Amazon HQ2 means 50,000+ new jobs, but not everyones happy about it

Amazon HQ2 means 50,000+ new jobs, but not everyones happy about itAmazon HQ2 means 50,000+ new jobs, but not everyones happy about itAfter more than a year of deliberation, Amazon has decided to divide its second headquarters between New York City and Arlington, Virginia. Thecampuses will play host to more than 50,000 jobs with an average salary of $150 thousand, and hiring begins next year.Amazons announcement comes after months of state and local governments vying for the business giants new offices, and much speculation about wherbeie it might land.Though the new sites mean billions in incremental tax revenue and investment, locals in Long Island City, Queens, have taken issue with Amazons choice to move into their already teeming neighborhood. Other critics have focused on the companys dramatic, year-long search that ultimately ended with headquarters near the countrys two major political, financial and media hubs Manhattan and Washington, D.C.Politicians celebrate big winBefore Amazon announced the locations of its second headquarters, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo joked, Ill change my name to Amazon Cuomo, if thats what it takes. The company has been promised more than $1.5 billion in incentives from New York state and plans to apply for more incentives through the city.Today, with Amazon committing to expand its headquarters in Long Island City, New York can proudly say that we have attracted one of the largest, fruchtwein competitive economic development investments in U.S. history,Cuomo said in a statement. Economic opportunity and investment will flourish for the entire region.New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio echoed Cuomo, tweeting New York City is about to get tens of thousands of new, good paying jobs and Amazon is about to meet the most talented workforce in the world in one of the most diverse places on the planet.In Virginia, Governor Ralph Northam touted a big win for Virginia in a video with a Virginia is for Amazon lovers screen as its bac kground.All of Virginia will see the benefits, Northam said.Locals worry about housing, transportationAs concerns mounted that the Amazon headquarters might land in Queens, journalist Elizabeth Sile took to Twitter.The thought of even 10 more people riding the 7 train makes me want to pass out, she wrote. RIP to my neighborhood(,) which has already been dying with all the rich people moving here anyway. I guess its death will be swifter.Sile is not the only one who is worried about overcrowded subway cars or rising housing costs. One Twitter user wrote, There goes my rent.Community groups aware of how the influx of high-paid employees will affect the area have recommended Amazon pay a gentrification tax, according to The New York Times. Zillow estimates that rent has gone up by almost a third over the past five years in Amazons original host city, Seattle, and Manhattan is already infamous for its oversaturated real estate market that constantly crowds into other boroughs and suburb s.Local politicians have denounced Amazons plans to move into Queens. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a U.S. congressmember-elect, wrote on Twitter that her community found the decision extremely concerning, especially in light of the tax incentives the government has offered Amazon.Displacement is not community development. Investing in luxury condos is not the same thing as investing in people and families, Ocasio-Cortez wrote. Shuffling working class people out of a community does not improve their quality of life.State Senator Michael Gianaris and City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer released a joint statement saying they were not elected to serve as Amazon drones.Offering massive corporate welfare from scarce public resources to one of the wealthiest corporations in the world at a time of great need in our state is just wrong, they wrote.In September, Amazon briefly joined Apple as the only companies with a $1 trillion market cap.Amazon is one of the richest companies in the world, N ew York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson wrote in a statement. But you cant put a price on community input, which has been missing throughout this entire process.Critics take issue with location choicesWhen Amazon announced its plans for a second headquarters, it invited applications through a public process and had few qualifications for its new site. Cities across the United States and Canada, including Dallas and Nashville, made the short list.But when it came down to the decision, Amazon chose two of North Americas most booming areas that critics say did not need the companys business.Bringing economic opportunity to the prosperity-starved environs of (checks notes) New York and (looks again) Washington D.C. , tweeted Alex Burns, a New York Times national political correspondent.Think of what they could have done in Detroit or Newark, another Twitter user wrote.Still, others suspected Amazons hyped public process for selecting the location of its new headquarters was a str ategic move.Dozens of cities have shared reams of data with Amazon that their own citizens do not have access to, tweeted Stacy Mitchell,co-director of theInstitute for Local Self-Reliance. Amazon will use this data to build out its empire To site stores, warehouses, etc. To get in early on the right real estate. To beat out competitors because it knows things they dont.In other words, Americas city leaders are accomplices to a monopolist.