Amazon may drop plan for New York HQ after local opposition
Amazon may abandon its plan to build a new headquarters in New York City in the face of furious local opposition, according to reports in the US media.
No decision has yet been made, but executives have discussed pulling out the deal and are exploring alternative locations, two people "familiar with the company's thinking" said.
The new campus, which Amazon says would bring 25,000 jobs, has been embraced by the mayor, Bill de Blasio, and the state governor, Andrew Cuomo, but sharply criticised by activists, many state and city legislators and city's new congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“The question is whether it’s worth it if the politicians in New York don’t want the project, especially with how people in Virginia and Nashville have been so welcoming,” said a source quoted by the Washington Post.
Critics of the deal claim that it would be madness to hand out up to $1.2bn (£930m) in state subsidies and tax incentives to the world's largest company, and fear that it could further raise rents in a city already suffering from a London-style housing crisis.
During Amazon's long search for a second headquarters, cities across the USA competed to offer it the most attractive incentives, prompting speculation that it would invest in the former industrial heartlands where Donald Trump's voters are concentrated.
But when the company unexpectedly announced it would split what it called "HQ2" between New York City and Arlington, Virginia – effectively a suburb of Washington DC, already stuffed with government offices and contractors – many politicians accused it of taking them for a ride.
Virginia and Tennessee have already authorised $765m in public spending to support new Amazon offices, whereas New York, with its strong trade unions, may not approve its deal until 2020. Executives attending New York's city council have been booed by protesters and berated by politicians, although polls show the project has public support.
A spokesman for Amazon said: “We’re focused on engaging with our new neighbors – small business owners, educators, and community leaders.
“Whether it’s building a pipeline of local jobs through workforce training or funding computer science classes for thousands of New York City students, we are working hard to demonstrate what kind of neighbor we will be.”
It comes after Amazon's chief executive, Jeff Bezos, published a stunning accusation that the owners of an American tabloid linked to Donald Trump had attempted to blackmail him by threatening to release his intimate photos unless he dropped an investigation into their motives.
The Washington Post's report provoked further acrimony between New Yorkers who have supported or opposed HQ2. The United Food and Commercial Workers' Union, which is attempting to unionise Amazon's warehouse workers in New York City, called the company's behaviour “outrageous”.
Mark Perrone, the union's president, accused Amazon of “threatening New York City taxpayers to pay for its new headquarters or else it will leave town”, saying it was asking retail workers to “pay for the destruction of [their] own jobs”.
Conversely, Carlo Scissura, chief executive of the New York Building Congress, a construction industry trade body, said that the deal would have “incredible economic impact” and urged New Yorkers to support it.
