Statement Regarding Amazon in New York City
I want to state politically, for the record, that I have extreme reservations about the way Amazon was treated in NYC. I’m a Democrat, and I’ve organized or GOTV’d for progressives since 2004, but this is far to the left of me.
Currently, I’m in between jobs, and when you don’t have a job you are searching every day, and it’s a grueling process. This also happened to my Dad when he lost his job, and it devastated my family (my father passed way in 2010). And even if you can get some payment from the government (and my Dad also got disability), it doesn’t replace the routine, the learning of skills, the building of your resume, and the self-esteem that can come from having a job. By the way, don’t worry about me! I just wanted you to know where I’m coming from.
If we are concerned about income inequality, I don’t see how this helps because it keeps us right where we already are — which everyone says isn’t a good place. So why do we want more of the status quo? We need more jobs for more people! Mark my words: if, God forbid, unemployment ticks back up to where it was 5–10 years ago, we are going to regret this.
We always talk about kids in the inner city learning STEM and getting those ‘big’ jobs, and I think this could have been a pipeline for that. There could have been courses, apprenticeships, after-school internships. If we are concerned about gentrification, there are rent control options and you can even have Amazon build more housing in the deal or contribute to homeless people like the $500 million Microsoft pledge in Seattle.
Then there is the tax revenue: if we want to fix the subways, if we want to grow Universal Pre-K, if we want to pay pensions, where are we getting the tax revenue to do all this stuff?
Some estimates put the tax revenue from Amazon alone at $27 billion, with the subsidies at $3 billion. [1] Also, let’s look at the long view too. The economy is changing rapidly, and Amazon is innovative enough that I would expect them to thrive 10–15 years from now, but there are many other industries that may not be so lucky, so this also can be an economic safety valve for New York for a rainy day in the future. Have we all forgotten that New York City — as in the city itself — almost filed for bankruptcy in 1975?
Hey, I organized on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2013 campaign, and he’s the most progressive mayor we’ve had in a generation. Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio never agree on anything, but they agreed on this: jobs.
But wait, hold on a second, what about all the bad press about ‘no Amazon in NYC?’ Don’t New Yorkers not want Amazon here?
Well, if you look at the actual polling, it’s not really that clear to me that New Yorkers are against it. On the contrary, they might be for it: “Fifty-seven percent of New York City residents who responded to the poll approved of Amazon building one of two secondary headquarters in the Long Island City area of Queens, more than double the 26 percent who said they oppose the move, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.”[2] And if you go to the New York Times article on this (“Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Headquarters” [3]) you will see comments on either side of the issue (and NYT online comments are almost always one-sided, at least in my experience reading them).
Moreover, almost everyone uses Amazon to get stuff, and most people love it. In 2017, tech website The Verge partnered with consulting firm Reticle Research to survey consumers. “Amazon is far and away the most trusted and well-liked tech brand, more so than its current smart home rivals Apple and Google,” they found. Their report concluded that (A) “most people say Amazon has a very positive effect on society,” (B) “most people say they would miss Amazon if it disappeared,” (C ) “most people say they greatly like Amazon,” (D) “most people would recommend Amazon to friends and family,” and, very interestingly, when it comes to personal information, (E) “people trust Amazon almost as much as they trust their bank.” [4]
Finally, one thing I’ve always liked about New York City is that while President Donald Trump is talking about walling us off from people and trying to set some bogus test for who is or is not really an American, New York is a city of dreams for EVERYONE. This is the city of the United Nations! With the most diversity in the world! Everyone is welcome here: regardless of socioeconomic condition, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and even Amazon employee status. It’s tough, and there are disagreements, but we coexist in New York.
As always, kudos to the activists for getting out there. I know they want a fair and equitable city for all, I just don’t think this is the way to go about it.
February 14, 2019
George Hayward
[1] https://ny.curbed.com/2018/11/16/18098589/amazon-hq2-nyc-queens-long-island-city-explained
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/nyregion/amazon-hq2-queens.html
[4] https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/27/16552614/amazon-popularity-user-survey-prime-echo-trust