WHAT COULD
the Amazon
DEAL COULD
MEAN FOR
LONG ISLAND
CITY?
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I JANUARY 2019 27
Photo by Jeff Yapalater
Community News
BY BILL PARRY
Just days after Amazon
launched a new charm
offensive with full page
ads in the New York City
tabloids and as mailers
were delivered to the
residents of western Queens wishing
their new neighbors a Happy New
Year, state Senator Michael Gianaris
met with two members of Seattle’s
City Council who warned of the e-commerce
giants negative effects on
their home city.
With dozens of state lawmakers and
members of the New York City Coun-cil
in attendance at a briefing at the
headquarters of the Retail, Wholesale,
and Distribution Workers Union on Jan.
7, Seattle City Councilwoman Teresa
Mosqueda told the elected officials
that the time to fight the Amazon deal
that will bring an HQ2 campus to Long
Island City for nearly $3 billion in tax
incentives is now.
“The gears were already in motion
but most of us were oblivious to what
was happening,” she said. “In Seattle
you see the majority of the population
that was living who were low-income
working families have been pushed out.”
Mosquedo warned that now is the time
to pass legislation now to address afford-able
housing and transit problems before
Amazon begins building its campus.
The Seattle City Councilwoman
added that, “Seattle is the nation’s
biggest company town.”
Several of the elected officials didn’t
need convincing, like Gianaris and
City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer
who have been staunchly opposed to
the deal since in was announced by
Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor
Bill de Blasio in November.
“Amazon’s HQ2 debacle is not a
done deal no matter how much they
want to make you believe it is,” Gia-naris
said. “I was pleased to meet
with Council Members Lisa Herbold
and Teresa Mosqueda to learn more
about the problems Seattle has faced
by hosting Amazon there.”
Gianaris has already introduced
legislation to ban insider trading in real
estate and non-disclosure agreements
in economic development deals.
“We can do alot to try and keep
things like this from happening again,”
Gianaris said. “The problem we have
with passing a law to stop the Amazon
deal is that, as you all know, for a law
to get passed, the Governor has to
sign the law. And it’s unlikely, given
his position on this issue, that the
Governor is going to sign anything that
will stop the Amazon deal particularly.”
Stil, the deal will need the approval
of the state’s Public Authorities Con-trol
Board whose members are chosen
by the governor.
“Rest assured,” Gianaris said. “If
they are bypassing approvals that are
needed, we are certainly going to go
to court.”
Meanwhile, Amazon is unfazed by
the growing opposition from city and
state lawmakers.
“Amazon is engaging in a long-term
listening and and engagement process
to better understand the community’s
needs. We are committed to being a
great neighbor — and to ensuring our
new headquarters is a win for all New
Yorkers,” an Amazon spokesperson
said. “Amazon makes substantial posi-tive
contributions to the economy, the
communities where we operate, and to
the lives and careers of our employees.
We have created more than 250,000
full-time, full benefit jobs across the
U.S. that now have a minimum $15 an
hour pay and we have invested more
than $160 billion in the U.S. economy
since 2011.”
Photo courtesy of Senator Gianaris' office
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