FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM FEBRUARY 28, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 19
in Queens
LIC restaurateurs lash out at lawmakers over deal debacle
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
When Amazon announced it pulled
out of its plan to build its HQ2 campus
in Long Island City following a fl ood of
opposition from city and state offi cials,
two politicians bore the brunt of criticism
from some longtime supporters.
Two prominent business owners in
the neighborhood expressed their disappointment
with state Senator Michael
Gianaris and Councilman Jimmy Van
Bramer, two of the fi ercest opponents of
the deal.
“I supported both those guys and now
I feel maybe part of this is my fault
for doing so,” John Brown Smokehouse
owner Josh Bowen said. “Th ese guys
made made a GOP talking point come to
life in technicolor. Mike and Jimmy are
going to pay dearly for that.”
Bowen heckled Van Bramer during
his press conference aft er Amazon
announced it was walking away from the
project in which the e-commerce giant
agreed to create 25,000 jobs in return
for nearly $3 billion in state and city
tax incentives. Van Bramer and Gianaris
led the opposition, calling the deal an
unprecedented act of corporate welfare.
Bowen created a Twitter account called
@JimmyVanJobKiller while an unknown
Long Island City small business owner
started a website called DefeatGianaris.
com calling on volunteers to run primary
campaigns against the senator.
“Jimmy is term limited but Mike is as
dead as disco,” Bowen said. “Show me
where in the history of New York City
anyone took $27 billion and 25,000 jobs
and just threw it in the garbage can.”
Van Bramer defended his position.
“We were never against jobs. But we
fought for values we believe in,” Van
Bramer said. “Th e City Council was
bypassed altogether so we didn’t even
have the power to kill it. What we did
was talk about the overly generous subsidy,
the company’s anti-union stance and
other serious concerns. Th at wasn’t just
my right, it was my obligation.”
Gianaris also struck a conciliatory tone
with his constituents.
“I have great respect for local residents
and businesses who may reasonably disagree
on this issue, but I was motivated
to act in the best interests of a community
already suff ering from a housing
crisis, subway meltdown and school
overcrowding,” he said. “Th e Amazon
plan did not adequately address any of
these issues, and would have undoubtedly
worsened the quality of life for western
Queens.”
Coff eed owner Frank “Turtle” Raff aele,
another long-term supporter of the
embattled elected offi cials, said Amazon’s
departure is the worst thing to happen
since Walter O’Malley moved the
Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles. But
he is optimistic that the company might
return to the neighborhood, just not on
such a huge scale.
“I believe this Amazon deal would have
been the single best thing to have ever
happened to Queens and I can’t conceive
of a notion were you chase away that
many jobs, especially tech jobs,” Raff aele
said. “I’m hopeful and optimistic that we
can somehow rally together and resurrect
this deal.”
Raff aele staff s his four Coff eed locations
in western Queens with residents of
underemployed communities, including
NYCHA developments.
“Th e fact that NYCHA residents have
been overwhelmingly supportive of
Amazon is indicative of the incredible
potential this deal would have meant for
the borough, especially for the less fortunate
among us,” he said. “Hopefully we
can fi nd a way to salvage this.”
Hochul clears air on Amazon fi asco in Courier interview
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul
gave her views on the Amazon HQ2 deal
folding last week — but she’s not buying
some of the theories fi elded by other
public fi gures to explain the e-commerce
giant’s withdrawal from its Long Island
City deal.
Hochul, who saw fi rst-hand the economic
decline of the Rust Belt as a longtime
politician representing Buff alo, told
Th e Courier in an exclusive interview her
side of the story on Feb. 21 about offi -
cials attempting to bring a record number
of jobs while competing against other
states for a deal that could have pumped
$27 billion into the economy over the
next decade.
More than that, Hochul claims New
York missed the opportunity to surpass
Silicon Valley as a leader in tech jobs.
“It was painful to witness the implosion
of what could have been the most
signifi cant economic development project
in the history of the state of New
York,” Hochul said. “It is a loss that
will be diffi cult to recover
from. Th e loss of revenue
to the state, the loss
to the suppliers, loss to
the local businesses that
would benefit from
an infusion of workers
walking into little bakeries
and delicatessens.
And even Queensbridge;
there were a lot of people
that were anxiously awaiting
what opportunities
Amazon could
bring to them
and giving them
the opportunity
to get real
job training in
skills that are
highly marketable.”
Aft er city Economic Development
Corporation President James Patchett
said at a business event earlier in the week
that Amazon was fi nally turned away by
the state of public transportation and lack
of aff ordable housing, Hochul expressed
skepticism.
“Th ey seemed very happy to come here
on Nov. 13,” Hochul explained.
“I certainly think transportation
and aff ordability went
into Amazon’s survey of the
area. Th ere’s no surprise
when you come to New
York City that those are
issues. So I don’t agree necessary,
but I do think they
knew that they were coming
to a place of great potential,
high human talent –
great human capital,
world-class
education institutions
… We
are the epicenter
of the world
in many
respects.”
Th ough she isn’t pointing any fi ngers,
Hochul is convinced it was the political
opposition to Amazon settling into
Long Island City’s Anable Basin that
drove the online retailer to back out of the
deal, which the city and state had sweetened
with up to $3 billion in tax incentives,
promised on the condition that they
brought 25,000 to 40,000 jobs.
“When you look at the colossal misunderstanding
people had of this –
there was not a pot of $3 billion that
was being handed to Amazon that can
now be used for schools and healthcare
and social services. That does not
exist,” Hochul said. “We were simply
going to take of the $30 billion that
Amazon was going to bring to our government
in taxes and resources, subtract
$3 billion of it. Now we have zero
… I think that was lost in translation
by some people who didn’t care to be
honest about what we’re really talking
about here.”
Th e state itself only off ered $1.7 billion
to Amazon through Excelsior tax credits,
Hochul explained, claiming that what
the tech giant was off ered fairly routine
for any business bring employment to
New York.
New York’s total of $3 billion off ered to
Amazon was just a small slice compared
to Maryland, which off ered them $8.5 billion
in incentives, or New Jersey which
off ered $7 billion. Tennessee even made
an off er, but is reportedly withholding
the details of their proposal for the next
fi ve years.
File photo
Courtesy of Josh Bowen
Josh Bowen blasted local lawmakers for the demise of the Amazon HQ2 deal in Long Island City
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