irwinmaurice

macxpress said:

So basically, he wants Apple with all of its BILLIONS of dollars to pay 100% of Cupertino's taxes. I mean Apple could have easily chosen to build its new headquarters elsewhere. Maybe some of these issues should have been brought up BEFORE they approved of Apple Campus 2 being approved by the city. Were they afraid to say no to Steve Jobs in the first place???

its not like Apple is bullying the city to get out of paying taxes. Sounds like poor planning on the city's part for all of these projects and the mayor wants Apple to pay for it because it has the money to do so. 

Funny how everyone seems to think they deserve a small portion of Apple's cash...

Thing is Apple clearly does impact the community both Pro -- housing, shopping, gas, coffee, essentially the halo effect of one employer having so many emplyees, visitors, 2nd tier contractors/consultants on site regularly, and Con -- traffic, congestion, infrastructure (public utilities).   The impact of such a large company is not always about the tax dollars into the community's coffers.

While Cupertino most certainly appreciates the income from higher property values, sales tax, and all the additional fiscal benefits, it would appear they failed to account for the additional strain the new campus would place on its ever aging infrastructure.  Community Development departments are notoriously spineless and cave routinely to the pressures of politicians/residents/other businesses to give in rather than require an assessment of the added strain on existing transportation and municipally owned facilities (water / sewer/ electric).

The mayor suddenly having an epiphany in regards to the needed update/upkeep of these facilities is what seems to be causing the stir.  The need is real and not imagined.  If studied and and any shortcomings addressed or requested at the time of the initial permitting process, I doubt this would be such a heated point of discussion.