New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned Friday about what he called “political pandering” to critics of Amazon’s proposed secondary headquarters amid a report that the company is reconsidering its planned New York City headquarters.
But opponents said they’d keep fighting a project they consider corporate welfare.
The back-and-forth came after The Washington Post reported that Amazon is having second thoughts because of some local politicians’ opposition to the nearly $3 billion incentive package. The report cited two unnamed people familiar with the company’s thinking.
In response, Amazon would say only that it’s engaging with small business owners, community leaders and educators, pointing to its pledges to fund high school computer science classes and contribute to job training.
“We are working hard to demonstrate what kind of neighbor we will be,” the Seattle-based company said in a statement.
Noting the Post’s report, Cuomo accused the state Senate – whose leader recently tapped an Amazon critic for a board that might have sway over the project’s subsidies – of “governmental malpractice” and siding with those who are “pandering to the local politics.”
“And that’s what could stop Amazon,” he said at an unrelated event on Long Island. “I’ve never seen a more absurd situation where political pandering, and obvious pandering, so defeats a bona fide economic development project.”
Amazon considered Boston as a location for its secondary headquarters, but ultimately chose to split the project between locations in New York, Tennessee and Crystal City, just outside Washington D.C. Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh are leaving the door open to Amazon if the e-commerce giant decides to ditch New York City in favor of another city, according to the Boston Business Journal. Suffolk Downs developer HYM, however, said it has “moved on” from Amazon after pitching the site on the East Boston/Revere line for the new Amazon headquarters.