Protests and Rhetoric Could Drive Investment Away From New York

0:00 Speaker 1 Sunday morning with us his Governor David Patterson. Well, Governor, what is on your mind this Sunday morning? Is so many things happening?

0:08 Speaker 2 Well, there’s so many things happening. And eleven days ago, which was tax Day, Zoron Mondani went to Central Park South in front of the building where the great developer Ken Griffin lives and had a press conference talking about how we’re taxing the rich now. Number one, they went to his home, as they would say in The Godfather,

0:30 which is a very dangerous thing to be doing right now, with all of the attempts on people’s lives and the strange activities that go on to expose someone else’s addresses. Is terrible. The second thing that’s wrong is that he is adding to the problem that developers are now going to start thinking about developing any place else than New

0:52 York City. And mister Griffin’s the man who runs his hedge fund, which is worth sixty seven billion, his name is Gerald Beeson, and he said they are looking to not develop in that particular area which would have produced or could still produce six thousand construction jobs and fifteen thousand permanent jobs. This is real stuff that New Yorkers

1:20 could benefit from and for the mayor to get up and act. You know, this was a student protest. I’d understand it and see him as purel and callow. But apparently, even at his age, he’s still that way. There was no reason to attack anyone in that respect. And by the way, of all the donors in the world, the

1:42 one who’s given the most to causes is Ken Griffin. I guess he’s left that out of his commentary. The other thing he did is he vetoed the city council bill that would restrict individuals to twenty five feet in front of church and synagogues, religious institutions, or places where people go to seek some type of sovereignty. I certainly hope,

2:09 and I hope you do too, John, that the city council will override that detO.

2:15 Speaker 1 Well, I’m sure the city Council is going to override that veto. So the question is was he playing the violin to his supporters knowing that the city council is going to override a veto?

2:28 Speaker 2 I mean, what I always thought created a great leader is when he goes against what most of his followers think because of what’s right. But clearly this guy gets up in the morning and I don’t know who’s talking to him, but whatever it is, some of the things that he’s doing are going to cause the city problems

2:49 for years to come understood.

2:52 Speaker 1 What else is on your mind, Governor.

2:56 Speaker 2 Well, we’re moving into the spring now, and that means we’re moving into kind of like the primary season. But I don’t think much will go on. I don’t think Governor Hokle even is going to have a primary. Tom DiNapoli, the controller, he’ll be fine. But I think what we’ve got to start thinking about really is how we are

3:19 going to get the city and the state to work together when you see the threats that are being made about not doing anything unless we tax the rich and that kind of thing, and it really is a tired sort of argument to make and one that really kind of disdains the process. And I’m just hoping that clearer

3:45 minds prevail in the next few months.

3:48 Speaker 1 Governor David Patterson, thank you for your input and we’ll talk again.

3:51 Speaker 2 Russell, you got a job