It has been reported that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has gone ‘begging’ Amazon to reconsider its cancellation of plans to locate an International Headquarters in Long Island City, Queens, New York with 25,000 jobs….
The Governor has spoken directly to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his senior staff promising that if they change their minds he would assure that the project will be approved by the state….
As proof that Cuomo is serious?
The one person that sat on the state Public Authorities board that was against the project and could have derailed it isn’t on the board anymore…
He’s been replaced….
The New York Times has made public an open letter by unions, elected officials (Local , State and from Congress) , including the US House Representative for the district involved….
New York City Mayor de Blasio ,who knocked the company for not being willing enough to tough it out in the ‘Big Apple’ , will also support the project if the company changes directions and recommits…
The plea to Amazon was also aimed at other companies that might be looking to locate to New York City….
Letting them know that the despite the media attention on those who fought against the Amazon move?
The city and even the New York Metro area is a good place to do business…
I said here that Governor Cuomo was pissed….
He’s gotten over that…..
He’s now mounting a campaign to get what he and a lot of others want….
Jobs….
And the money they bring….
A lot of people who were against the company have fallen behind the effort to bring it back to the “Big Apple’….
The re-pitch could put pressure on Amazon to change it mind…
We’ll see…..
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who was staggered by Amazon’s decision to pull out of its plans to come to New York City, is working intensely behind the scenes to lure the company back, even connecting with Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, to make a personal pitch.
The governor has had multiple phone conversations with Amazon executives, including Mr. Bezos, over the past two weeks, according to two people with knowledge of the efforts. In those calls, Mr. Cuomo said he would navigate the company through the byzantine governmental process.
Mr. Cuomo did not offer a new location but rather guarantees of support for the project, one person said. Amazon executives gave no sense the company would reconsider.
The executives also learned of an open letter being arranged for publication in The New York Times on Friday, also urging Mr. Bezos, the company’s chief executive, to reverse course again and build the campus in Long Island City, Queens.
The letter was signed by more than 70 supportive unions including the AFL-CIO, local businesses and business leaders, community groups and elected officials including Representatives Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn, a top Democrat, Max Rose, a first-term Democrat from Staten Island, and Carolyn Maloney, whose district encompasses the Amazon site, and the former mayor David N. Dinkins.
The letter said that Mr. Cuomo “will take personal responsibility for the project’s state approval,” and Mayor Bill de Blasio “will work together with the governor to manage the community development process.”
Read the Open Letter to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos
A full-page ad appearing in The New York Times on Friday urged Mr. Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, to reverse course again and build a campus in Queens.
So far at least, the company has shown no sign of reconsidering its decision to abandon the deal, in which Amazon promised to create up to 40,000 jobs in Long Island City in exchange for a state grant of $500 million and state and city tax breaks that would have eventually totaled more than $2 billion.
“I’ve had many conversations with Amazon. I hope that they reconsider,” Mr. Cuomo told reporters at an unrelated event Thursday on Long Island. “It would be helpful if the State Senate said that they would approve it; that would be helpful. But in the meantime I haven’t heard any changes.”…..
image…NY Daily News