[ad_1]
With the sudden end of the Amazonian era in New York, city and state politicians either blamed their blame, or took their credit, or tried to understand how the city had reached an agreement, then an agreement, for to be half. of the new North American headquarters of the technology giant.
But in the streets of western Queens the day after the sudden departure of the company, life resumed normally, people walking their dog, repairing their moped and waiting for the bus. Many neighborhood residents had opinions on the decision of Amazon, but, true to a controversial development project, there was no single answer as to whether the planned business campus would have been worth it, nor what would be the best step for the land. this development would have occupied.
In a Queensbridge Homes Square, just steps from where a press conference in favor of Amazon took place last Monday, resident Joan Jordan told Curbed that she was ready to welcome Amazon. "I think it was a good idea to have him come here so that people could find a job," she explained.
"I have not seen anyone here against this," she said, noting that she had missed the canvassers of the huge real estate project last weekend. "Down by Hunter's Point, I saw these people complaining, no one here."
On Jackson Avenue, near MOMA PS1, Ninand Faterperkar, a resident of LIC, who was walking his dog, told Curbed that the city's elected officials had not done enough to preserve the agreement. "It's about political leaders here," he said. "They did not consider the future and how it should be built around this incredible neighborhood."
Faterpekar was not the only person to blame the end of development policy. "I think they were stupid and crazy," said a Citigroup employee, who had requested anonymity to avoid retaliation at the workplace, leaving the Citi building, where Amazon had to occupy about a million square feet. "There was an ego involved because they were not included at first, so I think it was a more political attitude," she said. And tax breaks, while not ideal, "should have been a bargaining point and not a stopping point".
For proponents of the project, the tax breaks made to attract the Amazon were only a fact of life. "One hand washes the other," said Jerome Hopkins, a native of Long Island City, about a cash grant offered to Amazon and its right to tax breaks in return for achieving some recruitment objectives.
"I think [the tax abatement] is somehow normal; Companies of this magnitude come to the communities, they usually receive tax incentives, "said Curbed Prince Evans, a Queens native in e-commerce. "Employees will generate taxes for this purpose, it's kind of a compromise." As to whether anything could have been done to save the deal, Evans said the city could have "opened our arms a little more," but also that Amazon might have been more interested in negotiating with residents of the region
Of course, not everyone was ready to roll out the red carpet, of course. "Three billion dollars in tax breaks, it was a bit of a big deal," Bardie Cunie told Curbed while waiting for the return of her bus. "We pay a lot of taxes in New York, you know it. You can find other ways to create new jobs. "
Luxury goods maker Ally Rosson, who will leave his LIC manufacturing plant this spring because his owner was likely to renovate the building before Amazon's arrival, said she was "pissed off" by the tax breaks obtained by the society. "I did not like the way they closed the deal," she said. "I do not like this kind of politics." However, she told Curbed that she thought the corporate campus would be an upgrade for the area and that she hoped the next plan for the land would focus on residential activities. Previously, the campus site and the neighboring Anable Basin land were reserved for mixed-use developments, which would have added 6,000 apartments to the neighborhood.
This was not the case for Joseph Genkins, a resident of Queensbridge Houses who was working on his moped on Vernon Blvd. "We will find work elsewhere," he said. "We can always find jobs, there are already so many factories here. There is FedEX, UPS, we have this stuff here.
He believes the neighborhood needs better housing and neighborhood services. "We need more residential and less industrial areas," he said. "We have Con Edison right in front of us, there are factories until you reach 44th Drive. You cross the Pulaski to Greenpoint, it's so beautiful. Everything is residential, beautiful life clean. We have nothing here. The nearest pizzeria is in Vernon.
[ad_2]
Source link