Amazon HQ2

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Overview

Amazon HQ2 refers to Amazon's announcement that they would be setting up an additional headquarters location in North America apart from their Seattle headquarters. This set off a nationwide bidding war as most states submitted proposals for Amazon to choose their city. Over a year after Amazon announced the initiative, the company announced it had chosen to place headquarters in New York City and northern Virginia, and faced intense backlash from citizens of those areas who feared Amazon's presence would increase housing costs and that the cost of hosting Amazon would be a misuse of tax revenue that could go to more worthwhile causes. Amazon eventually cancelled the New York City deal after resistance from local politicians.

Background

On September 20th, 2017, Amazon announced that they would be looking to build a second headquarters to supplement their Seattle headquarters.^[1] In asking for proposals from cities, Amazon said its requirements were thus:

Metropolitan areas with a population of over 1 million
Within 30 miles (48 km) of a population center
Within 45 minutes of an international airport
Proximity to major highways and arterial roads 1–3 miles (2–5 km)
Access to mass transit routes
Up to 8 million square feet (740,000 m2) of office space for future expansion

Developments

The announcement set off a bidding war between 238 cities in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Influential figures in some of these cities set up campaigns in an attempt to woo Amazon. For example, Kansas City, Missouri mayor Sly James purchased 5,000 Amazon products which he donated to charity, and gave five-star reviews to each product while touting Kansas City's attributes. New York City mayor Bill De Blasio lit up New York's landmarks in orange to show the city wanted Amazon. On January 20th, 2018, Amazon announced 20 finalist cities.

During the process, some criticized the bidding war set up by the company. Little Rock, Arkansas took out a full page ad in the Washington Post announcing their decision to withdraw their bid.^[2] Professor Scott Galloway called the bidding war a sham, predicting in early 2018 that the only contenders were the Washington D.C. area and New York City, as both areas were close to Bezos' homes.^[3] When he was proven right later that year, Galloway accused the bidding war of being a con to make New York and the Washington D.C. area sweeten their bids with more tax breaks for the company.^[4] Writing in the Atlantic,^[5] Derek Thompson claimed the bidding war was shameful and should be illegal.

Final Choice

On November 13th, 2018, Amazon confirmed that they would be splitting their second headquarters between New York City and Crystal City, Virginia, a town near Washington D.C.^[6] The New York City headquarters would be in the Long Island City neighborhood of the Queens borough. In a blog post, Amazon stated they will get over $1.5 billion in direct incentives for placing their headquarters in New York, promising over 25,000 jobs in the city.^[7] They would also create 25,000 jobs in Crystal City, Virginia, receiving a $573 million incentive. They also announced they would create an "Operations Center of Excellence" in Nashville, Tennessee, creating 5,000 jobs.

Citizens of both areas were displeased with the announcement. Local New York City politicians, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stated that the response from the populace had been outrage while others promised protest. Evidently, New York governor Andrew Cuomo and Bill De Blasio made the decision without public input.^[8] Twitter users in New York City announced their displeasure with the decision while arguing that the $1.5 billion the city was giving Amazon could be better used for projects like improving the city's mass transit system or improving education. Additionally, many took issue with the fact that part of the Amazon agreement involved constructing a taxpayer-funded helipad ostensibly for Bezos.

Northern Virginians also were worried about Amazon's influence on their area, as many voiced fears for rising housing costs.

New York Cancellation

On February 14th, 2019, Amazon announced that they cancelled their plans to create a headquarters in New York City.^[9] The move came after a February 13th meeting between Amazon and local union leaders opposed to the company's move to New York City which reportedly found Amazon unwilling to compromise. New York State Senator Michael Gianaris, whose neighborhood included Long Island City, stated, "Like a petulant child, Amazon insists on getting its way or takes its ball and leaves. The only thing that happened here is that a community that was going to be profoundly affected by their presence started asking questions.’’ Amazon blamed the cancellation on resistance from local politicians, though they saw data which suggested the move was popular among New York City Residents. They also stated that they had no plans to open another location other than their already planned location in the Northern Virginia area.

The cancellation was mostly praised online by New York City residents. Twitter user jayasax congratulated New York's organized resistance to the move, gaining over 280 retweets and 1,100 likes (shown below, left). User DanRiffle wrote, "amazon is still perfectly welcome to build in NYC--always has been. They just have to give up the bullying. You can't have a 'positive, collaborative relationship' with a community if your terms are 'pay our $3B bribe or we're out.'" The tweet indicated that the cancellation was indicative of Amazon's refusal to back away from the $3 billion tax break promised by New York, and had they been willing to compromise on that, the deal may have gone through.

Others were less thrilled about the cancellation. NBC reporter Tom Winters bemoaned the loss of the 25,000 jobs Amazon had promised when New York City was facing $2.3 billion shortfall in tax revenue (shown below, left). However, many Twitter users argued with him saying that giving Amazon $3 billion would only worsen the problem.^[10] Political commentator John Burnett stated the cancellation was a lesson in how progressives kill jobs (shown below, right).

Other Twitter users tweeted jokes about the news. Writer Jason Gilbert wrote a joke that gained over 690 retweets and 4,000 likes (shown below, left). Many Twitter users joked that the decision was reminiscent of a common type of Medium essay about people leaving New York.^[11]^[12] One popular example was tweeted by Twitter user @DaveWeigel (shown below, right).