No problems like they had in Long Island City, New York….
The building of the center for the company had little opposition with the possibility of an additional 25,000 jobs….(There WAS some protests at the final board meeting, but the vote for the project was unanimous )….
The Arlington County Board unanimously approved a $23 million incentives package for Amazon to build a headquarters facility in Crystal City at a raucous meeting Saturday repeatedly disrupted by protesters who shouted “shame” and twice forced the board members to briefly leave the room.
The 5-0 vote was the final action granting local and state subsidies to the online retail giant as part of its much-publicized plan to create at least 25,000 jobs over 12 years in the Northern Virginia suburb.
The vote came at the end of six hours of testimony and debate in which supporters touted the project’s economic benefits while opponents warned that the influx of highly paid workers would raise housing prices and displace lower-income residents.
The outcome was never really in doubt because board members had signaled for weeks that they intended to back the plan, which surveys showed had broad support….
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June O’Connell, a 30-year resident, said Amazon’s presence would ensure that Arlington would get state money for transportation improvements and investments in higher education.
“I want that money from the state,” O’Connell said. “Without Amazon, we wouldn’t get a penny of it.”
Opponents said Amazon didn’t need or deserve public subsidies, that its arrival would displace low-income communities, and that it had not engaged well with the community.
When Kinsey Fabrizio, a member of the Consumer Technology Association, praised Amazon’s outreach to the community, Amazon opponents in the crowd laughed raucously, drawing a rebuke from Dorsey.
Resident Ibby Han told the board that by supporting Amazon, “You’re just repeating Virginia’s history of prioritizing elites over working people.”
Officials from the local chapter of the NAACP and the regional AFL-CIO objected to the unwillingness of the online giant to sign a project labor agreement with wage and benefit safeguards for workers hired to construct the Amazon buildings…..
image…NBCWashington.Com