While I believe that NYC should have welcomed Amazon, I think this is a lousy article. Extremely one-sided, failed to mention a single legitimate reason why NYC walked away, and insulted any New Yorker who was against the deal.
I'm assuming you are living there in Queens. If my assumption is correct, why were you against the deal?
Increased gentrification. Unnecessary subsidies to a corporation Wage inflation in a specific job market (it’s not like nyc can’t attract talented IT people). And finally, this whole thing could have been a an Amazon ruse. Two Hq’s to ensure that the real hq2 city remains compliant. I still think nyc lost a lot by losing hq2a/b. But it’s not like nyc has trouble attracting tech talent.
Hmm, so you completely injected your self into this conversation. My query was to @DaveV . @newwurldmn Are you also a resident of Queens?
If you read my post again, you will see that I was for the deal. What I was against was the article that the OP posted. BTW I am not even a resident of NY state, much less Queens.
Then you have zero on input. Because you have never been to NYC. That is kinda' what I was getting at. You cannot comment on local issues and expect acceptance of your opine if you've never been to the place, or lived in the place, that you are on about.
Do you live in the NYC? Cause I do and I can certainly see both sides of the argument. As I said, the moral hazard aspect was the scariest component from my perspective.
I grew up there, and know the place. LIC is a comparative shithole to the rest of the area. The people who live there should have realized what a major boon it would have been to their community. Because after all, what has the community done for them LATELY that is better than what Amazon could have brought? Peeps in LIC are worried about rents going up and lost jobs at the local shoppes...It is like, WHATEVER. If you have been working in the local shoppe for 20 years and never thought something or someone would come in to replace you, then that is your own fault. I'm old, but I understand that conditions change. You have to change with the conditions. NYC lost a boon there. Dumbass politicians fucked it up for everybody. And before everyone screams about corporate welfare? NYC needs to look itself in the mirror. How's the Hudson tunnel improvements coming along? The infrastructure upgrades to the fucking Belt parkway? Assholes. All of them. For over THIRTY years the Belt has needed upgrades. Has it ever happened? Nope. And it would have been nary a dent in the city and state coffers.
Hmmm, so you probably should have PMed him then. Given that you are now a resident of boston, who are you to comment on a local Nyc issue?
It was a battle between Amazon and hipsters. Greenpoint, LIC and Williamsburg are the last bastion of hipsters in NYC. They have forced out of SOHO, Chinatown, Lower East Side and Tribeca in Manhattan by bankers, techies and transplants from Hollywood and Midwest. They were mad as hell. They were sick and tired of being pushing round. This time they won't stand back and watching. They fought back hard. They won. Congratulation to them. But LIC and Williamsburg are still undergoing gentrification. Without Amazon, it wont be as fast. They still lose the battle in the long term. A.O. Cortez worked in bars with these hipsters before. She understood their plights. She helped them fighting back hard.