When Amazon picked New York City as one of two locations to house its headquarters, the city was ecstatic for the 25,000 jobs promised for the 25,000 people so eagerly waiting. Or so Bezos thought. Instead of plopping themselves right into Long Island City as was planned, the people of New York had different ideas. After widespread protests, Amazon retreated on their New York headquarters.
The initial acceptance of Amazon into the city seemed to be par for the course in terms of how the city has operated for close to three decades now, with open arms to mega corporations and the elite rich and a continued pricing out of the working class. The city was simply operating like “Moses on an unprecedented scale but with Jane Jacobs in mind” (Moss 89) which is a contradictory statement in its own right. The plan was to move to Long Island City and make room for an extremely expensive tenant to an already expensive area which would then bring even more expensive people into the area. Jobs that require specialized education and offer high salaries will attract people with such qualifications from all around the country or people already living in the city working for another high end corporation. People already living there would easily become priced out as developers were licking their chops to build around the area. Everything from shops to restaurants to office space would envelop the area and transform it into another business district.
However, seeing as this did not come to fruition, it is refreshing to see people of the city win something for a change. After reading Jeremiah Moss’s work, I became disheartened with the city I live in and still love today. The realization that the city is becoming more and more of a home for the wealthy man and less so for the working class man does not seem right. Although the what ifs of this Amazon deal will be hotly debated for years to come, it seems like the spirit of Jane Jacobs lives on in some sense. At least in this case, the corporation did not come first to the city. In a place where its mayor ten years ago prayed for billionaires and the super rich to come live in New York, this seems to be one step in the direction of prioritizing the working class and healing our vanishing city we love so dearly.
- Do you think Amazon would’ve helped lower class people in the city directly by building headquarters in Long Island City?
- Where is the line between private and public partnership and do you think this move from the politicians and the people of the city to protest Amazon was an overreaction or a justified reaction?
- Do you think this has started a trend for New York City to begin to be less welcoming to corporations and chains or was this simply an anomaly?
