Re: Voting Rights
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:18 pm
"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
Nature doesn't tolerate imbalances. We are part of nature...Farfromgeneva wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:10 pmI 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..PizzaSnake wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:54 pmEither 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.MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 2:56 pmGotta 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.Farfromgeneva wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 2:43 pm 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.
China has way more total human capital than we do, so we only 'win' strategically if we're much more efficient in that optimization.
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.Farfromgeneva wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:44 pmThis 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.jhu72 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 6:21 pm 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.
Thing is the old guard money may not care about losing Hollywood but it’s enough to push them out ultimately.
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.jhu72 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 6:21 pm 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.
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,CU88 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 02, 2021 10:56 am 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.
Blackstone Sees Film-Production Facilities as a Hot New Real-Estate Playjhu72 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 02, 2021 12:14 am Interesting article on the Hollywood - Georgia nexus and Hollywood reaction.
... 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 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 02, 2021 2:27 pmBlackstone Sees Film-Production Facilities as a Hot New Real-Estate Playjhu72 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 02, 2021 12:14 am Interesting article on the Hollywood - Georgia nexus and Hollywood reaction.
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]
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