Cuomo, business leaders ask Amazon to reconsider its decision after a "brutal" welcome

Dozens of business leaders and citizens of New York City are making a last-ditch effort to convince Amazon and its managing director, Jeffrey P. Bezos, to reconsider its decision to abandon plans to create 25,000 jobs in New York City. New York.

More than 70 regional executives, led by Citigroup executives Morgan Stanley, JetBlue and Mastercard, urged the online retailer to reverse its decision in a letter published Friday in a full-page ad in New York Times.

"We know that the public debate that followed the announcement of the Long Island City project was harsh and unwelcoming," they wrote. "The reviews are strong in New York – sometimes strident. We consider it to be part of the charm of New York! But when we embark on a project as important as this one, we find a way to carry it out for everyone. "

The call aligns with the efforts of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (D) to try to convince the company to resume negotiations, including making an appeal to Bezos, according to the Times. (Bezos owns the Washington Post.) As of Friday, the company has "given no indication" that it would reverse its decision, the governor said.

The letter was meant to tell other companies that the economic climate in New York was good for them, said Cuomo in a radio interview with the WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show. "It was the little politics that governed the day," he said about the collapse of the deal. "It was a mistake, it was a blunder. We want business, we are open to business. "

The head of the New York City Partnership, the economic group that organized the joint letter, said the letter also aimed to ensure that the city's entire technology sector wanted to attract investment.

"It's not just Amazon," said Kathryn Wylde, President and CEO of the partnership. "The treatment [of Amazon] This is a black spot in our record with respect to our hope of continuing to be a global business capital, particularly for the technology sector. We received feedback from businesses on the west coast. They stated that the treatment received by Amazon and their decision that it was not worth it was quite shocking and caused other companies and entrepreneurs to wonder whether it was worth it. attack in New York. "

The representatives of Amazon refused to comment.

[Amazon drops plan to build headquarters in New York City]

Amazon canceled the project and its 25,000 jobs two weeks ago in the middle of a tumult over its potential impact on the city and the $ 3 billion in national and local incentives promised by Cuomo and the mayor Bill de Blasio (D). Amazon plans to create between 25,000 and 37,000 jobs in the Crystal City neighborhood in northern Virginia, and plans to disseminate planned jobs in New York around other business centers.

In addition to dozens of leaders from the technology, banking and real estate sectors, elected officials including representatives Hakeem Jeffries (D), Carolyn Maloney (D) and Max Rose (D), as well as Religious, education and non-profit leaders have signed the letter asking Amazon to reconsider its decision.

But opponents of the agreement, who managed to refuse Amazon initially, were not discouraged, 77 leaders of unions, advocacy groups and non-profit organizations quickly responded that they did not back down.

They have always wanted to see economic growth in New York, lawyers said, but not without first examining the effect on housing prices and racial and economic equality.

Like other technology hubs in major cities, housing costs in New York have increased dramatically in recent years, along with the expansion of Apple, Google, and other giants in New York City. l & # 39; internet.

"Rather than pursuing economic development policies that entail displacement, we call for policies that create stability and security of housing. We call for universal rent control that gives people, not the real estate sector, the power to determine where they live – no New Yorkers should live in fear of a rapid increase in rent or rent. an expulsion, "they wrote.

About Amazon, the group added: "We have defeated them recently and we will do it again."

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D), who strongly criticized the deal between New York and Amazon, issued a statement to La Poste: "If elected officials spend half as much time talking to the community as Jeff Bezos, we may have reached an agreement. "

One of the main critics of the Amazon-New York deal said he saw no weakening of opposition that would encourage society to return.

"Nothing has changed in the last two weeks," said Senator Michael N. Gianaris (D-Queens). "These are the same people who say they have supported who have already supported it, and the same people who say they have concerns."