Left Wing Activists Force Amazon To Abandon Its Plan To Build $5 billion Headquarter In New York
Amazon on Thursday (14 February) announced that it is abandoning its plans to open a new headquarters in New York City.
Amazon had announced last November that it has selected New York City and Arlington, as the locations for its new headquarters.
Amazon claimed that it will invest $5 billion and create more than 50,000 jobs across the two new headquarters locations, with more than 25,000 employees each in New York City and Arlington.
The announcement had come after an yearlong quest by Amazon for its second headquarter (commonly referred to as HQ2) was almost like a national competition, with more than 200 local and state governments fiercely competing to submit proposals for a windfall $5 billion investment and the 50,000-person workforce the firm promised to employ.
In a public statement, the company squarely blamed its decision not to proceed with its decision to build HQ2 on the doors of politicians who had objected to the development and been critical of city and state leaders for offering Amazon huge tax breaks.
We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion — We love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture—and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents. There are currently over 5,000 Amazon employees in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island, and we plan to continue growing these teams.
“We are deeply grateful to Gov. 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. Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio have worked tirelessly on behalf of New Yorkers to encourage local investment and job creation, and we can’t speak positively enough about all their efforts. The steadfast commitment and dedication that these leaders have demonstrated to the communities they represent inspired us from the very beginning and is one of the big reasons our decision was so difficult.
“We do not intend to reopen the HQ2 search at this time. We will proceed as planned in Northern Virginia and Nashville, and we will continue to hire and grow across our 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the US and Canada.
Amazon thanked New York Governor Cuomo and city Mayor de Blasio, for welcoming its plans and supported it along the way.
The rising star of US political firmament and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat whose district borders Long Island City, expressed happiness over Amazon's withdrawal.
“I think it’s incredible," she told reporters in Washington, DC. "It shows that everyday Americans still have the power to organise and fight for their communities."
“Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbours defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world,” she tweeted.
Alexandaria Ocasio-Cortez had also earlier accused the e-commerce giant of forcing its employees to work in “dehumanising conditions”.
She had tweeted “Is that culture of ‘strict performance’ why Amazon workers have to urinate in bottles & work while on food stamps to meet ‘targets’? ‘Performance’ shouldn’t come at the cost of dehumanizing conditions. That’s why we got rid of sweatshops,”