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May 13, 2009
Neighbors Use Food Stamps, but Not Costco
The NY Times
By Jim Dwyer
Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner plays a role in another controversy in NYC, this time over the big-box store in its new East River Plaza development that is happy to accept subsidies and use local streets for late-night deliveries, but won't accept food stamps:
This October, when Costco, the big warehouse chain, opens its first Manhattan store, it will occupy a brand new mall along the East River Drive at 116th Street that has been developed with $55 million in tax-free bonds and grants. The company will be eligible for millions of dollars in tax credits for creating new jobs.
But there’s one kind of government money Costco won’t take: food stamps.
That policy effectively cuts off more than 30,000 of its immediate neighbors in East Harlem, who receive food stamps.
...
Costco is moving into the site of the old Washburn Wire factory, which shut down decades ago, and is being developed as East River Plaza by a partnership of Forest City Ratner Companies and the Blumenfeld Development Group.The project received a $15 million economic development grant, and the city’s Industrial Development Authority issued $40 million in tax-free bonds to pay for a parking garage. The bonds will be paid back by the developer, but the lost tax revenue amounts to $10 million, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office
Posted by lumi at May 13, 2009 6:43 AM