'We were not elected to serve as Amazon drones': Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other NYC politicians voice outrage about Amazon HQ2's move to Long Island City

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New York Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

• New York City politicians, including Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sharply criticized Amazon's Tuesday announcement that it will build one of its new HQ2 campuses in Long Island City, Queens.
• They cited the billions of dollars in tax incentives New York state has offered the company and warned that local residents would be negatively impacted by increased pressure on housing prices and infrastructure.
• "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," two Queens politicians said.

New York Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Queens politicians slammed Amazon's announcement that it will build its new HQ2 headquarters in Long Island City, citing billion dollar tax incentives which one state senator called a "ransom," and voicing concern over the company's impact on local infrastructure and housing prices.

Local politicians took issue with the more than $1.5 billion tax break the city will offer one of the world's largest companies, calling it a corporate "giveaway." Ocasio-Cortez said on Monday that she's received an overwhelmingly negative response from her constituents in the fast-growing waterfront neighborhood just across the East River from Manhattan.

"Amazon is a billion-dollar company," she tweeted on Monday. "The idea that it will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks at a time when our subway is crumbling and our communities need MORE investment, not less, is extremely concerning to residents here."

The company will likely receive hundreds of millions of dollars in additional incentives from the city (available to any company) by employing New Yorkers in outer boroughs and for commercial development, the New York Times reported.

Amazon says it will create 25,000 "full-time high-paying" jobs and will invest about $2.5 billion in its campus and related projects, including infrastructure and green space development.

"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," Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer and State Senator Michael Gianaris, both of whom represent Long Island City, said in a scathing joint statement on Monday. "We were not elected to serve as Amazon drones."

Local politicians have also expressed concern that the secret deal-making process between Amazon and the government circumvented community review and local input by using a state-level process that bypasses the authority of the City Council in zoning and land-use decisions.

The politicians voiced concern about the company's impact on rent costs and property values, which will likely skyrocket in the neighborhood and surrounding areas, and the burden it will place on city infrastructure, including the struggling subway.

Read more: Amazon officially announces its HQ2 will be split between New York and Virginia

The reaction to the announcement represents a deep rift between the city and state's Democratic leadership and New York City locals and their representatives. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio are in rare alignment over the decision.

"New York can proudly say that we have attracted one of the largest, most competitive economic development investments in U.S. history," Cuomo said in a statement included in Amazon's official announcement.

The mayor insisted the company offer a career ladder to some of the city's most marginalized residents and "open up good careers in tech to thousands of people looking for their foothold in the new economy, including those in City colleges and public housing."

Amazon would become the tenth largest employer in the New York City area, behind only the city, state, and federal governments, several hospital systems, and the financial behemoth JPMorgan Chase.

The saga of HQ2 began in September 2017, when the company put out its official request for proposals and nearly every major metro area in the US threw its hat in the ring. The company will also build an HQ2 in Arlington, Virginia, where it will similarly create 25,000 new jobs.