When the lockdowns hit as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, lots of people who had the means to do so, fled New York City.
Then the riots came, and another wave of people left. Governor Andrew Cuomo is now begging them to return.
Caitlin McFall reports at FOX News:
Cuomo calls on wealthy New Yorkers to come back to the city: ‘I’ll buy you a drink!’New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged wealthy New Yorkers to return to Manhattan as the coronavirus is now “under control,” to assist the city with the financial burden caused by the pandemic.Many New Yorkers fled the city at the height of the pandemic, the wealthy heading to their weekend homes in the Hamptons, upstate or in Connecticut, while others rented homes outside the city – leaving thousands of apartments across the city empty.The coronavirus has persisted for six months and is not showing any signs of easing, while a vaccine still seems at least several months away.“I literally talk to people all day long who are now in their Hamptons house who also lived here, or in their Hudson Valley house or in their Connecticut weekend house, and I say, ‘You gotta come back, when are you coming back?’” Cuomo said during a press conference earlier this week.
Sounds like New York City is hurting without its wealthy residents. Who could have guessed that would happen?
Bernadette Hogan of the New York Post has more:
Cuomo begs rich New Yorkers to leave Hamptons, return to NYC: ‘Come over, I’ll cook!’Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been begging rich people to return to New York City from their second-home retreats so they can pay taxes to help offset the state’s growing coronavirus-related revenue shortfall.“I literally talk to people all day long who are now in their Hamptons house who also lived here, or in their Hudson Valley house, or in their Connecticut weekend house, and I say, ‘You got to come back! We’ll go to dinner! I’ll buy you a drink! Come over, I’ll cook!’” the Democratic governor said Monday.“They’re not coming back right now. And you know what else they’re thinking? ‘If I stay there, I’ll pay a lower income tax,’ because they don’t pay the New York City surcharge,” he added, noting the wealthiest 1 percent of the Empire State’s population picks up roughly 50 percent of the state’s tax burden.
Meanwhile, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is helping in the only way he knows how, by making things worse.
New York City probably would have bounced back quickly after the Coronavirus crisis, but the destruction of businesses and looting during the riots changed the game completely.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY