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Local leaders said Friday that they were backing efforts to recapture Amazon's second head office in Queens, but said Long Island needed to continue its plans for commercial development and housing construction related to projects now stopped from the online retailer.
"There is a movement going on to lure them back," said Laura Curran, Nassau County Official, referring to a public speech presented to Amazon's founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, by senior officials from the world of business, workers and non-profit organizations in the metropolitan area.
"I sincerely hope that it will succeed," she said. But in the meantime, we can find that Amazon was one, a big, but one of the many opportunities for regional economic development for Nassau County.
Curran told about 130 people gathered for a development conference at Hofstra University in Hempstead that his administration would continue to support housing projects near Long Island Rail Road stations, which would have housed people working in the area. Amazon HQ2 installation project in Long Island City, Queens.
Curran and others said that the availability of housing, especially apartments, condominiums and co-ops, is essential to keeping young workers on the island and, in turn, providing a hand -d 'skilled work to businesses.
Stuart Rabinowitz, president of Hofstra University, said he doubted that Amazon would resurrect QG2, noting "in my opinion, very sadly, unless there is a very good reconciliation, it will not happen.
"We have to go from there," he said. "Just because it did not work does not mean we should not continue to look for bold ideas, now and in the future."
Rabinowitz, vice president of the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council, said Friday's conference was planned ahead of Amazon's Valentine's Day announcement that it would not create 25,000 jobs in the country. Queens. The company has blamed its withdrawal on opposition from some of Queens' liberal politicians and activists.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also blamed Queens opponents and wished they were fighting more for the project, which would have benefited from tax breaks nearly $ 3 billion versus $ 27.5 billion 25 years.
On Friday, in an announcement in the New York Times, 80 city leaders publicly asked Amazon to reconsider its decision. Cuomo "will personally assume responsibility for project approval by the project," says the "open letter".
Kevin Law, president of the Long Island Association's business group, is the only signatory to Long Island.
Cuomo, in an interview on Friday at the WNYC radio station, said that this effort is a long shot. "I do not think they'll reconsider their decision, but I'm hopeful.They gave no indication that they could reconsider their decision."
A spokeswoman for Amazon said Friday that the company had no comment.
Peter Goldsmith, President of LISTnet, a regional technology advocacy group, applauded the efforts to bring the company back on its decision.
"It would have really made our region a better competitor to Silicon Valley," he said.
– With Victor Ocasio and Yancey Roy
James T. Madore writes about the economic news of Long Island, including about the economy, development and relations between government and business. Previously, he was bureau chief in Albany.
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