Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) gloated over her objection to housing an Amazon headquarters in New York City after its construction near Washington, D.C., was stalled.
Ocasio-Cortez said the pause in construction vindicated her concerns that the project was a “scam of public funds.”
AMAZON PAUSES CONSTRUCTION OF NEW HEADQUARTERS NEAR DC AS IT CUTS JOBS AND COSTS
“When I opposed this Amazon project coming to New York bc it was a scam of public funds, the whole power establishment came after us,” she tweeted. “Billboards went up in Times Sq denouncing me. Powerful pols promised revenge. Op-Eds & CEOs insulted my intelligence. In the end, we were right.”
“I know I’ll never get an apology for that time, but it was worth it,” she continued. “We protected NYers from a scam deal to drain public dollars from schools & infrastructure in exchange for empty promises of ‘Amazon jobs’ w/ 0 guarantees or guardrails. Sadly, cities who took it are suffering.”
I know I’ll never get an apology for that time, but it was worth it.
We protected NYers from a scam deal to drain public dollars from schools & infrastructure in exchange for empty promises of “Amazon jobs” w/ 0 guarantees or guardrails. Sadly, cities who took it are suffering.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 3, 2023
An Amazon spokeswoman said that the apparent delay in construction of its planned 2.1 million square foot office near the Pentagon, Metropolitan Park, was only a shifting of timelines, and that construction is, “very much active and nearly complete.” She also clarified that the shift was unrelated to any layoffs.
“We’ve already hired more than 8,000 employees in HQ2 and we’re excited to welcome them to our new Met Park campus this June. We’re always evaluating space plans to make sure they fit our business needs and to create a great experience for employees, and since Met Park will have space to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, we’ve decided to shift the groundbreaking of PenPlace (the second phase of HQ2) out a bit,” Amazon GREF Vice President John Schoettler said.
“Our second headquarters has always been a multi-year project, and we remain committed to Arlington, Virginia, and the greater Capital Region,” he added.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) for comment on the project.
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Amazon said its is committed to creating 25,000 corporate and tech jobs in Virginia by 2030. Virginia fought off several other states in its pursuit of attracting the tech giant to settle just outside the nation’s capital.
While the Big Tech behemoth has poured funding into the region and its surrounding neighborhoods in anticipation of the new building, it has suffered steep financial losses after it built itself up during the pandemic. Since November 2022, Amazon has cut more than 18,000 workers and scaled back projects in other states.
