25,000 jobs with an average pay of $150K down the drain. You get what you asked for New York. Deal with it. foxy
Amazon announced Thursday it was turning back on its plans to build its second headquarters in New York City, a company spokesman said in a
statement. The move comes after backlash from lawmakers, notably Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who bemoaned the project.
"After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens," the Seattle-based Amazon said in the release.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (D-New York) waves to the crowd after speaking at Women's Unity Rally organized by Women's March NYC at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, in New York. Ocasio-Cortez had been extremely critical of Amazon's planned New York headquarters. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
"For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term. While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City," the statement reads.
OCASIO-CORTEZ CHEERS AS AMAZON REPORTEDLY RECONSIDERS NY HQ AFTER FIERCE OPPOSITIONThe company added that it is "disappointed to have reached this conclusion."
FILE- In this Nov. 16, 2018, file photo graffiti has been painted on a sidewalk by someone opposed to the location of an Amazon headquarters in the Long Island City neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York.
"We are deeply grateful to Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, and their staffs, who so enthusiastically and graciously invited us to build in New York City and supported us during the process," the company continued in the statement.
Bankrate.com's senior economic analyst Mark Hamrick called it a "stunning development," adding: "For those who didn’t want Amazon to bring the promised 25,000 new jobs and added economic vitality to the area: Be careful what you wish for."
Earlier this month,
reports surfaced that Amazon was reconsidering its plans for its New York office, which led to cheers from Ocasio-Cortez. "Can everyday people come together and effectively organize against creeping overreach of one of the world’s biggest corporations? Yes, they can," the freshman lawmaker tweeted.
Ocasio-Cortez has also
slammed the company for having bias in its facial recognition technology.
Fox News has reached out to Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio and Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez's office for comment.
Amazon said it would proceed as planned with the second part of its HQ2, which will be built in Northern Virginia, as well as its distribution center that it said it would open in Nashville. It will also continue to "hire and grow across our 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the U.S. and Canada."
The deal was greeted with much fanfare when it was announced last year and was lauded as a major economic boost.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had touted the benefits of Amazon's HQ2, which included a pledge from the tech giant to create 25,000 jobs, paying an average of $150,000 per year in exchange for a slew of city and state tax breaks and subsidies worth up to $3 billion.
In addition to the 25,000 jobs, Amazon would've brought $2.5 billion in Amazon investment and eventually 8 million square feet of office space to Long Island City as part of its investment announced
last November. The Seattle-based company said it would have generated "incremental tax revenue of more than $10 billion over the next 20 years as a result of Amazon’s investment and job creation."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPAccording to a December Quinnipiac University poll, 57 percent of New York City residents support Amazon’s arrival in the region, compared to just 26 percent who oppose the deal,
Fox Business previously reported.
There had been concerns about what Amazon's decision could do to already rising real estate prices in the area, but Hamrick said this won't solve those problems.
"From a broader view, this decision will do nothing to resolve the challenges associated with housing affordability voiced by critics of the Amazon decision and the generous tax incentives offered by government," Hamrick said in comments obtained by Fox News. "That requires a bigger conversation which could very well unfold along with the 2020 election cycle."
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