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NEW YORK (AP) – In early November, the rumor began to be revealed that Amazon really wanted to choose New York to build a new giant campus. The city was eager to attract the company and its thousands of high-paying technology jobs, offering billions of dollars in tax benefits and illuminating the Empire State Building in the orange Amazon.
Even Governor Andrew Cuomo stepped in: "I'm going to change my name to Amazon Cuomo if that's what it takes," he joked at the time.
Amazon then formalized the process: it chose the Queens neighborhood in the Long Island City neighborhood to build a $ 2.5 billion campus with 25,000 workers, plus new offices planned for the north. Virginia. The Mayor of Cuomo and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Democrats who have been political opponents for years, called the decision a major blow after evading more than 230 other proposals.
But what they were not expecting, are the protests, hostile public hearings and derogatory tweets that will arrive in the next three months, eventually leading to the dramatic breakup of Valentine's Day. Amazon with New York.
Immediately following the announcement made by Amazon on November 12, critics began to surface. The agreement provided for special tax breaks and grants for the company, worth $ 1.5 billion, but a closer look at the overall package revealed a value of $ 1.5 billion. At least $ 2.8 billion. Some of the same politicians who signed a letter to woo Amazon were now reluctant to tax incentives.
"It is completely wrong to offer one of the world's richest companies at a time of serious crisis in our state, the well-being of businesses, with the meager public resources available," said New York State Senator Michael Gianaris, and City Council member Jimmy Van Bramer, Democrats representing the Long Island City area, in a joint statement.
The next day, CEO Jeff Bezos was doing the New York Post cover in an illustration resembling that of a cartoon, hanging on a helicopter, holding money bags in each hand, with a number of items. money floating above the line of the horizon. "RANSOMAN OF THE QUEEN," shouted the title. The New York Times editorial board described the agreement as a "bad deal" for the city: "We will not know for ten years whether the 25,000 jobs promised will materialize," he said. .
Anti-Amazon rallies were scheduled for next week. The protesters stormed an Amazon bookstore in New York City the day after Thanksgiving, then went to a rally on the steps of a courthouse near the site of the new headquarters in a pouring rain. Some have held cardboard boxes with the smile logo of Amazon backwards.
They had a long list of grievances: the bargain had been secret; Amazon, one of the most profitable companies in the world, did not need nearly $ 3 billion in tax incentives; rising rents could push people out of the neighborhood; and the company was opposed to unionization.
The helipad kept climbing: Amazon, as part of its agreement with the city, had promised to build a site to put a helicopter on the new offices or nearby.
At the first public hearing in December, which turned into a hostile three hour interrogation of two Amazon rulers by municipal lawmakers, the heliport was mentioned more than a dozen times. The image of high-paying executives buzzing with a nearby low-income housing project has become a symbol of corporate greed.
Queens residents quickly found in their mailboxes postcards from Amazon, highlighting the benefits of the project. Gianaris sent his own version, calling the company "Scamazon" and urging people to call Bezos and tell him to stay in Seattle.
At a second city council hearing in January, Amazon Vice President of Public Policy, Brian Huseman, subtly suggested that the company's decision to come to New York could possibly to be canceled.
"We want to invest in a community that wants us," he said.
Then came a sign that Amazon's opponents might well derail the deal: in early February, Gianaris was invited to sit on a little-known public committee that often had to approve state funding for major economic development projects. . This meant that if the Amazon market was submitted to the board of directors, Gianaris could kill him.
"I'm not trying to negotiate a better deal," said Gianaris at the time. "I am against the agreement that has been proposed."
Cuomo had the power to block the appointment of Gianaris, but he did not say he would take that step.
Meanwhile, Amazon's doubts about the project have begun to manifest themselves. On February 8, the Washington Post announced that the company had doubts about the location of Queens.
On Wednesday, Cuomo organized a meeting with four senior leaders of Amazon and the leaders of three unions critical to the deal. The union leaders left with the impression that the parties had agreed to a framework for further negotiations, said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Wholesale and Department Stores Union.
"We had a good conversation, we discussed the next steps, we shook hands," Appelbaum said.
An Amazon representative did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
The coup de grace was carried on Thursday, when Amazon announced on a blog its withdrawal, surprising the mayor, who had spoken to an Amazon leader on Monday night and had "no indication" that the company was going to bail out.
Amazon still expects the agreement to be approved, according to a source close to Amazon's thinking, but that the constant criticism of politicians does not make sense for society to develop there.
"I was stunned," De Blasio said. "Why the hell, after all the efforts we've made, would you just want to go?"
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Associate press writers Alexandra Olson and Karen Matthews in New York, and David Klepper in Albany, New York, contributed to this report.
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