> A casual reader of stories about the Gigafactory might assume that the $1.3 billion number in the headlines means that the state wrote Tesla a huge check for that amount. In fact, Tesla has received no money from the state at all.
>Then Musk talked to Sandoval about two weeks later, and the deal was suddenly off. Musk had changed his demands. He now wanted a staggering $500 million in cash upfront instead of some of the tax abatements. This was simply impossible for Nevada. The state didn’t have that kind of money—its entire budget is just $6.5 billion—and it wasn’t about to write a half-billion-dollar check.
>For a second time, Nevada’s team braced itself and said no. “The conversations got pretty darn tense,” says Hill. “Tesla was not happy.”
>The company made its pique apparent: On July 23 it shut down the grading work outside Reno, abruptly sending 240 construction workers home. O’Connell explains Tesla’s attitude this way: “Okay, fine, if it’s not going to work in Nevada, we’ll take our shovel and go somewhere else.”
brunelleschi protested but eventually agreed to allow ghiberti to be on site and help with the work, and though brunelleschi laid some of the most dangerous bricks himself, ghiberti was said to have spent his time drinking and lazing off, this infuriated brunelleschi who knew ghiberti was unable to do the work necessary but would eventually share in the credit, and after some time brunelleschi fell ill and tended his bed, ghiberti was then forced to take lead on the project but being as he was unqualified to lead the project the project began to fall apart
before it was completely scrapped the city fired ghiberti and the next day brunelleschi's illness lifted, he returned to finish the job and the dome still stands to this day
"... but, if you have been to Nevada, you will notice that there is quite a lot of extra land with nobody on it. This is not in short supply."