“This is an example of an abuse of corporate power,” is how New York Mayor described scrapping of Amazon headquarters in the city.
Speaking to NBC, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio described how the company cancelled the plan just months after announcing it. He said: “Amazon just took their ball and went home.”
He said that the city offered Amazon a fair deal and faulted the company for walking away after receiving criticism.
“They said they wanted a partnership, but the minute there were criticisms, they walked away. What does that say to work people that a company would leave them high and dry simply because some people raised criticisms?”
– Bill de Blasio, Mayor, New York
We reported last week on the company cancelling the Amazon HQ2 New York office. Amazon said that they would need a “positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials” to build a new headquarters.
Amazon plans started to crumble when they received political opposition. Last November saw Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, member of Democratic party criticising subsidies that New York offered to attract Amazon, including $1.525bn (£1.180bn) investment that would have seen the company creating 25,000 new jobs with an average salary of $150,000. She said that it’s “extremely concerning” that New York’s underground is crumbling and communities need more investment when Amazon would receive hundreds of million dollars.
Amazon said last week that they would not look into replacing Amazon HQ2 with another city, and the company will continue their plans for Northern Virginia and Nashville. The initiative will hire and grow across their 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the US and Canada.
