New York Should Say No to Amazon
This week, word leaked that Amazon may be close to finalizing a deal to set up a major operation in Long Island City, Queens. The news, which was embraced with peak sycophancy by Gov. Andrew Cuomo — he literally offered to change his name to “Amazon Cuomo” to make it happen — came with a slap in the face to New York and every other state that bid for this deal.
For the past year, Amazon has been promoting a cruel tournament, asking cities to compete for the privilege of hosting a second headquarters outside Seattle — what the company called “HQ2.” The winner was promised tens of thousands of jobs and the tempting vision of becoming a tech hub to rival San Francisco. Hundreds of cities prostrated themselves before Amazon, offering the company tax breaks and subsidies along with valuable data, such as infrastructure plans, to which no other company had access.