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Ocasio-Cortez Takes Victory Lap After Amazon Goes to NYC — Even After She Helped Block $3 Billion in Subsidies

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was one of the progressive leaders in New York City credited with blocking $3 billion in public subsidies for Amazon to open an additional headquarters.
But Amazon is moving into NYC despite the lack of subsidies.
“The giant online retailer said it has signed a new lease for 335,000 square feet on the city’s west side in the new Hudson Yards neighborhood, where it will have more than 1,500 employees,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “Amazon is taking the space without any of the special tax credits and other inducements the company had been offered to build a new headquarters in the Queens neighborhood of Long Island City, the company said.”
“The new lease represents Amazon’s largest expansion in New York since it stunned the city by abandoning those earlier plans. Amazon pulled back after facing a backlash from some politicians and activists over the roughly $3 billion in financial incentives the city and state had extended to woo the company and the 25,000 new jobs it had pledged to create,” The Journal explained.
Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, took a victory lap after her argument that the subsidies were unnecessary was vindicated.
“Won’t you look at that: Amazon is coming to NYC anyway – *without* requiring the public to finance shady deals, helipad handouts for Jeff Bezos, and corporate giveaways,” she tweeted.
Won’t you look at that: Amazon is coming to NYC anyway – *without* requiring the public to finance shady deals, helipad handouts for Jeff Bezos, & corporate giveaways.
Maybe the Trump admin should focus more on cutting public assistance to billionaires instead of poor families. https://t.co/BbqhXbB9MM
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 6, 2019
Here are some of her previous thoughts on the company:
Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world. https://t.co/nyvm5vtH9k
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 14, 2019
This deal wasn’t a simple tax break. It was $3 BILLION dollars.
When the community wanted to negotiate, Amazon said “all or nothing.” They bailed when they didn’t get 100% of what they wanted.Google came into NYC just fine. Amazon wanted to be FoxConn:https://t.co/Ce9gVb7jg8
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 15, 2019
Not sure how many pundits talking about Amazon even read the deal or where it was going.
$500+ million of the deal was *capital grants.*
$2.5 billion in tax breaks.
It’s fair to ask why we don’t invest the capital for public use, + why we don’t give working people a tax break. https://t.co/jUqaugUHYP
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 19, 2019
Now what I DON’T want is for our public funds to be funding freebie helipads for Amazon + robber baron billionaires, all while NYCHA and public schools go underfunded & mom+pops get nowhere near that kind of a break.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 4, 2018
Amazon touting “jobs” (has anyone fact-checked where this 25k number even came from? How many were promised to be local hires?)
…but they refused to even consider hiring union when we insisted labor be part of the conversation.
Union jobs are a key ladder to the middle class. https://t.co/HefYzOBhyG
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 15, 2019
Last year, Amazon paid nothing in fed taxes and got almost a billion-dollar refund.
10% of their workforce is on food stamps – another government subsidy.
They’re demanding changes to an infrastructure that they do nothing to support. Delivery workers do more here than Amazon. https://t.co/WbgmUvrgjc
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 21, 2018
From “day one?” Really?
1 in 10 of Amazon’s Ohio employees were on food stamps after the company opened fulfillment centers in the state.
Paying full-time employees so little that they require gov food assistance is what paying starvation wages means.https://t.co/jJrWkxGONh https://t.co/B6guAikAOX
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 18, 2019
Amazon hiring former NYC Councilmembers to be their lobbyists doesn’t change the fact that they are trying to trample democracy, skip the need for public review, and somehow force construction of a digital company town in LIC on public dime w/o public consent. https://t.co/3VpoWbUXN0
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 12, 2018
Queens City Councilman @JimmyVanBramer and State Senator @SenGianaris have come out against HQ2 deal:
“The burden should be… on Amazon to prove it would be a responsible corporate neighbor.”
Both announced they will stop accepting real estate developer money last month. https://t.co/XOld5WUDMX
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 13, 2018
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