The Amazon deal was great for New York

Many New Yorkers applauded last week's news that Amazon had selected Queens for its HQ2 project. But others see in the movement a great act of corporate welfare. Given the prevalence of this second point of view, some perspective is needed. Because calling on Amazon can be a gift, it is also misleading.

For starters, incentives from New York to Amazon are by definition not a gift. About 85%, or $ 2.5 billion, of the entire program relies on performance, subject to the creation of tens of thousands of jobs and significant investments in the local community . In addition, the funds would come from a pre-existing economic development budget, and not from public service funds such as public transit and schools.

This fact brings another: the conditions proposed to Amazon are neither abnormal nor unprecedented. The states and cities of the country regularly offer such packages to businesses within the framework of existing economic development budgets. Companies of all shapes and sizes are turning to them because incentives are often a major decisive factor between two localities. The result is advantageous for businesses and municipalities.

In the case of Amazon in New York, the benefits to the city include 25,000 to 40,000 direct careers with an average salary of $ 150,000.

Then there are 1,300 annual construction jobs over a period of several years. In total, jobs will generate more than $ 3.75 billion in employee earnings over 10 years, according to the governor's office, all injected into a region that traditionally relied on the manufacturing sector.

The result is a profound revitalization of the Long Island City job base and its transition to a technology-based economy. The ultimate impact will be direct economic growth of 12 to 27 billion dollars. Taking into account the multiplier effect – each new high-tech activity in a city creates five additional non-technological jobs, according to academic research – the benefits of incentives far outweigh the costs.

Words like "bailout" or "corporate greed" are therefore unfit. A more appropriate way to think about the deal would be to invest – not only in our economy or our territory, but also in our technology sector and our talent pool.

It's not just the dollars and cents that attracted Amazon to New York after all. The company was attracted by our world-class technology ecosystem. Amazon has appreciated the potential of this ecosystem to flourish and benefit all New Yorkers.

Some measurements indicate. At the moment, New York is home to more than 7,000 startups, representing more than 326,000 jobs and a collective valuation of $ 71 billion. Other figures show that we have the fastest recruitment schedule of engineers (average 24 days) and more than 100 technology incubators focused on cultivating local talent. Venture capital funds grew 41% in 2017 alone.

For a company like Amazon, such numbers are proof that New York has the capital, the people and the potential to support a rapidly growing technology company.

For all of this, we can thank the public officials and the education system that fostered a broader culture of skills-based learning in New York. Governor Cuomo has committed $ 30 million in computer science education and the mayor of Blasio has also created several programs supporting women's entrepreneurship, not to mention guaranteeing the teaching of the university. In all public schools of this decade. Former Mayor Bloomberg contributed to the launch of Cornell Tech in 2012, while New York was about to become the technology incubator that he became.

The result was a complete package, including incentives and an environment that Amazon could not miss.

Yes, financial conditions were part of it, but they were neither extravagant nor without requirements. Certainly, some will worry about the influence of a large company that will settle there, but given the dynamism of our city, there is no doubt that Amazon will be part of New York and not the other way around.

In the end, 25,000 good jobs were somewhere in North America. For my part, I am happy that they are here in New York and I thank our mayor and our governor for making it so.

Julie Samuels is Executive Director of Tech: NYC.