MESSAGE
| DATE | 2020-12-13 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] City continues to die
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nypost.com
Jamie Dimon may be open to relocating chunks of JPMorgan Chase from NYC
Charles Gasparino
5-6 minutes
When Jamie Dimon took over as CEO of JPMorgan Chase 15 years ago, he
noticed something strange: Occupying the bank’s most expensive real
estate, with prime Park Avenue views, was a floor full of computer servers.
Dimon, according to JPMorgan insiders, asked why couldn’t those same
servers be located in, say, Columbus, Ohio, where the real estate costs
are much lower?
I can’t tell you where JPMorgan eventually put those servers other than
to say they aren’t located in the Big Apple anymore. And the same will
soon be said of many other banks and financial businesses now seeking to
move out of the once-friendly confines of New York City, which isn’t so
friendly anymore.
The trend has been a slow burn over the past two decades, but now it has
kicked into high gear thanks to COVID, spiraling costs and a feckless
political class that runs this city and state.
As reported last week, Goldman Sachs, known for its Democratic-leaning
and virtue-signaling leadership, is now looking to move a chunk of its
workforce to some of the reddest states in the nation, including Texas
and Florida. Brokers at several big firms tell me they are likewise
heading south.
“Charlie, get down here fast,” one (former) NYC financial adviser who
just moved to Florida told me. “I can walk down the street without
worrying about getting mugged, and I had dinner at a restaurant.”
It used to be said that New York City’s talent pool was second to none.
Now the banks are finding that smart people are in Texas, too, and a lot
of their top producers have no problem relocating to an up-and-coming
city like Nashville, Tenn., where the quality of life isn’t so bad,
particularly compared to the now crime-ridden streets of Manhattan.
Dimon, I am told, vetoed a plan several years back to move a swath of
the bank to south Florida because he didn’t think the schools were good
enough. Now he appears to have changed his mind and is considering
plenty of relocations outside New York City.
With a vaccine on the way, many big businesses are plotting a fuller
return to their NYC headquarters in the New Year. But don’t expect the
banks’ NYC footprint to ever match what it was. Banks are talking
staggered workweeks with some personnel going to the office just two or
three days a week, and office space is shared.
The out-of-state migration to cut costs will continue even with a
vaccine, because it’s simply too expensive to be in Manhattan, and the
banks have lost faith in the ruling political class to protect their
employees and provide their kids with a quality education.
That means tax revenues will plummet and budgets in the city and
surrounding areas will get worse, not to mention the massively
underfunded pension plans for municipal workers.
New York City, of course, has seen some dark times with its brush with
bankruptcy in the 1970s and high crime through the 1980s, and we
survived. But then again, we had a Rudy Giuliani waiting in the wings to
run things, which is why big business stayed.
Not anymore.
Power players’ outsider mayoral picks
Speaking of the next mayor, for NYC’s big businesses — think Wall Street
and real estate — the reign of comrade Bill de Blasio can’t end fast
enough. They see his inability to control crime, the bungling response
to COVID and his mishandling of school reopenings as secular trends that
won’t be reversed by the status-quo pols running to replace him next year.
That’s why they’re banking on a trio of outsiders to save the city:
Former Citigroup banker Ray McGuire; Shaun Donovan, a housing official
during the Bloomberg years and in the Obama administration; and to a
lesser extent former Dem presidential contender Andrew Yang.
Top executives, I am told, will do what they can to raise money to get
them elected. Both McGuire and Donovan have been in touch with their
contacts at these firms in recent weeks to consult on strategy and
fundraising.
As Fox Business’s Lydia Moynihan has reported, Yang is now telling
people he’s moving toward assembling a campaign staff and has turned
down a role in the Biden administration because he is highly likely to run.
Bankers tell me they are aware all three are long shots. Recall how
outsiders Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg spent years laying the
groundwork before officially entering the race through savvy PR and, in
Bloomberg’s case, spreading around a ton of cash to interest groups.
Neither McGuire, Donovan nor Yang has done anything on the scale of Rudy
or Mayor Mike. Meanwhile, they will be up against seasoned Democratic
pols in City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Brooklyn Borough President
Eric Adams with strong ties to the powerful city municipal unions.
As The Post reported, a recent poll showed that Yang matched up well
against both Stringer and Adams, but it’s still early so polling can’t
really be trusted. McGuire and Donovan barely registered in the poll,
which gives you an idea of their low name recognition.
In other words, the chances of a competent, business-savvy (albeit
progressive) mayor running the city following the 2021 election appear slim.
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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