When New York wanted to lure Amazon to western Queens with more than $2 billion of public money in 2018, an ascendant left wing rallied to defeat it. Progressive politicians, headlined by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, condemned the move as a corporate giveaway that would accelerate gentrification.
Seven years later, a much bigger project is on the table. This time it’s not about granting hefty public subsidies to one of the biggest companies in the world. Instead, New York City is proposing a huge rezoning in the area that would allow private developers to construct almost 15,000 apartments across 54 blocks currently filled with warehouses and parking lots. A vote in the City Council is expected at the end of the month.
The response from Zohran Mamdani, New York’s progressive standard-bearer and the Democratic nominee for mayor, has been unmistakably warm.
“I’m always excited about the prospect of building additional housing,” Mr. Mamdani, who also represents the area in the state assembly, said during a recent interview with Errol Louis on NY1.
The contrast in tone, from both Mr. Mamdani and the left more broadly, reflects fundamental differences between the plans of 2018 and today.
The Amazon effort, with $1.7 billion in incentives from the state and hundreds of millions more from the city, was hatched by company executives and city and state officials. The new plan, in contrast, has followed two years of open negotiations among civic leaders, city officials and residents, and puts a priority on benefits for New Yorkers like affordable housing and park space.
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The post In Ashes of Amazon Fight, Tensions Emerge in Huge Bet on N.Y.C. Housing appeared first on New York Times.
