The People Who Torpedoed Amazon – By Jared Brey (US News) / Feb 14 2019
The world’s most valuable company just suffered a defeat. In Queens, these groups are declaring victory.
Just three months ago, Amazon declared that it would be building major new job centers in New York City and Virginia, capping off a year of speculation about which city would play host to its expanded headquarters, called “HQ2.” But on Thursday, the company announced that it was canceling its plans in New York, citing a lack of confidence in lawmakers’ support for the deal, which included more than $3 billion worth of public subsidies. Instead of building in New York, Amazon said, it would carry on with its plans in Virginia, without reopening the competition for another headquarters city.
For the world’s most valuable company, it was an unexpected defeat. But for a coalition of organizers in the Queens neighborhoods where Amazon had planned to build, it was a bracing win. Soon after Amazon announced its intention to expand in New York, a handful of community organizations began pressuring lawmakers to oppose the project. Their reasons were varied, and included the size of the corporate subsidy, concerns about gentrification and displacement, a lack of public input on the deal, and anger over Amazon’s reported dealings with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The cracks in the agreement began to show when Democratic State Sen. Michael Gianaris, a vocal opponent of the project, was appointed to the Public Authorities Control Board in New York, which would have had some control over whether the project moved forward. (The controversy didn’t break on partisan lines. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, was one of the primary supporters of HQ2 in New York. The state legislature, also controlled by Democrats, appointed Gianaris to the Board.) On Thursday, Gianaris welcomed the news that Amazon planned to back out of the project.
“Today’s behavior by Amazon shows why they would have been a bad partner for New York in any event,” Gianaris said in a statement to U.S. News. “Rather than seriously engage with the community they proposed to profoundly change, Amazon continued its effort to shakedown governments to get its way. It is time for a national dialogue about the perils of these types of corporate subsidies.”
Opposition began to coalesce shortly after the announcement in November, with a host of groups publicly denouncing the project. Make the Road New York, a group that works with immigrant communities, released a 26-page report in December outlining why the deal was bad for Queens, and what could be done to stop it. In a statement, the group called Thursday’s announcement “a landmark victory for our communities.” Other groups that joined the coalition opposing the project included the Queens Anti-Gentrification Project, the Queens chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Queens Neighborhoods United, New York Communities for Change, CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities, PrimedOut NYC, and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).
Our official statement on #Amazon's withdrawal from #LIC: "Amazon or no, we vow to continue this fight as a check to corporate nepotism, piecemeal rezonings, reckless development and irresponsible government."#YesWeCan #SiSePuede pic.twitter.com/PnZPLbED3p
— PrimedOut NYC (@PrimedOutNYC) February 14, 2019
https://twitter.com/QueensDSA/status/1096103486574522371
“I don’t know if there was any decisive moment,” said Jose Cabrera, a co-chair of the Queens DSA. “I don’t know if any one person or any one group can take credit. I think we just wore them down a bit, honestly. I don’t think they were expecting opposition, and they were surprised.”
Cabrera said that a number of advocacy groups had a town hall-style meeting in Queens shortly after the announcement in November, and Queens DSA helped organize two canvassing efforts to let people know about Amazon’s plans and build opposition pressure.
Shrima Pandey, an organizer with Queens Neighborhoods United, said that the coalition was effective because it attacked the project from various angles. Her group was focused on community control of land in Queens, and worked to educate residents about the threat of rising property values and displacement. Staking out a firm position was pivotal, she said.
“We pushed for no concessions from the start,” Pandey said. “We made sure we stood our ground.”
Elected officials in New York also credited organizers with pressuring Amazon to back out. Michael Carter, communications director for Democratic New York State Sen. Julia Salazar, who was elected in September with support from the DSA, said the announcement was “a turning point for the ability of working people in New York to organize for their interests against the billionaire class.” And New York City Councilman Francisco Moya, who represents parts of Queens, credited “tenacious grassroots organizing” with beating “a corporate Goliath.”
Meanwhile, Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a group that tracks corporate subsidies around the country, said that the New York HQ2 deal was negotiated too secretively between the company and Gov. Cuomo, and that public pressure from community groups pushed lawmakers to oppose the project.
“I think we learned that community organizing works, and that people concerned about being able to stay in their homes matters,” LeRoy said Thursday, “and that Amazon flew too high and was very arrogant about both the $3 billion in subsidies they wanted, but also the process by which they conspired with the governor to exclude the City Council from the process. I think everything about Amazon’s behavior was high-handed and arrogant.”
