New York Should Say No to Amazon

This week, word leaked that Amazon may be close to finalizing a dealto 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.

But as details of the reported deal trickle out, it seems clear that this whole tournament has been a sham. There is no HQ2. Instead, Amazon is expected to announce a fairly routine expansion, adding new satellites in Queens and in Northern Virginia. The countless hours spent courting Amazon were undoubtedly valuable for Amazon: the company gained free media coverage and untold amounts of economic data from each bidding city. But it has been a terrible waste for those cities and states whose public servants labored to win a prize that would never materialize. Even for the biggest Amazon boosters, such casual dishonesty should be cause for consternation. It’s like getting a marriage offer along with a confession of infidelity.