In yet more proof that tech jobs will come to New York City without massive special subsidies, Google on Monday announced plans to double its presence here, to 14,000 jobs.
What a contrast to the Amazon deal, where Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo ponied up $3 billion in various subsidies to lure 25,000 jobs over the same 10-year period.
Another data point: Apple last week dropped national expansion plans that include adding several hundred jobs in . . . the Big Apple.
Then again, the local tech industry already employs 320,000 New Yorkers, reports the city Economic Development Corp.
Piece by piece, Google is slowly assembling a “campus” by Hudson Square; even before the lease and purchase plans it just announced, it had already moved to buy the nearby Chelsea Market building and lease new space at Pier 57.
That won’t give it a self-contained “zone” like the one Amazon will have in Long Island City, nor its own heliport — but workers (and neighbors) will likely take that as a plus: Cut-off fortresses are no fun for anyone.
And fitting in with a vibrant city is part of what makes New York attractive to tech firms, along with a good amount of local talent and that whole finance-capital-of-the-world thing. (Google intends the Hudson Square Campus to be the center of its global business organization, though it’ll have plenty of other functions.)
Bottom line: New York is better off relying on its natural advantages to attract employers, and should quit offering special deals in the name of jobs. That’s a game for rubes.