De Blasio says NYC is ‘very jaded’ about Amazon
Mayor Bill de Blasio is giving Amazon the cold shoulder, saying the e-tailing giant won’t get any help from the city if they close on plans to move to Manhattan’s West Side.
“Look, if Amazon decides — as Google did and as many other tech firms have — that they’re going to expand their presence in New York City, that’s their choice,” de Blasio said at an unrelated City Hall press conference Tuesday.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all, but again, they’re going to have to do it on their own,” he said.
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The mayor was addressing The Post’s exclusive report Monday that the tech giant has been in negotiations with landlords of two new skyscrapers located one block west of Penn Station.
Amazon is shopping for office space at the recently constructed One Manhattan West and its soon-to-be-completed sister project, Two Manhattan West, after canceling a deal to open a second headquarters in Queens, sources told The Post.
“I have not had any discussions with them,” the mayor said.
“You know we are very jaded now after having made a full agreement that I thought was a fair agreement that they just walked away with in the dead of night,” he said.
“They have not spoken to me. They have not reached out to me, but if they do something on their own and it adds jobs, well, that’s fine, then,” he said.
City Council Speaker Corey said Johnson Amazon reps haven’t reached out to him either, even though the two towers are in his district.
Still he was more optimistic about the Seattle behemoth’s potential second coming to the Big Apple.
“I welcome Amazon to come. This would be as-of-right. There would be tax subsidies involved and I think that is an appropriate way for Amazon to come to the city,” Johnson added.
The state tax breaks available for Amazon’s initial planned move to Long Island City would not apply to a midtown Manhattan outpost.
Julie Samuels with the advocacy organization Tech: NYC that represents 700 companies said the business community supports the West Side location.
“I and I think much of the community I work with welcome Amazon’s growth here with open arms. The kinds of jobs that we’ll see from Amazon’s increased presence — and from the increase of other tech companies large and small — are the jobs of the future,” Samuels said.
