The Buffalo News turned out to be the (almost) lone voice of reason in the rush to declare Mary Anne Rizzo (notorious NIMBY) Economic Enemy #1, when she supposedly, single handedly brought down a multi-BILLION dollar Verizon deal. (warning asshole alert)
Of course, if Verizon really wanted to put the data center in Somerset, it’s hard to believe that it couldn’t have made Rizzo an offer for her land with enough zeros in it that she couldn’t refuse it. Why let a few hundred thousand dollars stand in the way of a $4 billion project that’s already getting cheap power and other government incentives that work out to $3.1 million per job?
So maybe Verizon really never had its heart set on Somerset. Buffalo News 3/20/11
Yeah, maybe Verizon never was really serious about locating its server farm in Somerset. After all no corporation, in the history of corporations, has ever been know to play off one competing area against another, right? Or maybe buying an existing server farm business for way less money suddenly made the BILLIONS $$$ needed for the Samerset project look like a bad investment? Or Judges never give bad advice when they tell your lawyer that no environmental impact study is necessary? Or the coal fired electrical plant that you were depending on for 75% of your electricity, suddenly gets put up for sale?
Nah, it's one little old lady that brought the whole thing down.
