Amazon may abandon the idea of ​​building a headquarters in New York

Online giant Amazon is reviewing its plan to create 25 000 jobs in New York after protests from local residents and politicians against the construction of a retailer's headquarters.

Фото: Depositphotos

About this edition The Washington Post said two sources familiar with the situation.

The company has not yet managed to rent or purchase office space for the project, which will facilitate the implementation of the decision to cancel the construction of a new headquarters. Unlike Virginia, where parliamentarians quickly approved all the necessary documents for building an Amazon office, retailers will not be able to get final approval from New York State before 2020 of the year.

Officials in Tennessee also quickly approved the Amazon project, involving the creation of 5000 new jobs in Nashville. This week, $ 15,2 million was allocated to road, sewer and other work related to the project.

Amazon officials recently held internal discussions on the situation in New York, in which they studied alternatives to building headquarters in the region.

“The question is whether it’s worth the gamble if politicians in New York are so reluctant to pursue this project, especially given how welcoming people have been in Virginia and Nashville,” said a source familiar with the company’s plans.

Proclaimed economic triumph during its presentation by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, the project to build Amazon’s headquarters in Long Island City (Queens) is being heavily criticized by some politicians and human rights groups who are dissatisfied the prospect of gigantic subsidies to the most expensive company in the world, led by the richest man on the planet, Jeff Bezos.

In the past two weeks, the state senate appointed Amazon’s outspoken criticism to the council, which has the ability to veto a deal. The city council members quite aggressively questioned the company's management at the hearings on the construction of the headquarters, and the meetings were accompanied by activist rallies against the project.

Key officials, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the US House of Representatives, whose district borders on the proposed section of Amazon headquarters, opposed the project. Opponents of the project launched a campaign in which warn residents of Queens about rent increases, citing the example of Seattle, who ran into these problems during a period of intense growth of Amazon, whose head office is located in this particular city.

No specific plans were made to abandon the construction of the headquarters in New York. And it is possible that Amazon will try to use the threat of abandoning the project to put pressure on officials in New York. But, as expected, at the end of this month, a meeting of the Council of State Government Control and the third hearing on the Amazon project in the city council will take place, and then the company’s leaders, according to the source, may announce their decision to abandon the project.

Resistance in New York contrasts with the warm welcome of Amazon in Virginia, where Governor Ralph Northam 5 February signed a law granting subsidies to 750 million dollars in subsidies for the construction of Amazon headquarters in Arlington.

It is unclear what exactly Amazon could consider as Plan B if the New York project fails. Supposedly, the company may opt out of the stimulus package and hire employees on a smaller scale, as its competitors do, including Google. Or, Amazon may start looking for another jurisdiction to fill in some or all of the jobs originally intended for New York by building there.

Amazon has hired a lobby and public relations firm in New York and recently announced the appointment of a senior public relations manager to focus on developing positive partnerships with local stakeholders, community groups and non-profit organizations.

Asked to comment on the possibility that a deal in New York might fall through, Amazon spokeswoman Jodi Seth said: “We are 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 students, we are working hard to demonstrate what kind of neighbors we will be.”

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