Voting Rights

[Peter Brown]

"I have this liberal friend with mental health issues, and he got really into Fanlax, and I noticed spending a lot of time on here really made him do better on that front." -no one ever

[PizzaSnake]

That’s my dream. Why I fundamentally cant move very far left on fiscal and economic issues. Liberal democracy and the agenda of managed redistribution has its limits in Thai world we speak of.

Gotta remember that our system already 'manages' 'distribution' of the benefits of wealth accumulation to the advantage of those with legacy wealth, rather than actual human capital potential...and that's the fundamental 'economic' question: how best to organize government's involvement in taxation and public benefits such that our human capital potential is optimized.

China has way more total human capital than we do, so we only 'win' strategically if we're much more efficient in that optimization.

Either an orderly, managed redistribution, or a sudden, often quite violent one. Of course, any based on violence generally ends up in the same imbalance, just with different “winners”, and a lot of collateral carnage.

I have a buddy who’s a weirdo but good cat, structural engineer who lives in western N.J. recall after moving down to Atlanta end of 2009 chatting with this guy, Jim, and he suggests we could be heading for a revolution coming out of the financial crisis. At the time I’m like “youre f**king crazy. I hear you about inequality and other considerations but that’s beyond my imagination.” He wasn’t advocating or talking crazy in terms of guns lovers Rocky Mountain types just concerned where this was heading. Well I still think about that chat these days too often. Arguably Tea Party/Trump/Jan 6 (plus ACA killing the filibuster and Supreme Court stacking) is at a minimum heading in that direction if not the start of one..

Nature doesn't tolerate imbalances. We are part of nature...

I do not wish for this, but I suspect it is coming.

[PizzaSnake]

It just occurred to me, there is an obvious ally for the activists that we have not mentioned - Hollywood. Lots of TV shows and movies are made in Georgia. Country's biggest film production location and a favorite of Brian Kemp. He is forever crowing about this fact. Surprised they have not weighed in yet. Supposedly to add an additional 40,000 jobs once we come out of COVID.

This is actually going to be interesting to follow. As you probably know the remaining Koch brother has recently acknowledged buyers remorse for blindly funding Republicans for 20yrs. Add to this voting rights being a very libertarian cause. Throw on that the Koch brothers hated the film tax credit business. Got it shut down in one nearby state, can’t recall if it was FL, Al or another but know from a friend who plays in that secondary market that they have killed and throw money at ending those subsidies. They I’m told had already been looking at moving on Georgia a year or two ago. So if Hollywood is out on Georgia and the Koch’s pile on that could easily kill that industry here. Won’t be the end of the world for the city or state which is incredibly diverse economically but is a key growth driver on the margin and has an appeal that helps the net migration into the state to continue.

Thing is the old guard money may not care about losing Hollywood but it’s enough to push them out ultimately.

How correct is Tom Wolfe's "A Man in Full" depiction of the Atlanta/Georgia "old money" scene ? He was known for his keen eye.

[jhu72]

American Airlines, Dell, Southwest Airlines and AT&T have late today come onboard as a reaction to the Texas anti-voting law.

[Farfromgeneva]

Will have to read it, not familiar. I was in a social club called the Diplomats first 2-3yrs after I moved down to meet folks, lot of what I describe as the “Westminster backslapping club” most of whom have money leveraging their parents Rolodex and work in wealth management or real estate and get into each other’s deals which is easy picking in RE here last 25yrs. Had some fun, had one guy go “I don’t want any b**ches with and attitudes coming out here late as I’ll have to kick their asses out”, in the most pure southern drunken drawl from a dude named Stacey who went to Citadel and Goizeta, when a couple of the guys wanted to have girls they knew from local amateur ballet establishments in Atlanta while we did this overnight shooting and party weekend at a place called Burge Plantation, the oldest working plantation in the country and a private club. There’s higher level and dirtier stuff of course but this crowd was like the fun but dipsh*t kids or grandkids of the money. Another fun one was when a true buddy from the club comes out of the mansion we rented for a summer pool party (had a handful a year that were idiot dude blowouts) that was owned by this failing real estate guy known on real housewives of Atlanta as Big Poppa. Well, my buddy Jamie comes out with some Drinks and goes “I just walked into Big Poppa getting head from a falcons cheerleader”. Wasn’t supposed to be in the hosue that day as it was on the market by force but good story for my friend.

Eventually I had to get out of that crowd but that’s a lot of the 35-50yr old mood haired good natured guys with money I’ve seen. Excluding the transplant cohort.

[Farfromgeneva]

It just occurred to me, there is an obvious ally for the activists that we have not mentioned - Hollywood. Lots of TV shows and movies are made in Georgia. Country's biggest film production location and a favorite of Brian Kemp. He is forever crowing about this fact. Surprised they have not weighed in yet. Supposedly to add an additional 40,000 jobs once we come out of COVID.

Hey JHU, can you tell N.J. Bill to keep his filthy hands off my production subsidy. I mean what’s a little voting rights compared with John Corzine, Robert Menendez, Tony Kushner-the man created Jared!, the Situation, Trump Taj Mahal and a deficiency in left turns.


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WSJ NEWS EXCLUSIVE TRI-STATE AREA
New Jersey Woos Film Studios Amid Outcry Over Georgia’s Voting Law
Murphy sends letter spelling out state’s tax credits; major studios have largely stayed quiet over Georgia’s new law

Major studios have largely stayed quiet since the voting laws passed.
PHOTO: ROBYN BECK/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
By Joseph De Avila and Erich Schwartzel
Updated April 1, 2021 7:13 pm ET
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New Jersey is trying to poach movie and television studios from Georgia after the state passed a voting law that has drawn criticism from business leaders and some major corporations.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy sent a letter Thursday to major studios including Walt Disney Co. , Warner Bros. and Netflix Inc., offering them tax credits on up to 30% of production costs—equal to what Georgia currently offers. He also offered a 40% subsidy for bricks-and-mortar studio development, according to the letter viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The governor’s tax credit offering is the same as what is included in New Jersey’s economic-incentive package that the state Legislature passed last year.


In his letter, the governor also drew a contrast between voting rights in Georgia and New Jersey. Mr. Murphy signed a law on Tuesday authorizing early in-person voting to begin 10 days before Election Day for general elections. Georgia currently allows three weeks of early in-person voting conducted Monday through Friday as well as two mandatory Saturdays and two optional Sundays, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. He also called Georgia’s new voting law an “un-American” attack on people of color.

“They are going in one direction, and we are going in the opposite direction,” Mr. Murphy, a Democrat, said in an interview.


New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has sent a letter Thursday to major studios.
PHOTO: EDWIN J. TORRES/N.J. GOVERNOR'S OFFICE
Georgia’s law, signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp last week, includes stricter identification requirements for voters to use absentee ballots. The law limits how parties and voting groups mail out absentee-ballot request forms and caps the number of ballot drop boxes at one per county except for large counties, which can set up one box for every 100,000 registered voters.

In New Jersey, voters don’t need to provide a copy of their identification to cast votes by mail ballot except under certain circumstances for first time voters. Voters in New Jersey can also request a ballot to vote by mail for any reason. Each county in the state must maintain at least 10 drop boxes for ballots.


Mr. Kemp has defended Georgia’s new law as a necessary measure to give voters confidence in the state’s electoral system and to ensure that it is free of fraud. No court or legislative body has found evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

“While New Jersey just passed a law with these reforms, Georgia already has online voter registration, automatic voter registration and no-excuse absentee balloting,” a spokeswoman for Mr. Kemp said. “We also have a minimum of 17 early voting days, while they have nine.”

Several voting-advocacy groups have sued Georgia officials over the new law, and several Georgia-based businesses have spoken out against it, including executives from Delta Air Lines Inc. and Coca-Cola Co.


Georgia tax-credit package has attracted hundreds of productions, including ‘The Walking Dead.’
PHOTO: MIKE STEWART/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The film companies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Among the major production companies, only ViacomCBS Inc., owner of the Paramount movie studio and several TV production entities, has commented on Georgia’s new law. The company didn’t address whether it would pull any productions from the state. However, ViacomCBS said it would “continue to educate the public on the importance of an open and fair voting system through our programming and extensive partnerships with grassroots organizations.”



Over the past decade, film and TV production has departed Los Angeles for some states and countries around the world offering lucrative tax credits.

Georgia’s package, which offers producers a credit up to 30% on production costs, has attracted hundreds of productions since it was introduced in 2005, including numerous Marvel Studios epics like “Avengers: Endgame” and “Black Panther.” The years of production have established a robust supply of massive soundstages, crews of local workers who can handle big-budget work and the local nickname “Y’allywood.”

Georgia’s politics have clashed with the largely liberal leanings of Hollywood in the past. In 2019, a state law that restricted abortion access prompted some outcry among producers and actors but did little to change studio plans to film in the state.

Three years prior, then-Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a religious-exemptions bill after studios and other companies threatened to leave if it went into effect.

Major studios have largely stayed quiet since the voting law passed, though some actors and directors have said they would not film within its borders.

James Mangold, whose Oscar-nominated film “Ford v Ferrari” partially filmed in Georgia, said he wouldn’t return while the voting-law was in effect.

Write to Joseph De Avila at [email protected] and Erich Schwartzel at [email protected]

Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the April 2, 2021, print edition as 'New Jersey

[jhu72]

In other news, Microsoft has joined the parade due to Texas anti-voting bill.

[njbill]

No worries far. Once the studios get a peek at the scenery around exit 14, they’ll beat it right back to the Peach Street.

[jhu72]

Interesting article on the Hollywood - Georgia nexus and Hollywood reaction.

[seacoaster]

Good article examining the Georgia voting legislation:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/02/us/p ... e=Homepage

"Georgia has cut by more than half the period during which voters may request an absentee ballot, from nearly six months before an election to less than three.

This will almost certainly reduce the number of people who seek absentee ballots and the number of people who vote. In the last presidential election, 1.3 million Georgians — about 26 percent of the state’s electorate — voted with absentee ballots. Of those who returned absentee ballots in 2020, 65 percent voted for Joseph R. Biden Jr. and 34 percent chose Donald J. Trump.

The shorter window will also limit opportunities for get-out-the-vote efforts and could put greater strain on local election boards, which will have less time to process ballot requests.

....

Previously, Georgia law required voters to simply sign their absentee ballot applications. Now they will have to provide the number from a driver’s license or an equivalent state-issued identification. This is virtually certain to limit access to absentee voting.

The law also creates pitfalls for voters: If they fail to follow all the new steps, like printing a date of birth or in some cases including partial Social Security numbers, their ballots could be tossed out. Mr. Trump’s lawyers and allies urged judges and Republican officials last year to invalidate some ballots that were out of compliance. Stringent voter-ID laws in other states have depressed voting mostly among people of color.

....

Previously, Georgia law required voters to simply sign their absentee ballot applications. Now they will have to provide the number from a driver’s license or an equivalent state-issued identification. This is virtually certain to limit access to absentee voting.

The law also creates pitfalls for voters: If they fail to follow all the new steps, like printing a date of birth or in some cases including partial Social Security numbers, their ballots could be tossed out. Mr. Trump’s lawyers and allies urged judges and Republican officials last year to invalidate some ballots that were out of compliance. Stringent voter-ID laws in other states have depressed voting mostly among people of color.

....

For the 2020 election, there were 94 drop boxes across the four counties that make up the core of metropolitan Atlanta: Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett. The new law limits the same four counties to a total of, at most, 23 drop boxes, based on the latest voter registration data. The number could be lower depending on how many early-voting sites the counties provide.

There won’t just be fewer drop boxes. Instead of 24-hour access outdoors, the boxes must be placed indoors at government buildings and early-voting sites and will thus be unavailable for voters to drop off their ballots during evenings and other nonbusiness hours.

The measure is likely to have the effect of pushing absentee voters to return ballots through the mail, which in 2020 did not prove as reliable as in the past because of cuts to the Postal Service.

...

Last year, Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta, had two recreational vehicles that traversed the county during the early voting periods, effectively bringing polling sites to people at churches, parks and public libraries. In the November election, more than 11,200 people voted at the two vehicles in Fulton County.

Georgia has now outlawed this practice, unless the governor declares a state of emergency to allow it — something that Mr. Kemp, a Republican, is unlikely to do given that it could increase voter turnout in Atlanta.

....

These new strict rules on early voting hours are likely to curtail voting access for Georgians who work daytime hours or have less flexible schedules and who may be unable to return an absentee ballot.

The provision requires counties to hold early voting during weekday working hours — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. — and says it may be held for longer but may not take place before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m. on those days. The early voting period will begin four weeks before an election. The previous iteration of the law called only for early voting during “normal business hours” and left it up to counties to determine those hours.

The provision also adds a second required Saturday of early voting (the previous law required only one), which will increase access to early voting in most of the state’s rural counties, where election administrators have often been short-staffed and have offered fewer hours of early voting. Most larger counties in the state already offered multiple weekend days of early voting.

The law doesn’t require the availability of early voting on Sundays, which means that counties can choose whether to open for early voting on up to two Sundays before an election. While the previous law did not require Sunday voting either, it also did not impose any restrictions; the new law states that counties may offer only two Sundays of early voting.

Counties that choose not to open on Sundays would be limiting ballot access for parishioners at Black churches that have often organized parishioners to vote after Sunday services.

....

Perhaps no provision in the Georgia law has received more attention than this one, which effectively bars third-party groups or anyone else who is not an election worker from providing food and water to voters waiting in line. Republicans defended the provision, saying it is enforceable only within a 150-foot radius of polling places. Civil rights groups note that it also prevents assistance “within 25 feet of any voter standing in line to vote at any polling place.”

Long lines for voting in Georgia are an unfortunate reality, and are often found in the poorer, densely populated communities that tend to vote Democratic. During the primary election last June, when temperatures hovered above 80 degrees with high humidity, multiple voting locations across the state had lines in which voters waited more than two hours.

Numerous studies have shown that long lines deter people from voting. According to research by the Bipartisan Policy Center, an independent research group, over 560,000 voters did not cast ballots in 2016 “because of problems related to polling place management, including long lines.” In 2014, Stephen Pettigrew, then a Ph.D. candidate in Harvard’s department of government, conducted a study that found that more than 200,000 voters did not vote in the midterm elections that year because they had faced long lines during the 2012 election.

The new law does make it clear that it is legal for voters to drink from a water fountain, if one exists along the line to vote and provided they get the water themselves."

[Peter Brown]

Waaaaah, states want to be sure there isn’t any voting fraud.

Democrats prefer there be zero accountability when it comes to voting in America. ‘Any live body can vote, as often as they like’.

If you don’t understand why Democrats want chaos at the polls and at the border, I’m not sure I can help you.

[CU88]

April 1, 2021
Heather Cox Richardson
Apr 2

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The efforts of Republican state legislators in 43 states to suppress voting have made the rubber of Republicans politics meet the road of reality.

Republicans are pushing the idea that it is imperative to pass laws to protect the sanctity of the vote because their supporters are concerned that the 2020 election was stolen. But, as observers have pointed out, if they want to reassure their voters that the election was clean, the way to do it would be to tell them the truth: the election wasn’t stolen.

This reality has been established by Christopher Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the United States Department of Homeland Security whom Trump fired after he said the 2020 election was “the most secure in American history”; by former president Trump’s attorney general William Barr, who said that the Justice Department had found no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would have changed the outcome of the election; and by judges who dismissed more than 50 lawsuits alleging voter fraud.

Last week, Trump lawyer Sidney Powell claimed in a court filing that “no reasonable person” would believe that her lies about election fraud “were truly statements of fact.”

And yet, rather than admitting that Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election fairly, Republicans are claiming that they must relieve supporters’ concerns about the stolen election—a myth they, themselves, have created—by passing legislation that will suppress Democratic votes.

There seem to be a couple of things at stake here.

One is that, having riled up Trump supporters by telling them that the election was stolen, Republican leaders can’t very well now back down and admit that they were lying. So they are playing this charade out in the hopes that they can keep Trump supporters energized enough to keep showing up at the polls and to keep voting Republican.

The other, of course, is that Democratic wins, especially in Georgia, indicate that the Republicans must either change their political positions or get rid of Democratic voters. Since the one seems impossible to them, they are going for the other.

But the political imperative to get rid of Democratic voters is running headlong into modern America. Not only is 2021 more openly multicultural than the 1890s, when the previous avalanche of voter suppression kept poor people of all races and ethnicities from the polls, but also the people who approve of racial equality have way more economic power than they did a century or more ago.

Yesterday, more than 70 Black executives wrote a letter urging companies to fight the voter suppression measures under consideration in 43 states. “There is no middle ground here,” said Ken Chenault, the former head of American Express. “You either are for more people voting, or you want to suppress the vote.”

After complaints that companies had been quiet about the Georgia voter suppression bill, the chief executive officer of Delta Airlines, Ed Bastian, issued a statement calling the new law “unacceptable” and noting that “[t]he entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie: that there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 elections. This is simply not true. Unfortunately, that excuse is being used in states across the nation that are attempting to pass similar legislation to restrict voting rights.” Bastian condemned the “sweeping voting reform act that could make it harder for many Georgians, particularly those in our Black and Brown communities, to exercise their right to vote.” He pledged “to protect and facilitate your precious right to vote.”

Shortly afterward, the leader of Coca-Cola, James Quincey, followed suit with an interview on CNBC that called the law “unacceptable.”

After Bastian spoke, Georgia Republicans said they were caught off guard by his opposition. In the Georgia House, Republicans voted to get rid of a tax break on jet fuel that benefits Delta. David Ralston, the leader of the Republican Party in the House said: “They like our public policy when we’re doing things that benefit them,” then added: “You don’t feed a dog that bites your hand. You got to keep that in mind sometimes.”

That is, Republican lawmakers made it clear they are not legislating in the interest of the public good, but are instead using the law to retaliate against Delta after its chief executive officer criticized their voter suppression law. (The Georgia Senate did not take up the bill before the legislature adjourned.)

Similarly, Ralston told reporters he was now a Pepsi drinker, seemingly retaliating against Coca-Cola for its own opposition to the law.

A similar scene played out in Texas, where legislators are considering an even more restrictive bill that tries to end drive-through voting and 24-hour polling places, as well as giving partisan poll watchers more leeway to harass voters, including by recording them on video. Today, American Airlines announced it was “strongly opposed to this bill and others like it.” The company affirmed its support for democracy and called for making it easier, not harder, to vote. “Voting is the hallmark of our democracy, and is the foundation of our great country. We value the democratic process and believe every eligible American should be allowed to exercise their right to vote, no matter which political party or candidate they support.”

Tonight, the chair of the Dallas County Republican Party, Rodney Anderson, retweeted a statement cheering on the Georgia House for trying to strip Delta of the multimillion dollar tax break for criticizing the state’s voting bill. Then he suggested retaliating against companies that oppose Texas’s proposed voting restrictions by increasing their tax burdens. Within an hour, he had deleted the tweet.

In the late nineteenth century, southern lawmakers’ calculation that business would support voter suppression efforts would have been accurate. Indeed, southern lawmakers could suppress Black voting in part because business leaders across the country were happy to see poor voters cut out of political power, especially after the alliance movement suggested that farmers and workers might make common cause across race lines to change laws that privileged industry over ordinary Americans. When fourteen southern lawmakers defended their region’s suppression of Black voting in an 1890 book, they dedicated the work to “the businessmen of the North.”

The reaction of today’s business leaders to new voter suppression measures suggests that the old equation in which businessmen want to get rid of Black and poor voters is no longer so clear. While businesses undoubtedly like preferential treatment, they now answer to a broader constituency than they did a century or more ago, and that constituency does not necessarily support voter suppression. Today, Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, which is developing a hub in Atlanta, took a stand against the new Georgia election law. He wrote: “We hope that companies will come together and make clear that a healthy business requires a healthy community. And a healthy community requires that everyone have the right to vote conveniently, safely, and securely.”

In 1890, southern white leaders promised the North that voter suppression would make the South bloom. They were wrong: by concentrating wealth and power among a few white leaders, it kept the South mired in poverty for at least two generations. Rejecting voter suppression this time around could write an entirely different story.

[Peter Brown]

Democrats sure do hate voting laws that make voting more trustworthy.

Anyone want to guess why?

[CU88]

When We all Vote

Washington, D.C. is the seat of our nation’s capital and is also the home to over 712,000 of our nation’s citizens. You may not be aware, but while D.C. residents pay federal taxes, serve on juries and in the U.S. military, start businesses and contribute to the national economy, they are still denied full rights and representation in Congress, despite paying more in taxes than 22 states.

The residents of D.C. have long fought for more representation, and this past January, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act was introduced in the House of Representatives. This legislation would admit the state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth -- a new name in honor of Frederick Douglass, a leader in the abolitionist movement -- and provide the 712,000 residents of D.C. with full representation in Congress.

The fight for D.C. statehood is a vital part of the fight for equality and voting rights across our country, and D.C. residents need our help in their movement for statehood.

Take action now and call your Members of Congress to urge them to support the Washington, D.C. Admission Act >>

Then, read on to learn more about why D.C. statehood matters and how you can help make it a reality.

What would statehood do for D.C.? Why is statehood important?
Currently, D.C. elects a non-voting Delegate to the US House of Representatives who can draft legislation but cannot vote. They do not have a vote in the Senate, despite having a larger population than Wyoming and Vermont. On issues from civil rights to health care to education, D.C. residents have no vote in Congress to be their voice. Residents of D.C. deserve a voice, a vote in Congress, and control over their local laws. Statehood is the only remedy that provides full representation in Congress for the residents of Washington, D.C.

What does D.C. statehood have to do with voting rights and equality?
With a majority Black and brown population, the fight for D.C. Statehood cannot be separated from the fight for racial justice. Denying equal voting rights and full representation to a city that is predominantly Black and brown only exacerbates racial inequality in this country.

How does the statehood process work? How can we support D.C. in its fight for statehood?
If passed through the House and the Senate, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act would admit the state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth into the union, providing D.C. residents with full representation in our democracy. D.C. residents would have a voting representative in the House and two senators.

When We All Vote urges Congress to act swiftly to pass H.R. 51 and grant statehood to Washington, D.C. Congress can no longer continue to exercise undemocratic authority over the American citizens who reside in our nation’s capital.

[MDlaxfan76]

When We all Vote

Washington, D.C. is the seat of our nation’s capital and is also the home to over 712,000 of our nation’s citizens. You may not be aware, but while D.C. residents pay federal taxes, serve on juries and in the U.S. military, start businesses and contribute to the national economy, they are still denied full rights and representation in Congress, despite paying more in taxes than 22 states.

The residents of D.C. have long fought for more representation, and this past January, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act was introduced in the House of Representatives. This legislation would admit the state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth -- a new name in honor of Frederick Douglass, a leader in the abolitionist movement -- and provide the 712,000 residents of D.C. with full representation in Congress.

The fight for D.C. statehood is a vital part of the fight for equality and voting rights across our country, and D.C. residents need our help in their movement for statehood.

Take action now and call your Members of Congress to urge them to support the Washington, D.C. Admission Act >>

Then, read on to learn more about why D.C. statehood matters and how you can help make it a reality.

What would statehood do for D.C.? Why is statehood important?
Currently, D.C. elects a non-voting Delegate to the US House of Representatives who can draft legislation but cannot vote. They do not have a vote in the Senate, despite having a larger population than Wyoming and Vermont. On issues from civil rights to health care to education, D.C. residents have no vote in Congress to be their voice. Residents of D.C. deserve a voice, a vote in Congress, and control over their local laws. Statehood is the only remedy that provides full representation in Congress for the residents of Washington, D.C.

What does D.C. statehood have to do with voting rights and equality?
With a majority Black and brown population, the fight for D.C. Statehood cannot be separated from the fight for racial justice. Denying equal voting rights and full representation to a city that is predominantly Black and brown only exacerbates racial inequality in this country.

How does the statehood process work? How can we support D.C. in its fight for statehood?
If passed through the House and the Senate, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act would admit the state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth into the union, providing D.C. residents with full representation in our democracy. D.C. residents would have a voting representative in the House and two senators.

When We All Vote urges Congress to act swiftly to pass H.R. 51 and grant statehood to Washington, D.C. Congress can no longer continue to exercise undemocratic authority over the American citizens who reside in our nation’s capital.

Yup, this is another of the measures that Congress could take that would move democracy forward...big consumer corporations are likely to be called upon to support this one too,

[Farfromgeneva]

Interesting article on the Hollywood - Georgia nexus and Hollywood reaction.

Blackstone Sees Film-Production Facilities as a Hot New Real-Estate Play
The company wants to own the places where Amazon, Apple and others are making content

Sunset Bronson Studios is one of the properties now part-owned by Blackstone Group.
PHOTO: HUDSON PACIFIC PROPERTIES
By Konrad Putzier
June 29, 2020 8:30 am ET
Real-estate investors at Blackstone Group Inc. are getting into show business.

They are doing it not by making movies or TV shows themselves, but by acquiring stakes in the production facilities and other real estate where companies like Netflix Inc. and the Walt Disney Co. are creating content.

Blackstone on Sunday took its biggest step in this direction when the New York investment firm signed a deal to take a 49% stake in a venture that will own three film-studio lots and five adjacent office buildings in Hollywood, Calif., valuing the properties at $1.65 billion.

The studios’ current owner, Hudson Pacific Properties Inc., or HPP, will keep a 51% stake in the venture and will continue managing the properties, which include the Sunset Bronson, Sunset Gower and Sunset Las Palmas studios, the companies said. Netflix, CBS and Walt Disney are among the facilities’ customers, according to HPP.

Film studios and production facilities have become hot commodities as Netflix, Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. compete for streaming customers and race to produce more original movies and shows. Blackstone also owns a portfolio of office buildings in Burbank, Calif., with media tenants like Disney, Warner Bros Entertainment Inc. and NBCUniversal Media LLC.


Blackstone sees content production as a booming industry in which supply is highly constricted, said Nadeem Meghji, Blackstone’s head of real estate for the Americas.

“We think this is really a long-term trend,” Mr. Meghji said. “We’re thematic investors and focus on sectors with strong tailwinds, and content creation is a prime example.”

Blackstone’s partnership with HPP is the latest sign that one of the world’s largest real-estate owners is expanding beyond traditional bricks-and-mortar buildings, embracing properties more closely tied to online commerce and content creation.

The firm has already been loading up on industrial warehouses that often serve as distribution centers for e-commerce. Logistics represented about one-third of Blackstone’s global real-estate portfolio in the first quarter, up from only 2% in 2010, according to the firm.


It has been moving in the opposite direction with retail properties and hotels, which in the first quarter accounted for less than 15% of the global portfolio, compared with about half in 2010, Blackstone said.

Those shifts are in line with how some of Blackstone’s peers have also been recalibrating their property investing. But the firm’s move into production facilities is effectively carving out a new and untested category for large global real-estate investors.

“There just aren’t that many people in the studio game,” said John Tronson, a Los Angeles-based principal at real-estate brokerage firm Avison Young.

Some say that is for good reason. The business is far from easy. Studio owners are expected to offer a range of services, such as security and information technology, often on short notice. Contracts with production companies can be as short as one month, meaning revenues can fall quickly if customers stay away.

“This is not really real estate,” said Doug Steiner, chairman of Steiner Studios, a film studio in Brooklyn. “We like to say it’s like a boutique hotel serving a particular industry.”


Still, Mr. Tronson said he expects demand for film studios to continue to increase while supply is limited.

There is little land to build on in cities like Los Angeles and New York, and studio owners often struggle to compete for the few available sites with apartment or office developers. Film studios are typically single-story buildings, and some properties have been torn down to build multistory office or apartment properties.

“There is actually an attrition of a lot of these studios,” Mr. Tronson said.

Outside of Hollywood, the market for production facilities has heated up as tax-incentive programs drive crews to new states and countries, and the number of movies and TV shows made each year rises. A construction boom for production facilities followed the implementation of Georgia’s popular tax-credit program, which offers a rebate of up to 30% on TV shows and movies that film in the state.

What’s more, the rise of streaming services has led to a glut in programming—and a shortage of available soundstages to make it in. Netflix has built its own production hub in Albuquerque to mitigate that shortage, and Disney in 2019 signed a long-term lease with Pinewood Group, outside London, to ensure it would have shooting space at the facilities for several years.

HPP chief executive Victor Coleman said about half the studio space is leased out to production companies for terms of three or more years. Rental income at his studios has been growing for the past decade, he added, and Blackstone and HPP plan to expand their joint portfolio and are eyeing investments in cities like Vancouver, New York and London.

For now, most film studios are closed because of the pandemic. But Mr. Meghji expects more companies will want to lease film studios once productions resume.

“There is pent-up demand to create new content,” he said.

—Erich Schwartzel contributed to this article.

Write to Konrad Putzier at [email protected]

Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the June 30, 2020, print edition as '.'

[Peter Brown]

Hollywood will blacklist Georgia but continue to film in China.

Libs and consistency. Like oil and water.

[jhu72]

Interesting article on the Hollywood - Georgia nexus and Hollywood reaction.

Blackstone Sees Film-Production Facilities as a Hot New Real-Estate Play
The company wants to own the places where Amazon, Apple and others are making content

Sunset Bronson Studios is one of the properties now part-owned by Blackstone Group.
PHOTO: HUDSON PACIFIC PROPERTIES
By Konrad Putzier
June 29, 2020 8:30 am ET
Real-estate investors at Blackstone Group Inc. are getting into show business.

They are doing it not by making movies or TV shows themselves, but by acquiring stakes in the production facilities and other real estate where companies like Netflix Inc. and the Walt Disney Co. are creating content.

Blackstone on Sunday took its biggest step in this direction when the New York investment firm signed a deal to take a 49% stake in a venture that will own three film-studio lots and five adjacent office buildings in Hollywood, Calif., valuing the properties at $1.65 billion.

The studios’ current owner, Hudson Pacific Properties Inc., or HPP, will keep a 51% stake in the venture and will continue managing the properties, which include the Sunset Bronson, Sunset Gower and Sunset Las Palmas studios, the companies said. Netflix, CBS and Walt Disney are among the facilities’ customers, according to HPP.

Film studios and production facilities have become hot commodities as Netflix, Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. compete for streaming customers and race to produce more original movies and shows. Blackstone also owns a portfolio of office buildings in Burbank, Calif., with media tenants like Disney, Warner Bros Entertainment Inc. and NBCUniversal Media LLC.


Blackstone sees content production as a booming industry in which supply is highly constricted, said Nadeem Meghji, Blackstone’s head of real estate for the Americas.

“We think this is really a long-term trend,” Mr. Meghji said. “We’re thematic investors and focus on sectors with strong tailwinds, and content creation is a prime example.”

Blackstone’s partnership with HPP is the latest sign that one of the world’s largest real-estate owners is expanding beyond traditional bricks-and-mortar buildings, embracing properties more closely tied to online commerce and content creation.

The firm has already been loading up on industrial warehouses that often serve as distribution centers for e-commerce. Logistics represented about one-third of Blackstone’s global real-estate portfolio in the first quarter, up from only 2% in 2010, according to the firm.


It has been moving in the opposite direction with retail properties and hotels, which in the first quarter accounted for less than 15% of the global portfolio, compared with about half in 2010, Blackstone said.

Those shifts are in line with how some of Blackstone’s peers have also been recalibrating their property investing. But the firm’s move into production facilities is effectively carving out a new and untested category for large global real-estate investors.

“There just aren’t that many people in the studio game,” said John Tronson, a Los Angeles-based principal at real-estate brokerage firm Avison Young.

Some say that is for good reason. The business is far from easy. Studio owners are expected to offer a range of services, such as security and information technology, often on short notice. Contracts with production companies can be as short as one month, meaning revenues can fall quickly if customers stay away.

“This is not really real estate,” said Doug Steiner, chairman of Steiner Studios, a film studio in Brooklyn. “We like to say it’s like a boutique hotel serving a particular industry.”


Still, Mr. Tronson said he expects demand for film studios to continue to increase while supply is limited.

There is little land to build on in cities like Los Angeles and New York, and studio owners often struggle to compete for the few available sites with apartment or office developers. Film studios are typically single-story buildings, and some properties have been torn down to build multistory office or apartment properties.

“There is actually an attrition of a lot of these studios,” Mr. Tronson said.

Outside of Hollywood, the market for production facilities has heated up as tax-incentive programs drive crews to new states and countries, and the number of movies and TV shows made each year rises. A construction boom for production facilities followed the implementation of Georgia’s popular tax-credit program, which offers a rebate of up to 30% on TV shows and movies that film in the state.

What’s more, the rise of streaming services has led to a glut in programming—and a shortage of available soundstages to make it in. Netflix has built its own production hub in Albuquerque to mitigate that shortage, and Disney in 2019 signed a long-term lease with Pinewood Group, outside London, to ensure it would have shooting space at the facilities for several years.

HPP chief executive Victor Coleman said about half the studio space is leased out to production companies for terms of three or more years. Rental income at his studios has been growing for the past decade, he added, and Blackstone and HPP plan to expand their joint portfolio and are eyeing investments in cities like Vancouver, New York and London.

For now, most film studios are closed because of the pandemic. But Mr. Meghji expects more companies will want to lease film studios once productions resume.

“There is pent-up demand to create new content,” he said.

—Erich Schwartzel contributed to this article.

Write to Konrad Putzier at [email protected]

Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the June 30, 2020, print edition as '.'

... I recognize this. Seems to be a lot of folks that want to control / own content but don't want to be in the business of technical production. Would think it would be an expanding business. COVID has probably helped convince people this is a better business model. The Georgia facility is expecting to hire an additional 40K when COVID lockdown ends.

[Farfromgeneva]

A guy I know circled up some money and started something of an interesting business of effectively leasing/sharing production equipment. Conceptually Uber is brililant in that it increases the capacity utililzation of expensive, longer lived assets which sit unproductively 20+ of the 24hrs a day. Some of this equipment is expensive and apparently many camera and other crew are small indpendent businesses (LLCs), so he's trying to move the equipment around among this group to keep the equipment being used heavily. Not sure how this is better than small ticket equipment leasing or straight up ABL/Non bank lender cost of money but my point is the production machine has a lot of moving parts.

The issue with film production studios is it's more of an operating business with shorter term "leases" and so you have to manage occupancy a lot more. The benefit is in this economy you can finance it like you have 10-20yr leases with the GSA so you can buy prooperties that sell cheaper because of the volatility of the cash flows but finance it like a more stable NYC apartment bldg.

Also, with rents above what basically high end warehouse space would run, what happens to these assets like the one Tyler Perry got a piece of (huge OPM guy, owns a ton of intellectual and hard assets for providing his name but never puts his own dough up) and Blackstone have acquired or invested heavily in if the production moves out of state?

[Farfromgeneva]

No worries far. Once the studios get a peek at the scenery around exit 14, they’ll beat it right back to the Peach Street.

If not I imagine they'll give up by the 14th toll booth stop to go 5 miles on the GSP...