Earlier this year, Amazon, a multi-billion dollar company had announced the establishment of their headquarters in Long Island City, Queens. NYC. With this decision came a lot of backlash for the ramifications of what this would mean for the neighborhood surrounding it. This is because the place where Amazon wanted to set up shop borders an area of low-income housing. A big company moving into low-income areas would eventually lead to gentrification, causing the cost of living there to increase dramatically and effectively forcing those who live there to be displaced. The protesting in opposition to this decision had a profound impact on the end result; politicians and others who had previously supported the Amazon Headquarters in Queens reevaluated their decisions. This eventually caused Amazon to back down from its initial deal with the city and was a huge relief to those who are living in the area.
Mentioned in the article was also the use of generous subsidies, tax breaks, and “lax” regulation as a motivator to “lure” Amazon into choosing NYC for their headquarter location. Jeremiah Moss mentions this type of situation in his book, Vanishing New York when he wrote, “the city brought in big real estate developers and corporations with generous tax abatements and other government subsidies” (page 53). Knowing this is a trend that leads to negative impacts on neighborhoods, we should address the root of the problem and correct it, starting with restrictions and regulations on what the government allowed to offer private companies in this aspect. This was just one instance where a neighborhood escaped the negative ramifications that gentrification brings about, but there are many other situations that did not lead to a positive resolution.
Questions:
- Is there a way to introduce the positive aspects of gentrification without displacing those who live there, or increasing the cost of living in that area dramatically?
- How can we prevent the city from making decisions like the initial Amazon deal above which can ultimately lead to gentrification?
- How can we regulate what the city can offer as “motivation” to companies?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/23/amazon-new-york-headquarters-corporate-power-balance
