New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday that Amazon’s decision to pull out of a planned 25,000-employee campus in Queens was “an abuse of corporate power.”
The online retail and cloud-computing giant on Thursday withdrew plans to open the New York headquarters, citing “a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence.”
The withdrawal has divided Democrats, with the party’s more left-wing members celebrating the pullout, citing opposition to special incentives and the gentrifying effects of adding so many new well-paid workers to the area.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., hailed the pullout as proof that “[a]nything is possible,” while the state’s Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo condemned that a “small group [of] politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community.”
Rather than blame members of his own party, de Blasio, who is weighing a 2020 run, took a tough line against the company on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
“Amazon just took their ball and went home. And what they did was confirm people’s worst fears about corporate America,” he said. “They said they wanted a partnership, but the minute there were criticisms, they walked away. What does that say to working people that a company would leave them high and dry simply because some people raised criticisms?”
De Blasio added: “I am representing 8.6 million people, and a clear majority of those people believe we need more fairness in our economy. But of course, we need jobs, we need growth, we need revenue.”
Amazon said the workers would have made an average salary of $150,000, which is well above the national average.
The company still plans to open another 25,000-worker campus near the Pentagon in Northern Virginia, where it also faces some — albeit much less — political opposition, including from the Virginia legislature’s only declared socialist. Amazon is also sticking with a Nashville, Tenn., operations center slated to employ 5,000.
“Congratulations to the people of New York on cancelling the massive Amazon gentrification plan,” said Virginia Del. Lee Carter, a Democrat. “I ask for solidarity and support as the people of Northern Virginia fight for our own futures as well.”
