Just about two weeks ago, after fierce resistance from local politicians, Amazon decided to cancel its plans to build one of its two new headquarters in the Queens section of New York City; specifically, in Long Island City.
Among those leading the charge against the mammoth internet giant was freshman Congresswoman (NY-D) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known to the media as AOC.
Now Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and a host of business, community and academic leaders from across the city are begging Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to reconsider the move.
In an open letter published Thursday online in The New York Times, and appearing in the print edition of the newspaper on Friday, the petitioners plead with Bezos to “reconsider, so that we can move forward together.”
Directly referencing a letter by Amazon announcing its decision to back out of the deal in New York, and explaining precisely what city residents were losing in the process, the response from Cuomo and others says: “New Yorkers do not want to give up on the 25,000 permanent jobs, 11,000 union construction and maintenance jobs, and $28 billion in new tax revenues that Amazon was prepared to bring to our state.”
The open letter to in tomorrow’s pic.twitter.com/wWTRh8xVni
— Aaron Simon (@AaronMSimon)
Thus far, there has been no response to the letter from Amazon.
