[NYguy]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

that whole lic amazon hq2 area is going to continue to fill up with apartment buildings of the type that residents equally as somewhat wealthy as the amazon employees would have had to pay. so who cares if its amazon employee money or their mom and dads money or whatever else that pays for it, they will live in the city, work, spend money, pay taxes.

its not a one to one tradeoff, but still lic remains a bustling and growing area.

while it was beyond the beyond dumb to chase hq2 of 2 away, in the end, meh.

These things have a way of coming back to bite you in the ass. The city, which has been trying for decades to expand it's central business districts outside of Manhattan had a golden opportunity here for a mega-expansion that no doubt would have led to more expansion in Queens. There is some business began to take shape in LIC, but not necessarily game changers, and especially in the short run, there is a 1 msf office tower that needs tenants. The tenants who will (hopefully) fill up this tower are probably tenants that could have otherwise filled up another commercial enterprise in LIC.

There's not denying that this was a terrible outcome for New York City. Did NYC need Amazon? Would it have benefited greatly by having Amazon building it's campus in LIC, placing 25,000 to 40,000 workers there, in turn further fueling expansion and economic growth to LIC? Hell yeah. While LIC will continue to develop, the difference between having that massive campus there, and not is like night and day.



https://qns.com/story/2019/02/19/aft...g-island-city/

After early divisions, organized labor laments loss of Amazon HQ2 deal in Long Island City


By Bill Parry
February 19, 2019

Unions representing thousands of workers across the city were split early on about Amazon’s plan for Long Island City — but were united in lament after the retail giant derailed their proposal last week.

When Amazon’s anti-union policies were exposed during a City Council oversight committee hearing last month when a company executive, Brian Huseman, told Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer that he could not support labor neutrality for workers in Long Island City, the gallery exploded in protest.

But outside City Hall that day, construction workers and labor unions rallied in support of the deal that the state and city struck with Amazon to build its HQ2 campus at Anable Basin and create 25,000 good-paying jobs over 10 years, with a plan to grow to 40,000 over 15 years.

Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union had carved out a position that Amazon, which doesn’t have a single unionized facility anywhere is the country, might adopt a more labor neutral posture once it was established in progressive and pro-union New York City.

“Amazon’s new headquarters will be a model for how organized labor can power the next generation of U.S. companies to greater success,” 32BJ SEIU Political Director Alison Hirsh said during the rally. “These new jobs and significant neighborhood commitments will help uplift Queens families and the city as a whole.”

32BJ SEIU had already secured a commitment from Amazon that would have created thousands of permanent jobs and good wages for cleaners and security guards at the proposed HQ2 campus in Long Island City and its leader, Hector Figueroa, who had organized thousands of airport workers during a years-long campaign right here in Queens. Figueroa figured he could do the same with Amazon’s headquarters in Long Island City.

The day before Amazon walked away from the project, four of its executives, including Huseman, met with organized labor leaders in Governor Cuomo’s Manhattan offices where they worked out a framework for a deal.

Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the powerful Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, had been a fierce opponent of Amazon was present along with the regional chapter of the Teamsters and New York State’s AFL-CIO. Appelbaum later said he was “amazed” that Amazon owner Jeff Bezos cancelled the HQ2 project.

“Rather than addressing the legitimate concerns that have been raised by many New Yorkers Amazon says you do it our way or not at all, we will not even consider the concerns of New Yorkers,” RWDSU Director of Communications Chelsea Connor said. “That’s not what a responsible business would do.”

When the deal collapsed, Figueroa lamented the loss of so many union jobs, and the potential for so much more.

“The news that Amazon has decided to cancel its plans to build its second headquarters in New York City is a disappointing development for working people in our city,” Figueroa said. “This is a lost opportunity for Queens and New York on many levels. Of course, the loss of 25,000 direct jobs and many more indirect ones as well as the billions in revenue that the project was expected to bring into our city is unfortunate.For labor however, this is also a missed opportunity to engage one of the largest companies in the world and to create a pathway to union representation for one of the largest groups of predominantly non-union workers in our country.”

Gary LaBarbera, the president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, said he was stunned by the “unfortunate news” after the corporation had promised to use all-union construction at the HQ2 campus, providing at least 5,000 jobs building its 4 million-square-foot complex with an opportunity to expand to 8 million square feet.

LaBarbera lamented not just the union jobs however, but the loss of the 25,000 to 40,000 jobs the HQ2 campus would have provided.

“Politics and pandering have won out over a once-in-a-lifetime investment in New York City’s economy, bringing with it tens of thousands of solid middle class jobs,” LaBarbera said. “This sends the wrong message to businesses all over the world looking to call New York home. Who will want to come now? We will remember which legislators forgot about us and this opportunity.”

https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/w...dmit-this.html

With 4 Short Words, Amazon Just Revealed the Brutal Truth About Its Decision to Cancel HQ2 in New York. (So Many People Don't Want to Admit This)
The Amazon statement backing out of New York runs 363 words. Here are the four most important ones.


By Bill Murphy Jr.

I've been rereading the Amazon statement calling off the deal to build half of HQ2 in New York. And I think I've found an important clue about what happens next.

It's not a plan really, not a hidden secret message. It's more of an expression of emotion. Maybe a realization of necessity.

In fact, while the text Amazon posted on its blog on February 14 runs 363 words, the most important part of this crucial passage is just four words long. But those four words speak volumes.

It starts with a dig at "state and local politicians" in New York, and a statement about how many New Yorkers supposedly supported the deal. Then, we get to the crucial part:

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.

Those four crucial words? "We love New York."

They're not included by accident. In fact, I'll bet this statement probably went through more writing, editing and rewriting than anything in Amazon's history.

But the passage is crucial. It's a recognition that even in a post-HQ2 world Amazon, still depends big time on New York. That's why I think the company is at pains to reassure everyone that it isn't going to try to just reopen the HQ2 search and do this elsewhere.

The brutal truth is: New York City is special.

I know people don't like to admit this. I know that there are many trying to make political points, attacking union leaders and politicians who they say are to blame for Amazon running away.

But there is no other place truly like New York City, and Amazon isn't really going to run -- not completely. It's not just chest-thumping; it comes down at least partly to sheer numbers. Here are three of them:

-By far, New York is the largest city in America, with 8.6 million people--almost as big as the second, third, and fourth largest cities combined.

-By far, it's the largest metropolitan area: more than 20 million people. If it were its own state, it would be about as big as Florida -- but much more densely packed.

-By far, it has the largest GDP of any metro area, at at $1.7 trillion. That's nearly 9 percent of the entire country.