Didn't see this thread when I posted on the Northeast regional discussion forum, so I copy and paste my post there below. My main concerns are: a big chunk of tax money will be paid to Amazon, that will affect the funding for other needy areas of improvement including, perhaps, bike safety related projects. Also, how does HQ2 relate to warehouses? Does it mean there will be more trucks? Definitely there will be more traffic, and it will push the housing prices even higher in the already sky high city, seeing that the average Amazon employee salary is $150,000. I think it's ridiculous for such a big rich company to ask for NYC's subsidies. There must be a reason this was not announced before the Election Day when Cuomo was running for reelection.
Here is my post on the other forum:
There are a lot of outcries about this now. Complaints include its effect on the traffic, local businesses, the housing market, ... not to mention the subsidies Amazon will receive that come from the tax money.
According to Amazon, the cost per job for New York taxpayers is $48,000, compared to $22,000 for Virginia and $13,000 for Tennessee.
from
NY taxpayers to pay $48,000 per Amazon HQ job - Story | WNYW
Something will have to make way for this, right? Would that imply less money for future cycling safety projects? OTOH I imagine most new Amazon HQ2 employees will be young people and many may take up bike commuting even though they make an average of $150,000, according to
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/13/amaz...nashville.html