Amazon has cancelled all its prospective plans to establish a second headquarters in New York City. The internet behemoth cited push-back from local leaders upset by the nearly $3 billion dollars in incentives offered by state politicians as the rationale behind the cancellation of its plans.
Amazon’s sudden withdrawal from its plans to establish 25,000 new jobs in New York comes in response to a year-long highly publicized search for a secondary headquarters for the online retailer. The company has indicated that it will not continue to pursue a new location for secondary headquarters. Instead it will focus its attention on fostering growth in its existing and planned offices.
Major proponents of establishing the deal included both New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Both men insisted that the $2.8 billion dollars in incentives offered to lure Amazon into establishing its secondary headquarters in New York would easily be repaid by tax revenues brought by the deal.
In a statement Thursday Cuomo blamed the failure of the deal on a “small group” of “politicians” who were focused on “their own narrow political interests” and held them “accountable” for losing out on a major “economic opportunity.” However, Mayor de Blasio was quicker to blame Amazon for its failure to “work with the community” to address concerns behind the project.
In an early press release Thursday morning, Mayor de Blasio stated that Amazon “had thrown away” an “opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world.” In the same statement, de Blasio indicated that if Amazon couldn’t recognize the worth of being headquartered in New York, “it’s competitors” would.
Other New York representatives greeted Amazon’s pull-out more enthusiastically. During the formulation of the deal many local politicians expressed frustration at the seemingly closed nature of the negotiations with Amazon. New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson shared in this sentiment. He stated that he hopes Amazon’s withdrawal from its plans will lead to other companies, that are contemplating a move to New York, being more open in their planning and engaging further with the community in the future.
The need for greater transparency and oversight in dealing with Amazon was echoed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose district’s include Long Island City, months before she had officially taken her seat in Congress.
While Amazon suggested that “nearly 70% of New Yorkers” supported its “plans and investments.” Other individuals like Nathan Lents, a Queens resident and professor at John jay College, felt the manner in which Amazon left the deal was emblematic of the one-sided natures of its investment.
In a tweet Lents said, “Don’t forget how this actually went down. The great [Sen.] Gianaris was simply insisting for transparency and oversight and that made Amazon balk. This shows their plan all along was to bully and weasel out of their end of an already one-sided deal.”
Amazon Cancels Plans for a Second Headquarters in New York City