American Greetings has repeatedly said that that Brooklyn's income tax increase was one of numerous factors it considered in choosing Westlake, but some residents still blame city officials for letting the company leave.
View full sizeThe City of Brooklyn has been home to American Greetings' corporate headquarters for 53 years. BROOKLYN, Ohio -- Residents took turns Monday night attacking and defending Mayor Richard Balbier and City Council members for American Greetings Corp.'s decision to leave Brooklyn for Westlake.
The City Council meeting was the first since American Greetings executives announced Friday that they were moving the company's world headquarters to Westlake's Crocker Park in 2014.
Mary Lee Bowen blamed city leaders for promoting a 25-percent increase in the city income tax in May 2009, which she said drove the city's largest employer to move its world headquarters and nearly 2,000 employees elsewhere.
"What you have done was irresponsibly push for the tax increase without responsibly warning voters that increased taxes may well drive business out of our city and would most likely prevent new businesses from coming into our city," Bowen said.
Others, such as Ken Demchik, jumped to defend the city leaders.
"This wasn't the mayor's fault, this is not the City Council's fault," he said. "The deck was stacked against all of the people up here . . . and everybody else in the city of Brooklyn."
"This is about corporate greed," he said, referring to the fact that the company moved to the Crocker Park development, where the company-controlling Weiss family has a minority stake, after getting state tax credits, grants and other incentives worth up to $93.5 million over 15 years to stay in Ohio.
He urged residents to boycott all American Greetings products. About 30 people attended the meeting.
American Greetings said the Weiss family's minority stake in the Crocker Park development was not a factor in the decision.
View full sizeAmerican Greetings Corp. world headquarters at One American Road in Brooklyn.Westlake's income tax rate is 1.5 percent, a full percentage point lower than Brooklyn's. But Zev Weiss said the company was also looking for "an environment that more accurately reflects and effectively supports our creative and innovative culture."
American Greetings' new 700,000-square-foot headquarters will be built on 13 acres south of Crocker Park's Trader Joe's and Urban Active. It will anchor 1.2 million square feet of new development scheduled to open in 2014.
Company executives have said that Brooklyn's income tax increase to 2.5 percent from 2.0 percent in 2009 was one of numerous factors it considered in choosing Westlake. Other factors included changes and challenges in the greeting card industry, recruiting and retaining creative employees, and the costs of renovating its current aging facility or building new offices on vacant land.
Demchik said Brooklyn should invite Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert to see what he could do with the soon-to-be-vacant 100 acres of land.
"He cares about Northeast Ohio," he said. "This company doesn't."