Amazon is coming to New York without any special benefits being offered

Not really - the original plan created 30K jobs this is no more than 1500.

To be fair, the original plan was that Amazon expected it would grow to 25k jobs within 20 years. Who knows if that actually would have happened.

The shiny, tacky monstrosity of Hudson Yards seems more appropriate than putting it in Long Island City.

The LIC plan was about real estate. Amazon has enough money to just buy space in any skyscraper in Manhattan if they want to put offices there.

If Amazon had been smart, they would have built their campus in dirt-cheap Newark, New Jersey, gotten tons of incentives, and been a decade ahead of the inevitable gentrification there.

I’m sorry OP, was there a point to your posting of this non-story? Was there? I mean, can you at least just give us an honest answer for once in your life? Can you? Is it really that hard? Can you just try for once in your life?

Honestly I don't think the workers Amazon tries to attract want to live or work in Newark r4. These are highly paid techies who can write their ticket to work anywhere.

AOC is repping her people well. Amazon would've ramped up gentrification, displacing black and brown people at a far greater rate. Anyone who doesn't understand thus, or just doesn't care, is a privileged asshat.

The amount of jobs to be produced by Amazon HQ in LIC was, maybe not a lie, but a vague goal that could or could not be met. The whole deal was about Amazon getting free shit and Cuomo being able to dole out cushy exec jobs at Amazon for a kickback. God bless AOC for helping to kill it, though she wasn't a leader, just the most visible one.

[quote] Not really - the original plan created 30K jobs this is no more than 1500.

People are surmising that Amazon will eventually still create 30K jobs in NYC.

Amazon demanded $3 billion in tax breaks to move to NYC. It was offering nothing to help infrastructure (like building new housing or upkeep on subways and buses that employees would be using). I used to support the Amazon move until I read up on Amazon's demands and what Amazon did to other cities it invaded.

Now, I'm glad Amazon didn't fool NYC into welcoming it. Amazon is coming anyway but without the extortion.

[quote] Honestly I don't think the workers Amazon tries to attract want to live or work in Newark [R4]. These are highly paid techies who can write their ticket to work anywhere.

Newark is just a quick subway (actually, PATH) ride from NYC and would have still attracted tons of professionals, particularly those who are happy to live in the great NJ suburbs.

Another good choice would have been White Plains.

At least Amazon could have pretended to care about improving the economies of cities. The choice of NYC was stupid.

Actually White Plains has one of the highest costs of living in the US.

AOC always wins

Newark would have also been a good choice given its location next to a major international airport.

[quote] Actually White Plains has one of the highest costs of living in the US.

But far far less than NYC, the city Amazon eventually chose

Actually, White Plains is quite affordable. They're moving to Hudson Yards where a studio goes for $4k a month.

[Quote]At least Amazon could have pretended to care about improving the economies of cities. The choice of NYC was stupid.

Amazon doesn't care about improving economies. They picked DC and NY for a reason. They wanted places that top level tech talent actually wants to live.

R16, exactly. Why would Amazon even want to locate in Newark? Philly would have been a better option to Newark--still cheaper than NYC, not as rundown as Newark and more attractive to younger people.

Queens lost out.

Queens won out but not having to give Amazon $3 billion for the honor of locating there

[quote]Does that mean AOC and other politicians who opposed the original plan won?

She's been celebrating this in her fundraising emails, so I think she might be pleased, yes.

If you own businesses in Queens you are going to feel like you missed by those workers being in Manhattan instead of Queens.

If you live in Queens, you are probably happy that is staying in Manhattan.

It depends on what kind of business you own. If you own a CHOPT franchise or a Sweetgreen franchise, you're mad. If you own almost literally anything other than a real estate firm, you're happy.

Newark would have been a great option.

It's about 15 minutes from Manhattan by train, less than that from Hoboken and Jersey City, both of which are very popular with young professionals and helping to raise up a primarily AA city that still has a strong infrastructure (It even has its own subway line) would have been great PR for them.

Plus the airport plus many of the more upscale burbs (Summit, Montclair, Short Hills) started off life suburbs of Newark and are close by, and I'm going to guess that many of the more senior Amazon employees would have had families.

Queens was actually sort of a bad choice as the transportation options were pretty limited.

Good. It’s MF’ing NYC they don’t have to offer any incentives like North Carolina or Arkansas. They have class A office buildings, great transit modes and hubs and great restaurants hotels museums etc. screw amazon they can afford it.

[quote]Does that mean AOC and other politicians who opposed the original plan won?

Yes, unequivocally and absolutely. CALL THEIR BLUFF EVERY TIME.

[bold] The One Where The Diva-ization Of AOC Really Flowers. (Hillary Who? Kamala Who?) [/bold]

[quote] If you own businesses in Queens you are going to feel like you missed by those workers being in Manhattan instead of Queens.

If you own a business in Queens you should be happy that an Amazon megaplex isn't coming to shut you down.

Yes, it means AOC and Co. won.

The whole time this story blew up, I kept wondering why the richest man on the planet (for a moment, until his ex-wife got half the fortune) needed subsidies and taxpayer-funded gifts to bring his business to the world's financial capital. It makes no sense to do things the way we have in the US for quite some time: billion-dollar handouts for the wealthy, not a dime for the poor, the working, the ill, the homeless... Here's a novel concept: give tax credits to corporations when they employ someone who otherwise couldn't get a job. That way, the money flows to someone who needs it, they pay taxes on it, so it's a win-win for everybody. Otherwise, we just hand taxpayer money to Bezos, who pays no taxes, making it literally a no-win situation (unless you think that Bezos getting even more money is a win... for him; too bad everyone else loses).

R29 Amen, man.

[quote] Queens won out but not having to give Amazon $3 billion for the honor of locating there

apparently your math skills are about as good as AOC's. Getting a tax BREAK is not the same as "giving them $3billion". you have to first incur taxes to get a tax credit.

AOC didn't win shit. This nothing compared to HQ2. They're doing similar in other cities too.

LIC won. No one who lives here wants to be invaded by a bunch of entitled douchey children. There're already enough. The L train is a fucking frat house and a 3 bil tax break on top was too much. de Blasiio and Cuomo are both quickly becoming irrelevant anyway. The tasteless Hudson Yards is much more their speed.

What ever happened to Norma Rae types?

I said AOC did this, bitch.

Actually...

The problem with blaming gentrification on the middle class is the main reason the middle class moves, is that they have been priced out of their original (and often preferred) locaton too,

r36

A lot of "studies" are wrong. Especially when said study goes against figures that we know.

The writer even later goes on to talk about low-income people moving long distances, and says not to make that "study" as a way to defend gentrification. So fuck you.

R38 Okay but then the studies and info you read is correct? Bitch, Please! I’m a boomer, born and raised in Manhattan and gentrification is the best thing that has happened to our neighborhoods. And I know many people who haven’t been displaced from gentrification and in fact they welcomed it. So fuck you and your socialist minded bullshit! You’re probably one of those people who romanticizes Cuba.

R38 And you are correct that there have been MANY studies that show gentrification is positive. So if a study supports your belief then it’s okay but when there’s overwhelming evidence from different unbiased sources then they’re wrong. Mmmkay...what a way to be a critical thinker. Asshat!

R39 = Angry right-wing Cuban who actually believes he’s white, i.e. Anglo Saxon.

He’s a Dumper, I’m sure.

Even Florida Evans realized the ghetto is not something to be celebrated, it's something to be gotten out of.

R41 Nice try, sweetie. I’m as liberal as the day is long, but go ahead and think that so you can justify your own erroneous thinking. Facts are facts. And honestly I used to think like you, but I realized that I really never did my own research. Rather, I was just going by what people were saying bc it does kind of make sense, right? Well to my surprise the opposite seems to be true. I’d rather be open and willing to listen to different viewpoints and think critically then be one note like yourself. That’s the problem with extremist views. There’s no middle ground. Everything is black and white. Grow the fuck up!

Castro really mind-fucked a whole generation, didn't he?