AOC Celebrates That "Amazon Is Coming to NYC Anyway" Without Tax Incentives

By Daniel Politi, Slate

08 December 19

ep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is “waiting on the haters to apologize” after Amazon said it would open up corporate offices in New York City to house more than 1,500 employees. The announcement from the internet giant came less than a year after it abruptly dropped plans to build a second headquarters in the city following backlash to the some $3 billion in financial incentives that the government had offered to woo the company. Ocasio-Cortez quickly celebrated the announcement in a series of tweets.

“Won’t you look at that: Amazon is coming to NYC anyway - *without* requiring the public to finance shady deals, helipad handouts for Jeff Bezos, & corporate giveaways,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “Maybe the Trump admin should focus more on cutting public assistance to billionaires instead of poor families.” She then tweeted a photo of herself sitting on a couch saying she was waiting for apologies .

The lawmaker’s tweets came shortly after the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon had signed a new lease for 335,000 square feet in New York City. Unlike earlier expansions, the company is setting up shop without any special tax incentives. Some had worried that when Amazon pulled out of setting up its second headquarters in New York it would scare away other large businesses. “Instead, Amazon’s continued expansion marks the latest sign that tech companies are scrambling for prime Manhattan real estate to attract the city’s large and well-educated talent pool,” reports the Journal.

Some though were quick to criticize Ocasio-Cortez, saying her claiming victory on the issue was a bit misleading considering that the new office space is far smaller than what the online giant had vowed to set up in the Queens neighborhood of Long Island City as part of its second headquarters. The company had pledged to create 25,000 new jobs as part of that expansion.