Unfair and arbitrary to Wilhelm’s working people. NY isn’t the only place that has working people. If I was Amazon I would go inefficient and put people to work in 10 different places to spite Wilhelm, and Cuomo.
Baffled me that they would even want to build a large business complex in NYC, when the cost of land acquisition, permits, union-only construction costs, kickbacks, utilities, etc are multiple times what they would be elsewhere in the country.
I've been following the issue in the Puget Sound Business Journal. When Seattle announced the tax on jobs, Amazon announced they would not occupy a building to which they had committed; they would sublease the space.
When Amazon announced NYC was a no go, they took pains to emphasize there was no change in their employment plans in Seattle...no additional jobs.
Amazon has been shopping for office space/buildings on the Eastside (across Lake Washington from Seattle) specifically Bellevue. They have committed to or have inquired about space sufficient to house...25,000 workers. Bellevue has a very friendly and supportive business climate and city government.
Quite the coincidence.