Two Seattle city councillors have issued a warning and travelled to New York City to warn legislators in the Big Apple of some of the problems that they have experienced as host city to such a huge business concern as Amazon as the development of Amazon HQ2 begins.
We wrote about the new Amazon HQ2 location on Tamebay here.
Seattle in Washington State in the United States has been the home for Amazon for the last few decades and now their office facility there plays host to something like 50,000 staffers but, with huge potential growth in the offing, the city won’t be big enough for further expansion.
A year ago they started the search for a new HQ, dubbed Amazon HQ2, that will be the equal site playing host to another 50,000 Amazon staff in due course. The location that has been selected will be two cities, Washington and New York City, and development of the facilities has already started.
I hope they can learn from Seattle’s experiences and create a set of new expectations for corporate responsibility that can benefit the working poor who work for Amazon and other people priced out of housing in high-cost cities everywhere.
– Lisa Herbold, Seattle City Council
One of the Seattle reps has specifically warned NYC to set proper new taxes and not be persuaded by philanthropic offering from the ecommerce behemoth. 50,000 new high-paid jobs can have a significant impact on a city and money should come to the municipal coffers to pay for new facilities. Housing pressures are a key concern according to the Seattle politicians.
This isn’t about being anti-growth or anti-corporation. It’s about corporate accountability and shared responsibility,These companies do well because of our workforce and infrastructure, and they’ll continue to do well if they invest in that infrastructure.
– Teresa Mosqueda, Seattle City Council
