Newsday from New York, New York • 53

Huge tax breaks new building 2 Silver also thinks Goldman Sachs will help hire tenants to Silverstein 7 World Trade Center and the planned Freedom Tower Goldman Sachs has a gleaming new tower in Jersey City that was opened in 2004 but elite traders and high-ranking officials objected to being stationed away from the heart of New financial district deserve said Bettina Damiani director of Good Jobs New York malm location decisions based on tax Many of its top employees are scattered around downtown including at its 85 Broad St headquarters One New York Plaza 180 Maiden Lane and other facilities Those buildings will go vacant creating a new glut of vacant office space real-estate experts say Silver and DoctorofF acknowledged that vacant office space will be created by consolidation but said they believe the office market could absorb it are pluses and minuses to the deal but the pluses far outweigh the Silver said rity traffic and other problems hampering World Trade Center rebuilding Parrott points out that it was lack of progress at Ground Zero and not a shortage of tax incentives that drove Goldman decision but now taxpayers will have to pay to keep the firm city and the state lacked commitment and able to point to any progress being made in redevelopment of lower he said Andrea Raphael spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs yesterday declined to comment on the discussions Goldman Sachs is expected to consolidate 9000 employees into the new building Deputy mayor for economic development Daniel DoctorofF declined to outline the specifics of the incentives but defended the negotiations as a proper use of the resources a $2 billion investment in a site that is directly across the street from the World Trade Center he said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) who has also been pushing for more attention to downtown said presence sends message to the rest of the financial community that Ground Zero downtown is a great place to UOOMKRG NEWS PHOTO If Goldman Sachs is handed a deal to consolidate offices to one site its building on Broad Street above may go vacant Goldman Sachs deal to build headquarters in Lower Manhattan critics decry incentives BY PRADNYA JOSHI STAFF WRITER City and state officials believe they are close to getting the high-profile Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs Group to recommit to building its new headquarters in Manhattan but critics say officials are giving away too much to make an enormously profitable firm happy Goldman Sachs reportedly will receive $L6 billion in low-cost tax-exempt loans in the form of bonds plus $150 million to $200 million in New York City and state tax credits if the firm agrees to build a new 40-story headquarters across the street from the World Trade Center site According to Good Jobs New York that deal would give one firm alone 25 percent of the $64 billion in liberty Bonds that Congress set aside to help finance commercial offices after the Sept 11 2001 attacks (another $16 billion is earmarked to build housing in lower Manhattan) Indeed Goldman Sachs is one of the most sought-after investment firms for graduates of the elite business schools and the firm reported pre-tax profits of $67 billion last year Goldman Sachs was originally promised $1 billion in tax-free financing for its $2 billion headquarters building that was to go up on a plot called Site 26 in Battery Park City directly across the street from Ground Zero However the Wall Street firm said in April that it was putting those 'plans on hold after it raised issues about secu In addition Goldman will be eligible for additional incentives available to businesses locating downtown including a five-year break on $6 million in commercial-rent taxes as well as $3000 a year for every employee that it brings in from other cities think it's very troublesome particularly that our elected officials are not mindful of the careful use of limited said James Parrott deputy director of the Fiscal Policy Institute a nonpartisan research organization that studies budget issues Strike at Big production BY ROBERT TUTTLE STAFF WRITER On the surface it all seems like a beautiful story A 6-foot dancing sloth lives with his friends a worried anteater a turtle with a map of the world on his back a marmoset monkey a catfish a quetzal bird and a frog in a great big tree high in the rain forest From their perch high in the canopy they can look out on the world below and learn about science and nature That at least is the gist of a new lie television show for children Production is going ahead and Kriegman said he is writing for a Big Big Kriegman has produced a number of programs including in the Big Blue and Explains It A central source of controversy relates to the nature of the program itself a Big Big World" is employing a technique called Snadowmation winch combines puppet ani-matronics with computergenerated animation The Writers Guild of America East has negotiated with studios industrywide pay standards for shows involving live actors said Mangan but not industrywide agreements for animated shows which tend to pay less arguing that Mangan said not animation highly sophisticated use of graphics and camera techniques but live Kriegman said he sympathizes with writers and wants to work out an agreement with the guild are going to make a he said said it all As for the strike he said its not stopping production but bothering the neighbors In the Hamptons I think that's appreciated out to said Mona Mangan executive director of the Writers Guild of America East But Kriegman counters that the pay he offered the writers was fair for a public television program He said he tried to negotiate an agreement with the Writers Guild of America East but the pay demanded by the guild was unreasonable As of yesterday the two sides remained deadlocked About a dozen writers and their supporters have been marching in front of the studio daily since Monday said Kevin Strader of Brooklyn one of the writers He added that they briefly took down their picket line on Wednesday after the Ken Scarborough 46 of Manhattan has a big ally as writers puppeteers told them picket yesterday at Wainscott Studios in East Hampton Kriegman himself a writer did not want to discuss specifics but said he wanted to negotiate a fair agreement with the writers from the beginning am a very guild-friendly writer and producer" he said Hu efforts were stymied he said by the insistence on $12428 per episode a rate he said that is rarely paid to public television writers even those working on higher-budget shows than his sounds like low but they are higher than Street he said called a Big Big being produced at Wainscott Studios in East Hampton But this big big world is turning into a big big mess Looking out from their treetop home the little animal can see angry writers marching in front of the studio with picket signs in hand The writers say they were originally going to be hired to write 40 episodes of the program scheduled to air on PBS early next year But they say the contract offered by Mitchell Kriegman the studio's owner foils well short of what is fair an enormous disparity between what people are normally paid in these circumstances and what he proposes.