Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Amazon had NYC in the bag. Then left-wing activists got fired up.[ WaPo & owner: NYC too liberal]
washingtonpost.com ^ | 2-15-19

Posted on 02/15/2019 1:46:56 PM PST by NoLibZone

The deal drew opposition even before it was officially announced.

The news that Amazon picked Queens as one of its coveted second headquarters in exchange for nearly $3 billion in tax subsidies broke the day before the 2018 midterm elections, and negative reactions from a newly energized left wing grew quickly in New York City.

The company, valued at $800 billion as of early February, hosted a beauty pageant of a search for what was believed to be a single headquarters, only to split its workforce and settle on two already-thriving East Coast cities. New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, out of favor with his party’s progressive wing, joked about changing his name to “Amazon,” a not-so-subtle wink and nod to selling out that sounded particularly tone-deaf to his Queens constituents. Most significantly, the deal was approved through a process that prevented city officials and residents from weighing in at all — let alone vetoing the plan.

The opposition to the project united an array of advocacy groups, elected officials and activists rallying over concerns about affordable housing, infrastructure, environmental causes and labor. Among the opponents were officials such as Ramos and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), part of a crop of liberal lawmakers who unseated centrist Democrats during the primaries last summer.

The opposition also included local chapters of the progressive groups that have grown since President Trump’s election, such as Indivisible, True Blue and the Democratic Socialists of America, the same organizers who propelled Ocasio-Cortez to a surprise victory in her race for Congress. The group held a town hall in Astoria about the deal; hundreds of people packed the venue.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia; US: New York; US: Vermont; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: amazon; anotheraocthread; berniesanders; bezos; districtofcolumbia; jeffbezos; newyork; nyc; ocasiocortez; rentfree; rentfreeonfr; taxes; vermont; washingtoncompost; washingtonpost
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-79 last
To: NoLibZone

“The news that Amazon picked Queens as one of its coveted second headquarters in exchange for nearly $3 billion in tax subsidies broke the day before the 2018 midterm elections, and negative reactions from a newly energized left wing grew quickly in New York City.”


What AOC et al missed, after they scanned the headlines and reacted, was that the $3 billion was a tax reduction in the $27 billion in taxes Amazon would pay over 10 years.

She proudly saved NY State $24 billion in tax revenue and got rid of 25,000 underpaid slave labor jobs.

She then went on to enumerate how she could more wisely spend the $3 billion ...

Even an airhead might be smarter ...


61 posted on 02/16/2019 1:52:01 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NoLibZone

Yep - ironic that socialism, which requires capitalism in order to pretend to ‘work” also does its best to stifle capitalism...


62 posted on 02/16/2019 1:58:23 AM PST by trebb (Don't howl about illegal leeches while not donating to FR - it's hypocritical.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EinNYC

Before Disney announced their Florida park, they had various corporations buying up land near the new project. So after the Park’s new location was announced, they already owned the adjoining properties, which they could then sell to hotels and restaurants at a handsome profit.

That should be Bezos’ next move. It might pay for his divorce.


63 posted on 02/16/2019 2:08:08 AM PST by Loud Mime (Liberalism: intolerance masquerading as tolerance)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: PIF

Truly amazing....


64 posted on 02/16/2019 2:10:53 AM PST by Loud Mime (Liberalism: intolerance masquerading as tolerance)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: NYAmerican; Alberta's Child
Long Island isn't an island—SCOTUS

In 1985, all nine justices on the Supreme Court agreed. Long Island, that mass of land completely surrounded by water, is not an island. It's a peninsula.

65 posted on 02/16/2019 3:28:31 AM PST by Does so (Build the Cpl Ronil Singh Memorial Wall...A Legal Immigrant...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child

Since I was born in Queens and lived on Long Island for about my first ten years, I would appreciate you not lecturing me on its geographic locations.

Long Island City is part of Queens. It has different representatives, council members than any part of Long Island. If you are living on Long Island, you are NOT living in the city of New York. If you are living in Long Island City, you are.


66 posted on 02/16/2019 4:45:55 AM PST by miss marmelstein
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: Does so

Did the Supreme Court force the state of New York to change the name of Long Island to Long Peninsula? Apparently not.


67 posted on 02/16/2019 4:56:04 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: miss marmelstein
Spoken like a true New Yorker ... "My view is reality -- no matter what the facts are."

When your family moved from Queens to "Long Island," did they have to cross a bridge to get there? If Queens isn't on the land mass known as Long Island, then what is the name of the land mass where it is located?

From Wikipedia:

Long Island is a densely populated island off the East Coast of the United States, beginning at New York Harbor approximately 0.35 miles (0.56 km) from Manhattan Island and extending eastward into the Atlantic Ocean. The island comprises four counties in the U.S. state of New York. Kings and Queens Counties (the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, respectively) and Nassau County share the western third of the island, while Suffolk County occupies the eastern two-thirds. More than half of New York City's residents now live on Long Island, in Brooklyn and Queens. However, many people in the New York metropolitan area (including those in Brooklyn and Queens) colloquially use the term Long Island (or the Island) to refer exclusively to Nassau and Suffolk Counties, which are mainly suburban in character, conversely employing the term the City to mean Manhattan alone.

You can look up the definition of "colloquially," while you're at it.

If you're going to tell me that "Queens" is a land mass, then you're obviously either a lawyer, an AOC staffer, or you're in the entertainment business. Nobody else would be so fixed in their own reality.

68 posted on 02/16/2019 5:06:04 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child

You are stupidly talking about geographic locations and I am talking about the reality of what Long Island City is. This is like saying Hunterdon County, NJ is in Pennsylvania because it sits next to Bucks County, PA. Or visa versa. Until Long Island City votes to secede from New York City and become a part of Nassau County, it is, in fact, in NYC. Sheesh. This isn’t brain surgery.


69 posted on 02/16/2019 5:24:54 AM PST by miss marmelstein
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 68 | View Replies]

To: miss marmelstein
I'm not "stupidly" talking about anything.

You are stupidly talking about geographic locations and I am talking about the reality of what Long Island City is.

Go back and read what I posted in #25, you moron. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I SAID. I explained the distinction between what Long Island City is and where it is ... which is apparently too complicated for you to understand.

This is like saying Hunterdon County, NJ is in Pennsylvania because it sits next to Bucks County, PA.

No -- it is like saying that Hunterdon County (NJ) and Bucks County (PA) are both in the Delaware Valley ... and then having a jackass from New York tell me: "I've lived in Delaware County (NY) all my life. Don't lecture me about what the 'Delaware Valley' is."

70 posted on 02/16/2019 5:34:59 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 69 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child

I’m sick of arguing with you. Your posts to me make no sense - I don’t know now whether you are arguing that Long Island City is a part of Long Island or that it is separate from Long Island. This is the kind of stupid stuff that goes on a FR all the time - dumb circular arguments.

Your real aim is to insult New Yorkers. Go ahead, just leave me out of it.


71 posted on 02/16/2019 5:46:46 AM PST by miss marmelstein
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 70 | View Replies]

To: miss marmelstein
I don't know what you're complaining about. This all started when I read two posts by different Freepers -- one of whom isn't from the area and isn't familiar with the distinction between NYC as a municipality and Long Island as a geographic area. I simply pointed out the difference between the two. Everything seemed fine until you came along.

This is the kind of stupid stuff that goes on a FR all the time - dumb circular arguments. Your real aim is to insult New Yorkers. Go ahead, just leave me out of it.

Go back and read through all the posts in this thread. The problem isn't FR. The problem is you. There was no "argument" on this point until you showed up on this thread.

There's no need for me to insult New Yorkers. I'll let your posts on this thread stand on their own.

72 posted on 02/16/2019 7:20:19 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 71 | View Replies]

To: NoLibZone

Notice how AOC is now a raging nativist when it comes to jobs in her district?


73 posted on 02/16/2019 8:56:00 AM PST by The Pack Knight
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NoLibZone

Amazon pulled out after a meeting with city and state officials where they were “asked” to join in with all the local liberal causes. In other words, a shakedown.


74 posted on 02/16/2019 9:15:05 AM PST by Ford4000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mears

Of course...both Queens and B’klyn are technically on Long Island, but most people think of LI, with its attendant traffic and such, as the suburbs: Farmingdale, Port Washington, the Gold Coast, etc.

Not one of the five boroughs, which is where LI City’s located.

Sorry I didn’t reply sooner, I’ve been busy.


75 posted on 02/19/2019 8:18:39 PM PST by Sir_Ed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: FreeReign

lol at all of those record breaking apartment or condo deals that were for naught.


76 posted on 02/19/2019 8:25:24 PM PST by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child

Interesting!

Thanks for the background info.


77 posted on 02/19/2019 8:28:14 PM PST by Sir_Ed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Cold Heart

Those selfsame Californians are ruining Oregon...just destroying it.


78 posted on 02/19/2019 8:30:06 PM PST by Sir_Ed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child

Putting mom and pops out of biz, for the greater good.


79 posted on 02/19/2019 8:49:53 PM PST by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-79 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson