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(Bloomberg) -- Two politicians from Amazon.com Inc.’s hometown traveled across the country to New York to deliver a cautionary message about the company’s expansion in the city.
Members of the Seattle City Council, Lisa Herbold and Teresa Mosqueda, are urging elected officials in New York to pass legislation now that will address potential housing and transportation issues that will inevitably follow in the wake of Amazon’s decision to build a major new campus in Queens. Both are speaking Monday at an event hosted by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which has been backing efforts to organize workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island.
"I hope they can learn from Seattle’s experiences and create a set of new expectations for corporate responsibility that can benefit the working poor who work for Amazon and other people priced out of housing in high cost cities everywhere," Herbold said in an emailed statement ahead of the event.
Amazon announced in November a major expansion in Long Island City, New York, and Crystal City, Virginia. In New York, Amazon would spend about $2.5 billion to create an 8.5 million square foot campus on the East River waterfront facing Manhattan from Long Island City. In return, the internet giant is set to receive almost $3 billion worth of state and city incentives.
While Amazon could generate more than $27.5 billion in additional tax revenue for the city over 25 years, local politicians and community activists have already come out against the deal. Opponents fear the high salaries promised by Amazon and influx of as many as 40,000 employees eventually will push out residents in one of the city’s fastest growing neighborhoods, and lead to even more congestion in the already overburdened subway system.
Amazon is involved “in a long-term listening and engagement process to better understand the community’s needs,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement. “We’re committed to being a great neighbor -- and ensuring our new headquarters is a win for all New Yorkers.”
Amazon’s pitch to cities highlighted the company’s economic contribution to its hometown of Seattle. However, there is a growing backlash against Amazon in Seattle, where its turbocharged growth has exacerbated traffic, led to skyrocketing housing prices, and helped push homelessness to crisis levels.
To be sure, the visitors from Seattle represent a city of 725,000, a fraction of New York’s 8.6 million residents, with a much less diverse population and economy than New York, a city with the resources to deliver a budget of about $90 billion a year, dwarfing Seattle’s $6 billion.