Looks like the best outcome for all - Amazon, NY, VA, and Nashville. Amazon avoids all the political push back. NY can focus on NY, and NoVa and Nashville can benefit from the tech jobs.
Good insight from Neil Irwin, the New York Times’ senior economic correspondent: “The Amazon HQ2 stunt started with notions that the company might single-handedly turn a city like Pittsburgh or Raleigh, or even Detroit, into a major tech hub, and ended with filling in a bunch of vacant office buildings next to National Airport.”
Drama is over. Let the chips fall where they may. Some people will gain. Some people will lose.
Well… I’m one of the losers. The Amazon announcement boosted the value of my apartment and this will wipe out that gain.
I don’t think this was all about Amazon coming to NYC. A lot of this was about the way this was done. First De Blasio did this with no input at all from the City Council. Second, a lot of people felt that the City offered way too many tax incentives and perks to get Amazon to come. I’ll admit I felt giving Bezos the right to build a private heliport there was more than a bit over the top. Third, a lot of people felt that this would make things really bad for the local residents, including those in Ravenswood, the largest public housing project in the US, which is right next to where the headquarters was supposed to go.
Relatedly, Governor Cuomo last week when tax receipts came in disastrously under projections:
This is gonna get ugly because the politicians just cannot stop spending. So glad I left years ago.
Interestingly, Congressman Gregory Meeks (NY 5th) was just on TV saying he felt that having Amazon next to Ravenswood would be a positive.
Of course not. (Obviously, Da’ Mayor and every other local politico would have been ecstatic for a large corporation to move in and pay full freight.)
Instead, it was all about Amazon coming to NYC at the proposed “cost”. And yes, gentrification is part of that cost. But then again, a large corporate customer will also hire plenty of folks for blue collar jobs which might be attractive to next-door public housing residents.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-amazon-hq-chicago-20190214-story.html
Here’s hoping Chicago is back in play.
Certainly not a sign the NY is dying, at least the city. Amazon in LI City would have done very little to help the upstate areas that need more economic development. But I wonder how all those criticizing this feel now that NO Amazon jobs will be coming to Queens.
I’d imagine the people who were protesting weren’t planning on applying for those Amazon jobs in Queens.
I think Amazon always intended to be in or near NY and DC. The whole search was a ploy to get tax breaks which frankly, they don’t need. A private helipad just a short hop from LGA? Hmmmmm, doesn’t sound fishy at all.
NYC should celebrate. All they did was rattle sabers and Bezos took his toys and left. He did’t want the deal unless it was 100% on his terms.
“Here’s hoping Chicago is back in play.”
Admission decisions are final. And they don’t have a waiting list.
:>
Amazon would have gotten 3 billion in subsidies from NY, just FYI.
^ NY spends over 20 times that number on free medical care for NYS residents each year. They need to ensure a tax base going forward at all costs.
Illinois should remove itself as it is a state with net population outflow and can ill afford to be giving the worlds wealthiest man a bunch of tax breaks. How about shoring up your pensions?
Technically, the $3B is a discount on taxes that Amazon would have to pay in the future (as opposed to tax payers funding the $3B up front). Notably, such subsidies are available to anyone that wants to open a biz in NY. (Where Amazon needed most political help was in rezoning some of the land/warehouse space.)
Regardless, no problem now, since net taxes are now zero and the vacant land remains vacant. 
@SatchelSF - the rumor is that the city was going to require that they let their workers be unionized. That is something that Amazon is very, very afraid of. That’s why they decided to raise their minimum wage to $15/hr across the board suddenly - Whole Foods workers were close to unionizing. Unionized workers generally bargain for good health care.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office estimated it would provide a revenue boost of $27.5 billion total for the state and city over the next 25 years.
I give you $3B and you give me $27.5B within 25 years.
Do the math to see which side comes out ahead.
I don’t blame them for bailing if they were facing unionization potential! What company would want that?
Does NY need more white collar jobs? Where would all the cleaning and low paying employees live once Queens is gentrified? They should have focused on lower cost cities.