Brian Lehrer leads the conversation about what matters most now in local and national politics, our own communities and our lives.
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#AskTheMayor: Getting Over Amazon, Placard Abuse Crackdown, Commercial Vacancy Tax
Bill de Blasio, New York City Mayor, takes calls from listeners and discusses this week in NYC, including whether Amazon's decision to back out of the deal will impact future tech jobs, how the city plans to crackdown on illegal placard abuse and calls for a commercial vacancy tax.
"What Amazon did was arbitrary and… inappropriate given there was an agreement… they apparently wanted a situation where there was no dissent… if you want total unanimity, don’t come to New York City would be my advice to anyone," says @NYCMayor.
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) February 22, 2019Will Amazon leaving NYC impact future business deals?
"The rest of our business community works with the city by and large and understands why this is a great city... I think it was a lost opportunity but I don’t think there are larger ramifications," says @NYCMayor.
"We need a vacancy tax for commercial properties... they take the property off the market, demand a higher rent than they can get and it sits there… If a landlord does not rent out their property after a reasonable period of time they have to pay a tax on it," says @NYCMayor.
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) February 22, 2019