Gov. Cuomo Wants Amazon In NYC

It appears that local politicians of New York and some resident groups are not very keen about allowing retail giant Amazon to open its second headquarters in the region, governor of the state Andrew Cuomo is determined to stick to the original plan. Amazon had announced early this month that it has shelved all plans to open the office due to massive protests and petitions against the project. This decision by Amazon to shift its second headquarters elsewhere made governor Cuomo rage at the local politicians that opposed the project by calling them people of narrow political interests that were putting their selfish interests over community.

In the past couple of weeks Cuomo has been trying his best to convince the executives of Amazon to change them mind assuring them of his ability to cut through the bureaucratic quagmire of New York but it appears that Amazon is still not convinced. An open letter is also likely to be published soon in which several unions based in New York along with local businesses and citizens’ groups have signed their support for Amazon. The letter also states that Governor Cuomo will take personal responsibility to get the project approved by state officials.

Apparently the governor has made several personal phone calls to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and to other senior executives saying that he will guide them through the government process to ensure that the project is finalized this time. Though he did not specify a new location for the office Mr. Cuomo stated that he would guarantee full support. But the firm is not showing any signs of reconsidering the proposal which had promised creation of 40000 jobs in the city of Long Island for grant of $500 million in tax breaks that could total up to $2 billion in the long run.