Monday, anti-Amazon activists kept up the pressure on the corporate giant and elected officials.
Members of multiple pro-labor and pro-housing community groups linked up for a day of action against Amazon for what they call the #HQ2Scam. The demonstration against Amazon’s upcoming new headquarters in Long Island City included a protest at its Midtown Manhattan bookstore and an evening rally at Court Square Park in Queens.
Deborah Axt, co-director of Make the Road New York, said she’s pushing back against the corporate giant on a day when the company makes a lot of money to make a point.
“On Cyber Monday, a day that is typically devoted to frantic gift buying as retailers ramp up for the holiday season, we are saying no to Amazon,” said Axt. “Amazon has killed off local retailers, small businesses and decent jobs across the country. This year, they are working to deposit a corporate hub in the heart of Long Island City, in the most diverse county in the world. Today, we saw the beginnings of a rising movement to say we will protect our working families and immigrants, not corrupt billionaires.”
Two weeks ago, New York State Gov. Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that Amazon would set up shop in Long Island City as its new headquarters. The corporate giant will temporarily occupy 500,000 square feet at One Court Square while constructing a 4 million square foot commercial space on Long Island City’s waterfront.
Amazon’s headquarters will allegedly create 1,300 direct construction jobs annually through 2033 and provide at least 25,000 new jobs by 2029 and up to 40,000 jobs by 2034. According to parties involved, the average salary for those jobs will be more than $150,000.
However, critics point to the drastic gentrification that will take place with Amazon’s presence and the amount of tax breaks Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos will receive.
“Today we sent a clear message to Cuomo De Blasio, and their emperor Jeff Bezos: Amazon is not welcome in New York City,” said New York Communities for Change Executive Director Jonathan Westin in a statement. “Our city is currently going through its worse housing and homelessness crisis, which we all know Amazon will only exacerbate. Tenants in Queens are already feeling the Amazon effect through increased harassment, and the prices for condos skyrocketed. Cuomo and De Blasio might have rolled the red carpet for Amazon without any democratic process, but New Yorkers fought tooth and nail to keep Wal-Mart away and we will fight tooth and nail again to keep Amazon away.”
According to Cuomo, New York State will benefit from the deal with more than $14 billion in tax revenue, and the city will get $13.5 billion in tax revenue. For its troubles, Amazon will get $1.5 billion in tax breaks and grants from New York. When speaking with Brian Lehrer recently, Cuomo said they were still working out the particulars of the deal.
“Amazon coming to New York is an unparalleled economic boom for the economy,” said Cuomo. “It diversifies the economy, it provides high paying jobs, a diversity of jobs. But you also need to make sure the impact of the development helps and doesn’t hurt the local community. And to the extent the ‘pieces’ of the agreement that address the needs of the local community are in place.”
Don’t tell that to Nathylin Flowers Adesegun, a VOCAL-NY leader. The activist fears that New York will suffer the same fate Seattle did because of Amazon.
“We saw what happened in Seattle—gentrification, low-wage jobs and a homelessness crisis that continues to grow,” said Adesegun in a statement. “Things are already bad for low-income New Yorkers, and a new Amazon HQ in Queens will only make things worse. It’s shameful that Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio cut a backroom deal that gives a $3 billion tax break to the richest man in the world, all while saying there’s no money for housing to help me and the 89,000 other people who are homeless across New York.”
Whereas The Wall Street Journal reported that people are buying up condos in Long Island City via text message sight unseen after the Amazon news, real estate website The Real Deal reported that the housing market in Seattle has cooled since the announcement of Amazon’s new headquarters.
Two sites originally intended for 1,500 units of affordable housing will now host Amazon’s future offices. Plaxall, the company that owns the land around the area, was about to ask the city for permission to build almost 5,000 new homes with 1,250 set aside for low- and middle-income housing. The Office of Pupil Transportation and other public educations outlets will also be pushed out of the 44-36 Vernon Blvd. building to make room for Amazon.
Despite all of that, one labor leader has hope. Héctor Figueroa, president of 32BJ SEIU, said that New Yorkers have a chance to show Amazon how a pro-labor, pro-union city operates.
“Amazon is coming to the most progressive, diverse, union-friendly city and state in the country—a fact that should put to sleep the theory that says we need to kill unions and weaken regulations to attract businesses,” said Figueroa, “As New Yorkers we should be proud that HQ2, and the thousands of good union jobs that will build, maintain and secure this complex, are coming to Long Island City because of the talent of our workforce, the vibrancy of our communities and the strength of our public institutions.”
Figueroa continued, “There’s still a lot of input that the new development will need from the city and our community to make sure Amazon serves as a positive force to strengthen our transit system, fund our public schools and help all city residents thrive. But let’s not forget, New Yorkers are the No. 1 reason HQ2 will be built in Queens. Now let’s show them how we do business here.”