Update: Feb 14 2019 – Amazon pulled out of its plans to develop a headquarters in Long Island City.
Update: Jan 15 2019 – Justice for All Coalition issues a statement setting out their reasons for opposing the Amazon deal, covering “public giveaways despite public need”; “Lack of community involvement”; “Jobs for whom?”; “Faux ‘community benefits'”; “Intensifying gentrification”; “Spurring the privatization of public housing and homelessness”.
On November 13, Amazon announced that one of its two new headquarter sites will be in Long Island City, Queens.
Justice for All Coalition
The day after the announcement Rights Here met with members of the Justice For All coalition at the Bel Aire diner in Astoria. Well before the Amazon announcement, Justice for All has been campaigning around the impacts of rapid development in Long Island City, for NYCHA residents, small business owners, and others.
The coalition is opposed to the deal, outraged that the City and State will provide billions in incentives to a company owned by the world’s richest man, while NYCHA apartments are in desperate need of repairs, including the removal of mold, and guaranteed heating in the winter.
Justice for All Co-Chair Yvette Kemp
“We already have an uncontrollable crisis,” Yvette says, speaking of the rapid development of hotels and residential towers in Long Island City, which has pushed prices up, forced small businesses to close, and led to overcrowding in local schools.
“With all this construction, I’m also concerned about the air quality, and the lack of green space.”
Access to jobs is also an issue.
As a Justice for All Coalition report found, Long Island City as a whole saw the number of jobs increase 30% between 2002 and 2015, while unemployment in the two largest public housing projects in the area, Ravenswood and Queensbridge, increased during the same period.
Christopher Hanway, Executive Director of Jacob A Riis Settlement
Jacob A Riis Settlement is a community-based organization in Long Island City. Its Executive Director emphasizes the need for Amazon to make deep and long-term investments in local workforce training programs if it comes to the city.
Well before the Amazon announcement, public housing residents were “feeling left out of the conversation and the decisions, and honestly have a lot of fear. People are like, what’s in it for us…how do we connect to these jobs?”
Piff Jones, rapper, Queensbridge Houses
“There’s a lot of people out here that need work…it gets tough out here. Amazon, IF they do hire us, it could be a step in the right direction for our community.”
Peter Johnson, LIC resident
Long Island City resident Peter Johnson is concerned about the strain on local infrastructure, like transit and sewer systems, as new big buildings go up. He questions whether the city’s recently-committed $180 million towards this will be enough, particularly given that the waterfront neighborhood faces the rapidly growing risk of sea-level rise and storms.
He also foresees the creation of an isolated Amazon tech hub while existing residents are priced out. “These tech hubs tend to be closed, gated communities, with high security, providing a gym, health clinics and soon, so that there’s no reason to leave.
“The people who work there have no need to be involved in anything that’s local.”
Ernesto Salazar, RWDSU
“I don’t think it’s fair that New York is giving subsidies of 3 billion dollars to a company that makes huge amounts of money, while we, the working class, are suffering.”
Shawn Dixon, Ottis and Finn barbershop in Long Island City
“This neighborhood has already had problems with the ability of some businesses to get and maintain leases.”
Jonathan Westin, New York Communities for Change
“Rents are already high in New York. Amazon coming here will push them even higher.”
Jackson Heights parents
“I’m scared about the rents becoming unaffordable in this part of Queens. The subways are already almost unusable, and it’s going to get worse…It’s really hard to boycott Amazon!”