Cuomo Tries To Win Amazon Back After Nasty Breakup

NEW YORK — Like John Cusack blaring his boombox, Amazon's supporters in New York are making a last-ditch effort to woo the company to Long Island City.

A group of 80 business, civic, academic and labor leaders issued an open letter Thursday urging the online retail colossus to reconsider its plan for the massive headquarters that was expected to create at least 25,000 jobs.

Signed by several elected officials — including U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a high-ranking Brooklyn Democrat, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, whose district includes the Amazon site — the letter says a "clear majority" of New Yorkers were disappointed by the firm's decision to abandon the project on Valentine's Day, following intense criticism of the nearly $3 billion in tax incentives the city and state offered to support it.

"Opinions are strong in New York—sometimes strident. We consider it part of the New York charm!" the letter reads. "But when we commit to a project as important as this, we figure out how to get it done in a way that works for everyone."

The letter promised that Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who has reportedly made his own appeal to Amazon — would "take personal responsibility for the project’s state approval."

The Democratic governor has spoken over the last two weeks with executives including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, pledging to help the company get through the tough process of setting up shop in New York, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Cuomo said he has "no reason to believe" that Amazon is reconsidering its decision. But he wanted to send a message that New York still welcomes businesses with open arms despite the debacle, he said.

"The point was more, not that Amazon is going to change its mind — I don’t think that they do — but the truth should be known, because this was a national story, and it had damning consequences for New York," the governor said Friday on WNYC.

The letter also pledged that Mayor Bill de Blasio would work with Cuomo to "manage the community development process" to make sure the company's campus would benefit local residents and businesses.

But the mayor, whose administration played a key role in negotiating the deal, has sharply criticized Amazon since its abrupt withdrawal. While others have blamed critical elected officials for scaring the company off, de Blasio has said it was ultimately Amazon that chose to walk away "in the dead of night."

De Blasio's press secretary did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment on the letter, though a mayoral spokesman told the Times that de Blasio knew it was being arranged.

Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen said the city is not renegotiating the deal with Amazon, but she suggested that it may not be entirely dead.

"I think the situation is fluid," she said on CNBC Friday morning. "I think the bottom line is that the fundamental reasons why Amazon wanted to be here remain the same."

The letter was organized and released by the Partnership for New York City, a business group whose members employ 1.5 million people across the state. The partnership has also launched a petition for New Yorkers to call on Bezos to reverse Amazon’s decision.

Representatives of several major companies were among the signatories, including Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon. So were local business figures such as Josh Bowen, the owner of the Long Island City restaurant John Brown Smokehouse who reportedly traveled to Seattle to meet with Amazon about the deal.

It's uncertain whether any of these entreaties will change Amazon's mind. An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment on the efforts convince the company to reconsider.

But many of the deal's opponents were not pleased to hear Cuomo was trying to revive it. Some 78 community and advocacy groups responded with their own open letter on Friday, saying the deal "cut out communities" and that Amazon made "little commitment to local hiring."

"Cuomo’s plea for Amazon to come back to New York and the open letter that appears in the New York Times today does not accurately reflect the desires of immigrant communities, working class communities, and communities of color," the letter says. "Amazon left the first time around because of fierce vocal opposition, and that opposition still remains."