Brooklyn: Acadia Realty Trust : Claim to Shame Acadia is slated to receive millions in subsidies to develop prime real estate in the heart of downtown Brooklyn. In return for public assistance meant to help distressed communities, the company is displacing locally-owned small businesses and Continue reading →

Hudson Valley: IBM : IBM Corp. has received hundreds of millions of public dollars, and most of this money comes with the simple request that jobs be retained or created. Instead, IBM has continued to slash employment in New York. Yet, the local IDA and ESD continue to grant the company new forms of financial assistance—with even fewer strings attached. Continue reading →

Capital District: A.G. Spanos Corp. : A top developer from out-of-state took advantage of tax breaks to build some luxury apartments, but then realized it should have asked taxpayers for even more. Continue reading →

New York City: Merrill Lynch : Bank of America and its wealth management division, Merrill Lynch are some of the biggest, most profitable financial institutions in the world. They returned our investment in them by cutting jobs and moving offices around the city. Continue reading →

Long Island: Marriott : Marriot is creating poverty wage jobs with public dollars. Marriot/ The Briad Group has cashed in on subsidies in Yaphank in return for zero jobs, and in Islip in return for 30 poverty-wage jobs. Construction has just begun on the Islip project with non-union, non-local labor. Continue reading →

Western New York: Carl Paladino : Active in New York State politics and a frequent and vocal critic of “big government,” Carl Paladino has received significant discounts on land purchased from the government, in addition to receiving tax breaks on nearly every one of his development projects. Continue reading →

Central New York: Bob Congel : The largest mall developer in the Northeast, Robert Congel and his Pyramid Companies, pitched New Yorkers on an ambitious mixed-use project that would become an international tourist destination. He sold Syracuse residents and no less than four subsidy programs on the project, then completed only one-third of the project and called it a day. Continue reading →

Finger Lakes: VWR International : Spurred by a greedy private-equity owner, VWR has engaged in job piracy in New York and throughout the country. The public is paying for consolidation and job loss, while development agencies are failing to hold corporations accountable to their job creation agreements. Continue reading →