Queens Borough President candidates mourn Amazon at business forum
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Queens Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Grech presided at the borough president candidates’ forum Tuesday. Eagle photo by David Brand .
By David Brand
Six candidates for Queens borough president addressed the Queens Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, describing in broad terms their plan for facilitating business in Queens while taking time to mourn — or in two cases, cheer — the demise of the Amazon deal.
The forum at the Queens Village catering hall Antun’s was a chance for candidates to describe how they will improve “the business of business” in Queens before an audience of entrepreneurs and executives, said Queens Chamber President and CEO Tom Grech. The conversation inevitably turned to each pol’s perspective on Amazon’s 2019 decision to nix a deal to establish a corporate campus in Long Island City.
Former Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley said the borough needs a local booster to champion Queens as a place for companies large, small and, in the case of Amazon, enormous.
“I would have certainly made Amazon feel welcome,” Crowley said. “When Amazon came to the City Council, it was only days later that they decided to leave. They certainly did not feel welcome. I cannot say that there was one councilmember that rolled out the red carpet.”
The city and state worked out the Long Island City deal with Amazon in 2018 without submitting the proposal to the city’s Universal Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP — a process that requires feedback from local communities and lawmakers.
That January 2019 Council hearing that Crowley referred to turned contentious as protesters disrupted proceedings and councilmembers, including Speaker Corey Johnson, lashed out at Amazon executives and the New York City Economic Development Corporation officials seated before them. Johnson and others criticized Amazon’s labor practices and data-mining as well as the opacity of the Long Island City deal.
But Donovan Richards, a Southeast Queens councilmember running for borough president, said he would have welcomed the arrival of the online retail giant, which operates a vast data repository and analytics service.
“This is tax revenue that we are going to lose that could have benefited and really built the communities,” Richards said. “Tax revenue to improve transit infrastructure, affordable housing, build our schools.”
Amazon had pledged to bring 25,000 jobs to Queens, though that figure has been debated. Richards acknowledged that there was little community input in creating the plan and said the rollout of the plan was “poorly executed.” But he received applause from business leaders when he denounced a common argument among opponents of the deal who say few of the promised jobs would have actually benefited residents of nearby public housing complexes.
“When you hear people say that the jobs were not for the people of Queensbridge, that is irresponsible leadership,” Richards said. “The job of leadership is to ensure you are leveraging and you are representing the interests of the people at that table.”
“At the end of the day, my wife didn’t stop ordering off Amazon,” he continued. “They’re going to be here [and] if you are not at the table then you are on the menu.”
Former prosecutor James Quinn called the failure of the deal a “disgrace” and said it reflected an anti-business mentality among lawmakers and restrictive oversight from city agencies.
“It’s typical of what’s going on in the city,” Quinn said, after earlier describing cumbersome regulations that hinder businesses. “It’s one of the few things that the mayor and the governor agreed upon and New York City screwed it up.”
Community activist and entrepreneur Dao Yin was most vociferous in his support for the Amazon deal, describing how, as borough president, he would beg Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to return.
“I would fly there to Seattle and [say], ‘Come back, come back,’ because Queens needs new business,” Yin said.
He said Queens could also attract other major corporations to set up shop in the borough.
“Amazon has rivals. We can bring Amazon’s rivals to Queens to bring jobs,” Yin said. “We lost 25,000 jobs but that does not mean that’s the end of Queens.
In contrast to the embrace of Amazon by their four opponents, Councilmember Costa Constantinides and ex-NYPD Sergeant Anthony Miranda focused on the mechanics of the plan and the lack of community input. Neither said they opposed Amazon coming to Queens, however.
Constantinides instead criticized Amazon for trying to dictate the terms of the deal without respecting Queens and its population of 2.4 million people.
“We had a company that came in and said … ‘We’re going to come in, but we’re going to come in on our terms,’” Constantinides said. “‘We’re not going to have a conversation with the community. We’re going to bypass what everyone else has to go through.’”
The corporation did not have formal commitments to hire people from the local community or to address transit and housing issues, he said.
“At the end of the day, without everyone understanding their obligations and responsibilities, I’m not going to have someone come in and ‘Say we’re going to do this, but on my terms’,” he added.
Miranda was more blunt in his criticism.
“Amazon was a bad deal,” he said.
“I support job growth and big business coming in, but if you have a bad deal, you have a bad deal, no matter how you frame it or dress it up,” he continued, citing the lack of union jobs after the initial construction phase and the opaque planning process.
“They didn’t have an honest conversation with the community about what the deal was,” Miranda said. “Too many back room deals and it backfired on them.”
