美国国家公共电台 NPR This City Told Amazon And Google: No Incentives For You

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

It was rolled out like a rose ceremony. Who would be chosen to marry Amazon? Every city tried to make themselves the most attractive.

As we know, it didn't quite work out as planned. Activists¹ and local politicians in New York were not happy about offering big tax breaks to Amazon, and Amazon has pulled out of that deal.

As big companies continue to expand, one city in California says it's trying to do things differently. They're asking not what we can do for big tech, but what can tech do for us? NPR's Jasmine Garsd reports from San Jose.

JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE²: A few years ago, Joseph Chavez's (ph) parents had to do like so many people in San Jose - leave.

JOSEPH CHAVEZ: The prices are so outrageous⁴, we've got to move to the Central Valley to actually have affordable⁵ homes.

GARSD: Joseph stayed behind, but he says that like in most of the Bay Area, the cost of living in San Jose has skyrocketed, although it's still not as bad as San Francisco. People who live in San Jose tend to commute⁶ to other cities for work. Here's Mayor Sam Liccardo.

SAM LICCARDO: We're the only major city in the United States that actually has a smaller daytime population than nighttime population. And as a result, our residents spend a lot of time commuting⁷. We're right up there with the worst cities in commutes⁸. And, obviously, it drives up the housing costs. And so we get the worst of both worlds.

GARSD: Mayor Liccardo would like that to change. In 2017, when Amazon started looking for a city to house its second headquarters, San Jose threw its hat in the ring. Around the country, it became a circus. Cities did everything they could to lure⁹ Amazon. Many offered juicy incentives¹⁰. Chicago even got William Shatner to narrate¹¹ a proposal. But San Jose made a point of offering no subsidies¹².

LICCARDO: If you're offering incentives, those are dollars you could use to be building out transit¹³, to be helping¹⁴ supporting an ecosystem¹⁵ of talent development.

GARSD: This is exactly what many activists argued when Amazon ultimately picked New York for one of its second headquarters. Why does one of the wealthiest companies in the world get these tax breaks and incentives? It caused such a local outrage³, last week, Amazon announced it was pulling out.

LICCARDO: The lesson for cities really ought to be don't take the bait. And don't even offer the bait.

GARSD: Liccardo has also been talking to another tech giant, Google, which is headquartered in a town nearby. It wanted to build a campus in San Jose. Again, Liccardo says he offered no incentives. Rather, he says his government asked that 25 percent of the housing built around the campus be affordable. He says this will bring tens of thousands of jobs to the area.

LICCARDO: And they've also agreed that we can impose a fee on development in that area and throughout the downtown that will generate dollars we need for affordable housing.

GARSD: Google is planning to develop as much as 8 million square feet in downtown San Jose. Walking through the area, it lacks the allure¹⁶ of San Francisco or neighboring Palo Alto. It's not hard to see why some are so excited to develop it.

But, here in the Bay Area, that word, development, touches a raw nerve. Will development actually mean affordable housing? And all those shiny tech jobs that keep getting promised - how many actually will go to the locals? Jeff Buchanan is a policy director at Working Partnerships¹⁷ USA, a community labor¹⁸ coalition¹⁹.

JEFF BUCHANAN: So when you look at Google's workforce²⁰, only about 7 percent are either Latino or African-American. You look at the population of San Jose, and it just looks incredibly different than who it is that Google's actually hiring. Even if you're a student that graduates from San Jose State University, it ranks nowhere in the top 10 of the universities where Google recruits from.

And so I think when we've gone around and talked with people in the community, they don't think their kids are going to be able to work on the Google campus.

GARSD: Buchanan says, don't be fooled. The land that San Jose sold to Google could've been used for public works to serve the community.

BUCHANAN: Maybe we're not offering billions in tax rebates²¹, but we're offering really valuable public land in an area where land prices are going through the roof.

GARSD: Affordable housing is on everyone's mind out here. But Joseph Chavez, the man whose family had to leave San Jose because they just couldn't afford it anymore, says he's hopeful about all those new jobs Google will bring in. Chavez is in construction. He says he's worked on other Google buildings in the past. Maybe he'll get to work on the San Jose site.

CHAVEZ: More jobs means more opportunities. More opportunity means everybody gets to eat. If it pays well, you might be able to make it.

GARSD: Whether or not he'll be able to make it here after Google gets built - that is an open question.

Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, San Jose, Calif.

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

4 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

5 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

6 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

7 commuting   

交换（的）

参考例句：

• I used the commuting time to read and answer my mail. 我利用上下班在汽车中的时间来阅读和答复给我的函电。
• Noncommuting objects are as real to the mathematicians as commuting objects. 对于数学家来说，不可交换的对象与可交换的对象是一样真实的。

8 commutes   

上下班路程( commute的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She commutes from Oxford to London every day. 她每天上下班往返于牛津与伦敦之间。
• Barbara lives in Oxford and commutes. 芭芭拉住在牛津，通勤往来。

9 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

10 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

11 narrate   

v.讲，叙述

参考例句：

• They each narrate their own tale but are all inextricably linked together.她们各自讲述自己的故事，却又不可避免地联系在一起。
• He once holds the tear to narrate a such story to mine.他曾经含着泪给我讲述了这样的一个故事。

12 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

14 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

15 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

16 allure   

n.诱惑力，魅力；vt.诱惑，引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• The window displays allure customers to buy goods.橱窗陈列品吸引顾客购买货物。
• The book has a certain allure for which it is hard to find a reason.这本书有一种难以解释的魅力。

17 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

18 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

19 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

20 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

21 rebates   

n.退还款( rebate的名词复数 )；回扣；返还（退还的部份货价）；折扣

参考例句：

• The VAT system offers advantages, such as rebates on exports. 增值税有其优点，如对出口商品实行回扣。 来自辞典例句
• In more recent years rate rebates have been introduced for households. 近年地方税的减免已适用于家庭。 来自辞典例句