Minor Deity
| Muffin uses the L a good bit. There's another line reasonably close to her, but closing the L will make her life a little harder for quite a while. |
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Has Achieved Nirvana
| quote: After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens. For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term. While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.
We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion — we love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture — and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents. There are currently over 5,000 Amazon employees in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island, and we plan to continue growing these teams.
We are deeply grateful to Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, and their staffs, who so enthusiastically and graciously invited us to build in New York City and supported us during the process. Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio have worked tirelessly on behalf of New Yorkers to encourage local investment and job creation, and we can’t speak positively enough about all their efforts. The steadfast commitment and dedication that these leaders have demonstrated to the communities they represent inspired us from the very beginning and is one of the big reasons our decision was so difficult.
We do not intend to re-open the HQ2 search at this time. We will proceed as planned in Northern Virginia and Nashville, and we will continue to hire and grow across our 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the U.S. and Canada.
Thank you again to Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, and the many other community leaders and residents who welcomed our plans and supported us along the way. We hope to have future chances to collaborate as we continue to build our presence in New York over time.
https://www.chicagotribune.com...html#nt=oft12aH-1gp2
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We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love… and then we return home. - Australian Aboriginal proverb
Bazootiehead-in-training
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| | | Posts: 37939 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010 | 
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Has Achieved Nirvana
| This is really sad.
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If you think looting is bad wait until I tell you about civil forfeiture.
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Has Achieved Nirvana
| Maybe. OTOH, everyone thought it was really sad that Los Angeles wouldn't kick in any money to build a new football stadium. Turns out the opportunity was good enough that the promoters were able to build it without public money. If Amazon wants a new HQ in Queens badly enough they certainly have the wherewithal to pay for it themselves.
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Life is short. Play with your dog.
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| | | Posts: 34971 | Location: Hooterville, OH | Registered: 23 April 2005 |
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Has Achieved Nirvana
| If NY doesn't want the jobs (and the community spending that goes with the people who are employed), Amazon obviously decided that that was their choice.
I tend to think this is very short-sighted on the part of the same liberal activists who will then moan about people who can't find well-paying jobs, but I think a lot of the whining by liberal activists is short-sighted. |
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Has Achieved Nirvana
| The flip side is that if Amazon wants to flood that already crowded city with more people, the permit process is set up such that Amazon can pay for the necessary infrastructure upgrades as part of the construction effort. Paying them to move in and then crying poverty when traffic no longer moves doesn't make any sense.
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Life is short. Play with your dog.
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| | | Posts: 34971 | Location: Hooterville, OH | Registered: 23 April 2005 |
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Minor Deity
| quote: Originally posted by Nina:
This whole thing irks me, though I'm struggling to explain why. I guess the dog and pony show of cities scrambling to put together proposals and parade in front of Bezos & Co., only to see the selection made primarily on the basis of the best financial deal strikes me as corporate bullying.
Exactly. Corporate welfare. Where's this free market that's supposed to take of everything? Amazon is one of the world's biggest richest companies, and they're begging for handouts? Up theirs. |
| | | Posts: 10573 | Location: North Groton, NH | Registered: 21 April 2005 |
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Has Achieved Nirvana
| quote: Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
If NY doesn't want the jobs...
Careful with your choice of nouns. The state was for it, the city was for it, the majority of the people were for it. The biggest detractors were those who controlled the local land use process. They (correctly) saw the fast track deal as a lost opportunity for political graft.
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If you think looting is bad wait until I tell you about civil forfeiture.
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Has Achieved Nirvana
| Honestly I don’t think most of the opposing groups wanted the deal dead, they just wanted a cut.
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If you think looting is bad wait until I tell you about civil forfeiture.
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Has Achieved Nirvana
| I don't know Queens, so I'll ask- What percentage of the jobs Amazon was offering would likely go to current residents of Queens?
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Life is short. Play with your dog.
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| | | Posts: 34971 | Location: Hooterville, OH | Registered: 23 April 2005 |
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Foregoing Practicing to Post
Minor Deity
| quote: Originally posted by jon-nyc:
The biggest detractors were those who controlled the local land use process. They (correctly) saw the fast track deal as a lost opportunity for political graft.
Can you go into a little more detail? I don't know how city stuff gets done, so am interested to know.
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“It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray
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| | | Posts: 13814 | Location: The outer burrows | Registered: 27 April 2005 |
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Minor Deity
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| | | Posts: 10573 | Location: North Groton, NH | Registered: 21 April 2005 |
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