New Yorkers Protest Amazon HQ2: 'We Should Be Investing in Housing ... Not in Helicopters' (geekwire.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Shawn Dixon's life changed overnight. On Tuesday he was surprised to learn that Amazon plans to build a giant campus with room for thousands of high-paid workers on the same block as the small business he owns, Otis & Finn Barbershop. "We woke up yesterday with our whole world upside down," Dixon said. The announcement that one half of Amazon HQ2 is moving into his neighborhood -- Long Island City in Queens, New York -- motivated Dixon to attend a protest of Amazon's future campus Wednesday. He was joined by elected officials, labor leaders, and activists who gathered to speak out against the tax incentives, government subsidies and other perks -- including a helipad -- that New York is offering Amazon in exchange for the thousands of jobs the company promises to bring.

"We're worried about our ability to stay in the neighborhood," Dixon said. "I'm not against growth and I'm not against Amazon but what I'm against is giving away all this money to one of the richest companies in the world when our schools are underfunded, we don't have schools in this neighborhood, the trains don't run here, and small business owners have no protections." The rally was organized by New York State Sen. Michael Gianaris, who represents the Queens neighborhood Amazon is moving into. "By the way, Amazon was coming here without all this money anyway," Gianaris said when he took the podium.

Comments

Buy your condo or house

[WillAffleckUW]

Look, resistance is futile.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go sell the house I bought just a few years ago for five times what I paid for it.

That said, you do have elections. But, as you can see with Seattle, those don't matter either.

Re:Buy your condo or house

[ShanghaiBill]

Ideologically, I am about as far as you can get from Ms Ocasio-Cortez, but attacking her because she isn't rich enough to afford two homes is really taking the low road.

She has spoken out about against the Amazon tax subsidy, so at least I agree with her about that.

Re:Buy your condo or house

[Big Boss]

Living under rightist cronies in Utah, they are no better and not really any worse either. The false dichotomy of D/R, red/blue is the problem. Neither group really wants to limit government, they differ in what areas they prefer more government, but the net result is always more and always helps out those with the most gold.

Re:Buy your condo or house

[ShanghaiBill]

NYC and Albany keeps electing Blue

For 19 years, from 1994 to 2013, NYC had a Republican mayor.

Re:Buy your condo or house

[youngone]

...they keep supporting and electing the SAME leftist cronies.

How do you account for the massive subsidies paid by Wisconsin to Foxconn to build a factory, (which they're not really even going to honour anyway), or are you suggesting Scott Walker is a "leftist"?
The reality is that your system of government in the US is open to the highest bidder, and if this Mr. Dixon has a problem with New York providing Amazon with subsidies, but not his business, then he should do what Amazon has done, and buy some politicians.

Re:Buy your condo or house

[EvilSS]

Yea but Michael Bloomberg was a RINO. He was a democrat before switching to republican 2001 for his run for mayor. Then in 2007 he switched to independent, then this year back to democrat.

Re:Buy your condo or house

[bblb]

No one is attacking her because she isn't rich enough to own two homes... for starters she doesn't own one home so that'd be a leap even if it were the case. What I'm attacking is her profound ignorance in having this be a surprise challenge to her. Anyone familiar with politics knows that it's not remotely uncommon for incoming freshmen elects to spend months sleeping on cots in their offices, this is nothing new. What's new is that this woman thinks that tax payers should be further burdened to help her avoid the same fate. That she thinks she's entitled to someone. Her ignorance is under attack, her failure to plan ahead is under attack, her presumptuous socialist desires are under attack.

How much do you want to stay in the neighborhood?

[Ichijo]

"We're worried about our ability to stay in the neighborhood," Dixon said.

Then maybe you should allow more density. Restricting supply is a great way to make things unaffordable!

Absolutely. Same goes for olympics, stadiums, etc

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone who thinks these giveaways to big corporations for supposed reward (jobs, media exposure, etc.) needs to listen to the Citations Needed Podcast, particularly Episode 20, "How Sports Are Used to Fleece Public Trusts".

There's a good reason Amazon's HQ search was often called Bezos' "quest to find America's Dumbest Mayor". Looks like he found more than one.

My heart goes out to the people. Maybe it's not too late to replace your representatives and undo this.. :(

Amazons need haircuts, too

[Shotgun]

He is going to have a business with a large number of well paid workers right next door. Why would he be upset? Instead of protesting, he should clean his shop and get ready for the influx of new business.

Re:Amazons need haircuts, too

[CodeInspired]

This reminds me of the Californians who sold their properties for 10x, 20x, 100x investment and moved to Arizona. As they sit beside their pools, drinking their fine wine, enjoying their financially stress-free lives, they reflect on how they once had a locally owned, mediocre coffee shop that was paradise. The charter schools their kids now go to cannot compare to the raw, cash-strapped public schools they previously attended. Escalating their status from average neighbor to Country Club Elite, they mourn the good old days when times were tough and they didn't have a landscaper. Damn those Silicon Valley companies moving in!! Ahh yes... the struggles of wining the real-estate lottery.

Re:Absolutely. Same goes for olympics, stadiums, e

[Shotgun]

The problem is that it is a tragedy of the commons situation. If New York doesn't give an incentive, then maybe Raleigh, NC will. Then, as in all markets, it comes down to what will the market bear. I think there needs to be a few court cases of unfair taxation that go up to the Supreme Court. The other answer is that people fight to reduce the role of government everywhere, but then they'd have to give up their rent-controlled apartments and cheap subway tickets.

The argument is

[mobby_6kl]

The argument is, I think, that the present value of Amazon and their employees' future investments, tax payments, and spending outweighs the incentive the city provides. So if they want more funding for schools and other stuff, well, that's how you get the money to do it. The calculations might be wrong, but I kind of doubt it, the HQ will be dumping a ton of money in to the local economy.

Re:The argument is

[smoot123]

The argument is, I think, that the present value of Amazon and their employees' future investments, tax payments, and spending outweighs the incentive the city provides.

Yes, that's the argument. My understanding is it often turns out to be incorrect. It's hard to say for certain. The poster child tends to be sports stadiums. They often get subsidized and virtually never live up to their promises.

I don't live in the Big Apple so I don't have a dog in this fight. What I object to is Amazon and other large developers getting special treatment. If the tax laws are good enough for normal businesses, then they should be appropriate for Amazon. I don't buy the argument that big deals are somehow special.

He's probably renting

[KalvinB]

If he doesn't actually own the space he's in then with Amazon setting up shop, the lease payments are going to go up substantially to capture some of that sweet rich people money. He's going to have to decide whether his business can support the higher rent. If he decides he can't take the risk, the person who owns the building will find plenty of businesses that are willing to take the risk.