[NYguy]

https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/12/what-nyc-think-amazon-hq2-jobs-long-island-city-queens/577453/

What New Yorkers Really Think of Amazon HQ2





SARAH HOLDER
December 06, 2018

More than half of New Yorkers view Amazon’s plan to open a headquarters in Long Island City, Queens, in 2019 as a blessing, not a curse. That’s according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University, which surveyed more than 1,000 people registered to vote in New York City from all five boroughs between November 27 and December 4. Perhaps more surprising to the many vocal opponents of the Amazon selection process: Only 26 percent of those surveyed disapprove of the project.

People were more evenly split on the question of whether Amazon should be receiving the tax incentives—nearly $3 billion of them—that the city and state offered to lure the company, with 46 percent in favor and 44 percent opposed.

By borough, residents of the Bronx—a predominately Hispanic area—were most excited about the move, with 64 percent approval and 21 percent disapproval, for a net approval of +43 percent. It’s nearly as popular in Staten Island. Queens, whose population is almost half foreign-born, and which will actually absorb the physical Amazon office space, was also enthusiastic—even about the subsidies. Manhattan residents were most skeptical, with only 54 percent supporting the move and a net disapproval of the subsidies of minus 15 percent.

That geographic breakdown may mirror where the benefits of Amazon jobs and economic bump could be most powerful—at least if Amazon finds ways to hire the local residents who need the jobs most. Manhattan’s unemployment rate was a low 3.5 percent in October, its Wall Street-driven economy is flush, and its residents make a median income of $75,000, meaning residents there, arguably, have the least to gain. Queens’ unemployment rate is lower even than Manhattan’s, at 3.4 percent, but the median income there is about $60,000. And the Bronx, which enthusiastically supports the deal, has the highest unemployment rate of the five boroughs at 5.4 percent.