)."
Bloomberg loves being King of the City.