AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
- Amazon said Thursday it was no longer planning to bring its new headquarters, named HQ2, to New York City.
- The decision to bring HQ2 to New York was met with fierce backlash from many politicians, local residents, and tech leaders who took aim at HQ2's effect on housing prices, the major tax breaks New York was giving Amazon, and the company's treatment of its workers.
- This is how politicians, policymakers, and tech leaders reacted to the surprise news.
Amazon's plans to put HQ2 in New York City have been called off, the final culmination of months of criticism directed at the e-commerce giant after it first announced in November that it would open a new headquarters there.
In a blog post Thursday, Amazon said it came to the decision to cancel its plans for New York City "after much deliberation," and seemingly took aim at politicians who vocally opposed HQ2.
"The commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term," the blog post says. "While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned."
Amazon announced in November it had chosen to split its much-coveted second headquarters between two sites in New York and Arlington, Virginia.
The news was met with immediate opposition from several sides. Local residents were angry HQ2 would cause traffic to increase, rent prices in the surrounding area to skyrocket, and gentrification of the neighborhood to speed up. Players in the tech industry slammed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for a lack of transparency in its long 14-month long HQ2 selection process. Developer David Heinemeier Hansson even went as far as to accuse Amazon of extracting "blatant loot" from cities vying for HQ2, and called the company's actions "utterly becoming."
Local politicians, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, were outraged at the terms of the deal struck between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Amazon, which promised the company billions of dollars in tax breaks as incentive for coming to New York City. New York City Council members were upset they were kept out of the loop regarding discussions for Amazon to come to their city.
But now that plans for HQ2 have been scrapped, many of HQ2's biggest opponents are celebrating, while proponents are lashing out at Amazon.
Here are some of the reactions coming from politicians and leaders in tech in the wake of Amazon's HQ2 reversal: