Arizona's immigration law boycotts will cost Phoenix $90M: city officials

[t0dd]

Source: NY Daily News


Phoenix is on pace for $90M in losses over five years based on lost hotel, convention and tourism traffic, according to city officials.

Backlash from Arizona's new immigration law could cost the Phoenix area a whopping $90 million in lost revenue.

Four major events have been canceled as calls for a boycott grow louder in protest of a strict law that lets police ask people for their citizenship papers, city officials told The Arizona Republic newspaper.

"We have an image and public relations problem of what might be unprecedented proportions," said deputy city manager David Krietor.

He's keeping an eye on 19 events at city-run venues, including the Phoenix Convention Center and the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel, that bring in about $90 million.

Four event sponsors have already canceled, including one scheduled for 2015, and several others have expressed concern over the legislation.

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the oldest African American Greek-lettered frat in the country, planned to hold its annual convention in July. Instead the expected 5,000 attendees will now head to Las Vegas.

Also at risk is the 2011 All-Star Game. Several politicians and even a few players are urging Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to change the venue in protest.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/05/11/2010-05-11_arizonas_immigration_law_boycotts_will_cost_phoenix_90m_city_officials.html

[stopbush]

1. At what point do the $ lost from "thur takin' our jerbs" look like a drop

in the bucket next to $ lost from boycotts?

[joeglow3]

6. I take it you never had your "jerb" taken by an illegal

As the son of a drywaller who had his "jerb" taken, I am willing to bet my life's savings you have not personally dealt with it.

[Xipe Totec]

8. I bet your father never had to deal with "No Dogs or Mexicans Allowed"

As the son of a truck driver who was born in Arizona, I'm willing to bet you haven't personally had to suffer from this kind of discrimination.

[joeglow3]

9. I never said I support the law

I am saying the facts cannot be disputed. Hopsitals are closing in Arizona. Border/drug wars are spilling into Arizona. It has become the kidnapping capital of the US. What other options do they have? Both parties have shown they will sit on their ass and do nothing. I have said I hope this law is never needed, as the US government will finally step up and do their job. Until then, I can at least understand the need to do something.

[frylock]

11. undocumented workers are not kidnapping people in phx..

nor are they shooting at sheriff deputies with AK-47s. what other options are there you ask? end this bullshit war on drugs for starters.

[dflprincess]

53. And end NAFTA

it's cost a lot of jobs on both sides of the border and has contributed to the drug wars in Mexico (which are spilling over into the U.S.) as people turn to the only industry that pays.

[CreekDog]

12. You never "said" you support the law...and you hope it "isn't needed"

this equals: you think (but won't say) that you think the law is a solution to a problem.

[joeglow3]

15. If it gets the Fed. government to do their job, you are damn right.

I see the Federal government continuing to do nothing. If this motivates them to follow our laws (or change them) and do their job, then, yes it will have led to the solution.

[CreekDog]

16. nice. Arizona SB1070 supporter, right here on DU

:hi:

[joeglow3]

26. Try again. Supporter of US law

8 USC Section 1304(e)

(e) Personal possession of registration or receipt card; penalties Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any artificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d) of this section.

:hi:

[CreekDog]

28. you said you supported the AZ law which goes farther than that

To uphold a law you support (the Federal one) you are okay with violating a citizen's rights under the US Consititution. Such a consistent position!

[happygoluckytoyou]

39. on that law which you cited.....

this law indicates that an ALIEN must carry such a card

it does NOT indicate that a citizen must carry such a card

which, though it is a law, poses the obvious question....
the police see someone (such as the truckdriver recently arrested) and ask for his ID
he shows a driver lic.... but is NOT carrying such papers

1) he is an illegal who is ALSO breaking the above law by not carrying such a registration card
2) he is LEGAL and is not required to carry such a registration card

AND THIS IS THE PROBLEM WITH POORLY WRITTEN LEGISLATION....

you now would have police inquiring of people because of their appearance to produce papers which they may not need to carry
BUT if they do not produce the papers, the police may detain them "awaiting" someone to produce such papers

[joeglow3]

46. So, you admit the Federal government has been negligent

We agree. Like I said, I don't want this law to go into effect. However, I am not saddened by the conversation it has generated and hope we can finally figure out what every other nation on the face of the Earth figured out decades ago.

[EFerrari]

67. Has it ever occured to you that every other nation on the face of the Earth

has not for two hundred years strip mined Latin America in every possible way, leaving people no fucking choice but to come north?

I doubt it.

[joeglow3]

69. I am glad you are willing to take my father's job and hand it away in compensation

Now, what again, are YOU paying for this compensation? I just find it odd that the people supporting almost always seem to be the ones least effected by it. I would respect your opinion if you held it AFTER losing your job and house as a direct result of illegal immigration.

[EFerrari]

70. You are misdirecting your anger. Get angry at the people who create this

situation, not the people who are suffering from it. Oh, and I have no full time employment and haven't for almost two years. Thanks for asking!

[joeglow3]

72. And do you support policies that led to you losing your job

I bet not.

And I support punishing the hell out of companies hiring illegals as well as the illegals. Neither party is innocent.

[EFerrari]

73. You don't have to bet. I already indicated that I didn't.

If you dump cheap corn in southern Mexico and starve out hundreds of thousands of people who used to farm there, this is what happens. NAFTA, it didn't only suck for Amricans.

[EFerrari]

66. Right. And that section is why the AZ law infringes on US jurisdiction.

[whereaminow]

49. That's why the boycott

If they are willing to cause so much collateral damage, then they'll have to learn to accept it. Two way street and all that.

[EFerrari]

64. The border has never been more defended than it is now

and ICE activity in AZ is up, not down.

[Teka]

13. What hospitals in Arizona closed?

Please tell

[joeglow3]

17. Holbrook & Florence for 2

Here is another great story on the rise in infectious diseases:

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2005/05/16/story7.html

[Teka]

21. This law makes it worse for infectious diseases

More likely to go untreated.

[joeglow3]

24. Why?

Hospital workers cannot and will not turn you in. However, by your own admittance, they are a large group using services they cannot afford. And yet, you think this has no impact on the survivability of hospitals (the VAST majority of which are not-for-profits to begin with).

[Teka]

27. Because of the fear factor

It makes them LESS likely to seek medical care.

And most Arizona Hospitals are for-profit, or big-chain Catholic hospitals

[Teka]

25. Florence reopened

http://www.pr.com/press-release/168994

And Holbrook - small, inefficient Hospital - not sure if illegals had anything to do with it's closing, but more the general uninsured population in the area (mostly legal)

[joeglow3]

29. Sometimes people don't want to accept it

Here is a 2002 article from the NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/25/us/hospitals-feeling-strain-from-illegal-immigrants.html?pagewanted=2?pagewanted=2

[Teka]

32. A EIGHT-YEAR OLD ARTICLE?

Wow...

[happygoluckytoyou]

20. YOU ASK WHAT OPTION THEY HAVE=====> =========>

There is indeed a NEED to do something.

DOING the wrong thing is NOT that at all...

I have not heard a single blog which says "there is nothing that needs doing"... and I have not heard a single blog protesting "doing the right thing"

WHAT I HAVE HEARD and what has no real defense is "well... we don't know what to do... and ain't nobody else doing nothing... so let's do the wrong thing because at least we are.... a) running real fast but in the wrong direction b) pretending we are doing something
c) looking crazy as a f'ing loon but we didn't have any other option
d) scaring away trade which as you see helps... nobody

WHAT OTHER OPTIONS DO THEY HAVE ?
The option of NOT doing the wrong thing.

DOING THE WRONG THING IS THE OPPOSITE OF DOING THE RIGHT THING.... and doing nothing sits somewhere inbetween

[joeglow3]

22. And what would that option be???

[happygoluckytoyou]

34. you contend......

15.
If it gets the Fed. government to do their job, you are damn right.
I see the Federal government continuing to do nothing.
If this motivates them to follow our laws (or change them) and do their job, then, yes it will have led to the solution.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
in 15. you contend that if this causes a "correct" solution, then you favor it.... basically the END will have justified the MEANS

i disagree with this---- which is as good as any, an ending to our disagreement, that we disagree on this will not change

the solution i offer is for a well crafted and correct law be followed
the solution just put in place is a poorly crafted law, a bad MEANS, and without regard for the result does not change it

NO CHANGE, to me, is a better solution than what i consider a wrong and poor attempt at a solution

be well amigo, i do hope arizona's result is a good one----

[joeglow3]

47. And no change is fine to you as you have no lost a "jerb" as a result

As someone who HAS been effected by illegal immigration I say it is VERY easy for someone who has not to lecture me on how I should support the very behavior that led to what my family (and countless other millions) endured.

Maybe I am jaded, but as a lesser of two evils, I see someone having to produce a document less of an issue than that same person losing their house, car, and living on the streets. Just me though.

[midnight armadillo]

37. Hospitals are being closed by illegal immigration?

Huh? They're closing due to our failing and pathetic health care system.

[Downtown Hound]

50. Hospitals are closing in Arizona because of illegal immigrants?

Sounds like a pile of shit to me. Care to back up that statement with any facts?

[EFerrari]

63. "Doing something" that racially targets American citizens

and does nothing to manage immigration is not doing anything at all.

Btw, crime is down, immigration is down, immigrants contribute to the economy and they don't commit more crimes than any other group. So, why is this law being passed now?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

80. No, of course you didn't.

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void)
{
        printf("Hello World\n");
}

[frylock]

10. i've been a roofer, a framer, and a landscaper..

so yeah, i've had my jerb taken by "illegals." but unlike 99.99% of the numbnuts who blame the immigrants, i place the blame on the employer, where it belongs.

[whereaminow]

31. Looks like tax cheatin' employers got you over a barrel

Ah.. but much easier to blame people who risk everything, their lives, everything for a bean taco and a cup of water. Yeah, I deal with it.. Someone "takes" "my" "jerb".. I go do something else.. being a bit nomadic can be a plus, but never once did I have to sleep at the Y, much less the streets because a "ferenr" "took my jerb". Now, if your city/state/federal bureaucracy makes it so difficult to strike out on your own, then you have an entirely different problem, totally unrelated to undocumented persons.

[dflprincess]

52. Then be angry with and demand the government do something about the employer

who hired the undocumented worker. People wouldn't be working here without a work permit if no one would hire them.

[midnight]

61. All are jobs are in jeopardy because of Nafta.

[MidwestTransplant]

2. I know an insurance guy in Phoenix. He said a big part of the weakness in the apartment market down

there is that lots of undocumented immigrants left when the economy started to tank and it created a domino effect. $90M in city revenue is the least of their problems. The other parts of their economy will bust more now that many more will leave.

[Ian David]

3. Hotels can recover business by booking people for "Protest Tours."

Advertise packages where you stay at their hotel, make protest signs in the ballroom, and they shuttle-bus you around to protest against the immigration law.

[pezDispenser]

4. And yet we're being asked to vote on raising our sales taxes

to keep the schools open.

[SoapBox]

5. Boycott, Boycott, Boycott!

Here is a list of AZ HQ'd companies:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Arizona_companies

Last weekend, at Walgreen's, I was in a rush and grabbed some bar soap...cheap, couple bars for a buck.

But when I got home, I remembered (and confirmed by the label)...Dial Corp...Scottsdale, Arizona.

I took it back and got a refund...It's a small thing but it is something I can do.

Boycott, Boycott, Boycott.

[OrderedChaos]

7. Make sure you Boycott anything to do with CA too

They passed their Prop Hate, which was givien to the people to vote on. They stole Gay Marriage away from us. Need to be fair about who we boycott.
Oh, but since that involved "teh Gays", I guess it doesn't matter.

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Downtown Hound]

51. As a straight Californian who sat down and blockaded and intersection in San Francisco

the day the State Supreme Court upheld prop 8, I say go ahead and boycott! I would love it if we got more support from those on the outside to help us overturn this grossly unjust law.

[ima_sinnic]

58. please, boycott Maine, too

I was so proud of my state when gay marriage passed -- and so disgusted when the cretinous a-holes voted to repeal --outside of Portland and the surrounding area up the coast to Bar Harbor/Ellsworth, Orono, Farmington (I believe), and a few other pockets of entrenched peace-loving hippie farmers, this state is quite backward and repuKKKelican. The Bangor Daily News always has the most ignorant-sounding LTTEs.

[Teka]

14. You know you are screwing over working families

Like a good friend of mine - good liberal Democrat - been struggling to make ends meet, as an independent lighting contractor. Lost a $3K job when a convention cancelled.

But if it makes you feel better.

So what soap did you buy? Did you check out THAT company? Was it based in a progressive state?

[whereaminow]

33. If you want your job back

Get them to repeal the law. You* voted for these people. Now you* will pay. The universe is in balance.


*editorial, ok? Gotta make sure you all get that striaght

[Teka]

35. So all the Democrats in Arizona are just collateral damage?

Thanks - great to know you care about us

[Name removed]

40. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Teka]

41. So caring of you

And what progressive utopia do you spend all of your money in?

Please tell us all.

[whereaminow]

42. If I am to follow your logic

I owe it to all the UAW guys to put myself in debt (to support those poor bank tellers), and go out and buy a brand new Suburban every two years, move 50-60 miles away from my work to join the real estate circus (won't somebody think of the agents?), so I can support the oil workers, and vote democrat simply because they say they're not republicans. I think not. I shall live debt free, walk to where I go, and vote my conscience, and let the chips fall where they may, and accept total responsibility for my own misfortunes.

[Teka]

43. you had logic?

So you are a master of SELECTIVE outrage then.

Gay rights? Nope, don't care about equality. US Workers? Screw'em

[whereaminow]

45. You are a strange cat

And those amazing powers of speculation in your post are duly noted. I shall pass it on to see what can be made of it.. I, for one, am fascinated..

You know, if you're not in Tucson, you should be. I really like it. It's very nice. Prettiest desert in the whole wide world, all the way down past Hermosillo..

[Teka]

48. I like my Phoenix desert

But Tucson is pretty, too

[boppers]

56. "what progressive utopia"? Portland, Oregon

Come on up.

Just don't identify as a Californian.

[Teka]

74. So Progressive that the State Constitution is far more hostile to US Citizens

That are gay, than SB1070 is to citizens of other countries?

I hope you don't spend any money in Oregon.

[boppers]

82. What?

Dude, you can't even *ask* if someone is gay here, as it could be grounds for a harassment lawsuit.

I live here, so I spend lots of money here, where do you come up with the contention that "State Constitution is far more hostile to US Citizens... That are gay, than SB1070 is to citizens of other countries?"

The mayor of our largest city is gay, and nobody's asking him for "proof" of his right to be here.

[dflprincess]

54. Unfortunately good people will be hurt

but when it comes to politics, money talks and when the people and business owners in Arizona start screaming loud enough about the economic damage this law is doing then it might get changed.

[ima_sinnic]

59. did the boycott of South Africa "screw over" South African blacks?

why don't you blame who is really responsible for ruining your state? the usual: corrupt, incredibly stupid, soulless politicians who make repressive and unconstitutional laws.
perhaps the voters (and business owners) of AZ will get a clue and elect people who are not bigoted a-holes, repeal that racist law, and also go after the employers who are exploiting undocumented people like slaves.

[happygoluckytoyou]

18. VEGAS WELCOMES Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity ! ! ! (thanks phoenix, VEGAS will rise from your ashes)

[ut oh]

19. F'ing Boo Hoo

Maybe they should have thought about this before they voted in this draconian measure...

I suppose now the Az repubs are going to want a bailout or subsidy for all that lost revenue...

[OrderedChaos]

23. No one "voted" for it (unlike in CA)

The State Congress created the bill and handed it over to the Governor. No elections (other than to get the jerks into office) occurred on this matter.

[CreekDog]

30. i'm in CA and I didn't vote for Prop. 8...why should i be boycotted?

But if you insist give me my freaking blue state income tax back and pay for your services with your own damned money.

[ima_sinnic]

60. all the more reassuring that the boycott will have its intended effect

since the people of AZ did not really have a direct hand in it, the loss of revenue combined with the negative and hostile publicity about their state should be motivating a lot of people to go into action to get the law tossed, and also to focus squarely on the employers who are exploiting poor souls like slaves.

[EFerrari]

65. It was people in AZ who called for the boycott, remember?

[ima_sinnic]

68. I think somebody upthread needs to be reminded of that ... (nt)

[Teka]

75. A few in Arizona

Most opponents of the bill, like myself, know the boycott will only hurt those most likely to have opposed the bill in the first place.

[EFerrari]

77. No, you don't know that.n/t

[Teka]

78. I do live here

Thanks

[EFerrari]

79. And? That isn't an argument.

[EFerrari]

62. And Brewer wasn't elected as Gov, either.

Although, truthfully, she may do less damage as gov than as Secretary of State where she was able to screw up the AZ voter roles and voting systems. Obama may actually have done AZ a favor although it doesn't look like it at the moment.

[Teka]

76. Obama/Napalitano FUCKED ARIZONA over

This type of legislation was predicted to pass now that the safeguard was gone.

[EFerrari]

81. Well, if the choice is between Brewer corrupting the voter rolls

and signing racism into law, it is a hard call. But it might be marginally better for her to be signing this sh!t that can be overturned than bumping legal voter off the rolls as she was doing.

[Egnever]

38. I said this yesterday :)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8307309&mesg_id=8307470

Well deserved in my opinion.

[Cha]

44. Good!

"Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the oldest African American Greek-lettered frat in the country, planned to hold its annual convention in July. Instead the expected 5,000 attendees will now head to Las Vegas."

[boppers]

57. Truth is stranger than fiction.

Remember the movie, "Revenge of the Nerds"?

I do. It was filmed on the U of A campus in Tucson, our family did lots of costume work for it.

In the movie, the Tri-Lambda group stepped in, and they were some hardcore AA dudes.

This is less dramatic, but it's the same point: Bigotry is not tolerable.

[alp227]

55. Well well well. SB1070 pandered to those who allegedly lost jobs to the undocumented

but ended up screwing over the state economy and giving Arizona a bad name.

When Arizona goes bankrupt, the people will be mad at those dumb pro-tax liberals who instigated this "boycott Arizona" trend.

[lumpy]

71. Will loss of MONEY triumph over acceptance of Arizona's

immigration law in Phoenix? After all, MONEY rules in the USofA.