Amazon Stands Behind NYC Deal Amid Council's Grilling

NEW YORK CITY HALL — Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer's frustration boiled over as he questioned the city's top economic development official about Amazon's plans to build a massive campus in Long Island City.

The Democrat, a leading critic of the company's move, was particularly upset that a swath of private land would be developed without the Council's approval as part of the Amazon project.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," Van Bramer told James Patchett, the president and CEO of the city Economic Development Corporation.

But Patchett was unapologetic. He maintained at the Wednesday hearing that Amazon's arrival would protect the city's economy from future downturns and help New Yorkers break into the technology industry.

"We’re not ashamed of this," Patchett said. "We’re proud to be here and we’re proud to be delivering these jobs."

The exchange encapsulated a hearing where indignant Council members — who lack any binding authority over the project — asked pointed questions seeking specific answers that Patchett and Amazon officials often did not provide.

Anti-Amazon protesters peppered the proceedings with chants and interjections. One man called Amazon "lying creeps." Another woman shouted from the balcony that the company was "just going to replace everyone with robots anyway."

Amazon executives did not directly say whether the company needed state subsidies to build its at least 4 million-square-foot campus, or whether it would have chosen another location if the project required Council approval. But they did admit the roughly $3 billion in incentives for the project did play a role in the company's decision-making.

"Talent was the primary driver for our location decision to come to New York," Holly Sullivan, Amazon's head of economic development, told lawmakers. "... Incentives were certainly a part of that process, and they were a priority for us."

Wednesday's hearing, held under the Economic Development Committee's banner, was the first of three the Council plans to hold to scrutinize the deal. But the Council won't be able to vote down Amazon's project because it is being developed through a state-led process called a general project plan.

Lawmakers fumed over their exclusion from the process and the paltry commitments the trillion-dollar company has made compared to the size of the incentives. They also raised concerns about the company's anti-union record and its relationship with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Amazon has committed $5 million to training and recruitment programs, an amount Van Bramer called "crumbs off the end of the table." Council Speaker Corey Johnson slammed the fact that a helipad for Amazon was the only transportation-related component of the deal.

"This is like something out of The Onion," Johnson said. "So yes, Jeff Bezos's commute is all set, but what about the rest of New Yorkers, who are crammed in the subways every single day?"

Johnson asked whether Amazon would have still moved to New York City if it had to go through the Council's typical process, known as the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. The executives did not answer directly, but said the general project plan would let them develop the headquarters faster while still allowing for input from the community.

"Our goal is to hire New Yorkers quickly, and the (general project plan) is the best avenue, from what we’ve learned form the city and state, to meet that timeline," said Brian Huseman, Amazon's vice president of public policy.

But Amazon officials did not commit Wednesday to a specific proportion of jobs for which it would hire New York City residents. The campus is expected to create more than 25,000 jobs with an average salary of $150,000, about half of which are technical jobs, Huseman said.

Both Patchett and Amazon officials noted that the development process has just begun. The city and state on Tuesday announced the creation of a 45-member "community advisory committee" to gather feedback about the project. It comprises business, labor and community leaders, among others.

"We don’t have a final set of agreements. We have a framework for an agreement," Patchett said. "We want to work together to make it a really good project for this community."

Amazon negotiated the deal deal with Patchett's agency and Empire State Development, the state's economic development arm. Officials from the latter agency did not testify Wednesday.

After Patchett said the state led the bid, Johnson asked him whose interests he felt he was representing in the negotiations.

"One hundred percent the people of New York City," Patchett said.

Onlookers in the Council chambers laughed.

(Lead image: Brian Huseman, Amazon's vice president of public policy, appears at a Council hearing in City Hall on Wednesday. Photo by William Alatriste/New York City Council)