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A misunderstanding of the "basic facts" was the main culprit behind the failure of the plan to set up an Amazonian campus in Queens, said the man who led the city's negotiations with the commerce giant electronic.
James Patchett, president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, blamed primarily the confusion about the $ 3 billion incentive package that Albany and City Hall had offered the company for the benefit of the company. indignation and the outcry that had pushed the technology giant to leave the city. Speaking at a breakfast held Thursday by Crain's New York Business, Patchett asserted both that Amazon and the media have not informed residents that the vast majority The assistance offered consisted of tax breaks and credits related to the creation of jobs in an industrial wasteland nowadays. Long Island City.
Even today, many opponents, including representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have called on the state and the city to invest more than the $ 3 billion invested in education, public transit and transportation. other public amenities, apparently still not including all of the $ 500,000,000 proposed. simply would be out of the company's tax bill.
"Anyone who knows the facts knows that there is not $ 3 billion – there has never been one," Patchett said. "The dialogue has been poisoned and so full of misinformation, for me it's the essential thing that has prevented a really honest conversation about it."
Patchett argued that a combination of factors allowed the false narrative to gain ground in the political and activist class, even as the majority of residents supported the agreement. Among these factors, one can quote the shocking defeat of Ocasio-Cortez against the former representative Joseph Crowley last year, the anti-Amazon organization of the Trade Union of Wholesale Trade and Industry. retail in department stores, the appointment of Senator Michael Gianaris to power veto. Commission of control of the public authorities and complacency of the supporters of the project. But Patchett blamed Amazon for not being organized and galvanizing its local backers and countering false statements about the grant program and getting paid wrong in front of the board municipal.
"There is no doubt that the company was not prepared for what happened in New York," he said. "They were not particularly good at their public hearings, they never hired a single New Yorker to work for them, to talk to New Yorkers, and never really connected with people in New York." the city."
In fact, Amazon hired several New York lobbyists to promote the plan.
Despite the missed opportunity, Patchett remained confident that West Queens, as well as downtown Brooklyn, the South Bronx and the north coast of Staten Island, were "destined" to become a "business center". booming". The city's ability to provide tax incentives remains necessary to encourage development in these areas, he said.
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