BuzzFeed:
On Thursday, Amazon announced it was abandoning plans to build a headquarters in Queens. The deal had faced major backlash from some New York activists and lawmakers, who slammed the $3 billion in tax incentives offered by the city and contended that the massive tech company moving in could worsen gentrification and the city’s already struggling infrastructure.
BuzzFeed News went to Long Island City, the neighborhood where Amazon was supposed to move in, to ask its residents, as well as some anti-Amazon protesters, to share their messages to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
Obviously, a self-selecting group but the general sentiment seems pretty common.
My first thought, “how many of these people order things online via Amazon”
Whew, they sure dodged a bullet there! They nearly got thousands of six figure jobs.
“Obviously, a self-selecting group…”
Period. No buts.
Not so much. Skyrocketing area rents for struggling small businesses, more likely.
But it was all moot. NY got played as a leverage point for Amazon to use elsewhere. This would’ve been another Wisconsin/Foxconn shell game.
People with six figure jobs have money to spend at struggling small businesses. Rents can be dealt with by making it easier for developers to construct new housing.
Would this have turned up like Foxconn? Neither one of us will ever know.
No, they saved their community from being overtaken by outsiders who would destroy the fabric of their community.
I live 10 minutes from the so-called “Foxconn Wisconsin Miracle.”
Nothing but disruption here.
Crony capitalism and republicans turned this state into shithole.
What six-figure jobs? The ones Amazon was supposedly bringing in?
Struggling small business can have lines out the door, but are still being chased out by speculators.
Making anything easier for developers only results in new luxury housing.
If we’re not pretending laissez-faire/libertarian economics has ever worked for anyone but the rich, we know what would have happened here because we’ve seen it happen everywhere else.
Good ol’ xenophobia, New York style.
New York politics is just crawling with republicans, like the governor who endorsed the deal with Amazon!