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Businesses United States Technology

Facing Opposition, Amazon Reconsiders NY Headquarters Site: Report (washingtonpost.com) 173

Amazon.com is reconsidering its plan to bring 25,000 jobs to a new campus in New York City following a wave of opposition from local politicians, The Washington Post reported Friday [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source], citing two people familiar with the company's thinking. From the report: The company has not leased or purchased office space for the project, making it easy to withdraw its commitment. Unlike in Virginia -- where elected leaders quickly passed an incentive package for a separate headquarters facility -- final approval from New York state is not expected until 2020. Tennessee officials have also embraced Amazon's plans to bring 5,000 jobs to Nashville, which this week approved $15.2 million in road, sewer and other improvements related to that project. Amazon executives have had internal discussions recently to reassess the situation in New York and explore alternatives, said the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the company's perspective.
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Facing Opposition, Amazon Reconsiders NY Headquarters Site: Report

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  • by XXongo ( 3986865 ) on Friday February 08, 2019 @11:51AM (#58089662) Homepage
    What they're objecting to, of course, is not the jobs being brought in, but the massive taxpayer funded give-away that New York politicians promised (without any oversight) to give Amazon to tempt them to come, along with the tax breaks they promised as well, to make sure that they don't pay for it.

    A billion here, a billion there-- it adds up

    • by XXongo ( 3986865 ) on Friday February 08, 2019 @11:56AM (#58089682) Homepage

      ...and not to mention that Amazon required a nondisclosure agreement [nytimes.com] from the cities bidding, so that the taxpayers actually couldn't know what their politicians were giving away.

      Which was: 3 billion dollars. [democratandchronicle.com]

    • What they're objecting to, of course, is not the jobs being brought in

      It is unlikely many jobs would be created. The limiting factor is housing, and very little new construction is being permitted. The roads can't handle many more commuters, and there are already shortages of labor in the area. So all this facility would do is suck employees from existing businesses.

      There would be little net economic benefit, which is another reason that the subsidies and tax giveaways were misguided. They are just replacing many small businesses that pay taxes and contribute to the commu

      • by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Friday February 08, 2019 @12:35PM (#58089914)
        The people that Amazon employs are likely to earn more than the people they displace, which means the state will collect additional income tax simply due to the higher wages, but also because Amazon workers will fall into a higher tax bracket. Those workers also have more disposable income which means more money being spent into the local economy. If people are being pushed out at a 1:1 ratio with every person Amazon brings in, there's no net change in road utilization (unless Amazon workers are more likely to drive) or other utilization. If it displaces other types of labor, it just means that value of what remains increases due to more limited supply, so it would raise wages for those jobs. There's also plenty of housing available, but some of it needs to be reclaimed [6sqft.com] but idiotic development laws typically mean that no one wants to spend the time or money dealing with it.

        It may still be that the net effect doesn't result in much additional revenue for the state or city, but I'm not sure if I agree with the reasoning that you've used to arrive at that conclusion.
        • The people that Amazon employs are likely to earn more than the people they displace,

          can you support that claim? This is NYC not Fife, AL

    • New Yorkers have already voiced their opposition to 25,000 techbros coming to their city. Misogynists are not welcome in NYC and the people have made their voices clear.
      • Misogynists are not welcome in NYC

        There is zero evidence that tech workers are more misogynistic. I have worked in several professions, and tech is the least misogynist. Have you ever worked with salesmen, or warehouse workers? They make nerds look like saints.

    • There's a right way and a wrong way to do incentives. Virginia was smart about their incentives - large amounts were deals to do additional investments in Arlington - reach X number of jobs, we'll upgrade the subway station, upgrade the light rail, etc. New York just gave them a giant bag of money.
  • by Impy the Impiuos Imp ( 442658 ) on Friday February 08, 2019 @11:58AM (#58089706) Journal

    Good. Quit blowing politicians who need your jobs but ride to power trumpeting how evil you are.

    Let the voters weigh the relative importance. That's why the pols are huffing and puffing in the first place.

    • Let the voters weigh the relative importance.

      That's why Amazon required a non-disclosure agreement - they knew most voters would balk at the massive scale of the give-away the company was looking for.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Crystal City is the absolute worst place to put Amazon. Commuting there by any means is already a disaster.

    • AWS is making heavy plays into government contracts. You have to be in the DC area for that, so there's no way they're leaving Crystal City.

    • Looks like you'll have twice as many people coming to Virginia now.
  • Any city that offers tax cuts to a large corporation and than hosts that corporation should at least get money out of the deal for a top-notch and modern transit system.
    • The NY subway isn't getting entirely rebuilt (it's built under too much expensive real states), but a few tens of billions for upgrading the electrical systems, signalling systems, and completing the 2nd ave line from 125th St to Canal St would definitely help.
      • What does the 2nd Ave line have to do with a theoretical Amazon entity in Long Island City? Is that to help the maybe one or two people who might commute from the lower East side to LIC for work?

        • If Amazon wants a deal with NYC, they should get to help the whole city, not just projects that benefit them. Milk them for all they're worth, pretend you're Bezos' mistress and the Enquirer photographer is watching...
        • by hey! ( 33014 )

          Why, to transport Amazon nabobs from their pied-à-terres on in the East Village, of course!

          $2500/month will get you a 1 bedroom apartment with kitchenette, plus access to hip neighborhood businesses catering to bohemian 1990s New Yorkers. It's almost as if EPCOT opened a New York pavilion.

    • If there are more jobs, doesn't that mean more people are paying taxes?

      If more people are paying income taxes ... doesn't that mean the government has more money (to create transit systems or whatever)?

      In the US retailers generally let people pay small sums on credit cards because they are encouraging more people to come to their store. This seems to be working. Couldn't government get some mileage out of the same strategy? Deferred collection, etc?
      • It may not mean more net jobs. It may mean that these jobs replace other jobs at companies that pay their share of taxes. If that is the cast then the government ends up with less money for infrastructure, education, etc.
      • Not if you have thrown away all those tax breaks in benefits to Amazon. Also how many local people will really be employed?
  • by bobstreo ( 1320787 ) on Friday February 08, 2019 @12:22PM (#58089840)

    to Omni Consumer Products and move to Detroit. /s

  • Jeff can probably pick it up for a song after he destroys the company and the management goes to prison.

  • Politically the two areas are very closely related and neither are good for Amazon. No where can be as bad as Seattle is for corporations who tried to basically pass an "Amazon tax" which basically just targeted Amazon/Amazon employees. Luckily that got repealed as soon as they found out Amazon had decided to cancel it's construction of new buildings in Seattle and also was searching for two new HQ locations. New York may not be as socialist as Seattle's city council but it's still not as corporation friend
    • it was repealed when Amazon's bought-and-paid-for politician (Mayor Jenny Durkan) got her orders. Don't be fooled for a second they will never leave Seattle.
  • Man, this whole thing is starting to feel like a dating reality show where the star can't make up their mind on who they want to date. Amazon decided to do this highly public publicity stunt on who they'd pick, ending up with the two cities everyone thought from the beginning, while stringing along hundreds of communities desperate for the economic shot-in-the-arm those 50K (or now 25K given the split) would bring. If Amazon wants to be revolutionary and really help its community, place it in a rust-belt

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