Amazon ultimately chose the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, New York, and northern Virginia, as well as Nashville.
The company dropped its plans for New York after it met with resistance from local lawmakers, who criticized the promised $3 billion in tax incentives and raised concerns about the impact on the already strained public transportation system.
Activists’ success in New York has emboldened opponents across the country. Legislators in Arizona, Illinois and New York have introduced legislation to prevent state government from tailoring incentives to a specific company. Activist groups in Northern Virginia and Nashville have called for greater scrutiny of their area’s bids.
There was already a conversation about "being more responsible about what we do with taxpayer incentives,” said Odessa Kelly, an organizer at Stand Up Nashville, a coalition of local organizations focused on equitable growth. “Amazon is a big catalyst for us to have public awareness around it. Is this how we want to do this, or do we want more accountability?”
That question will remain even after the dust settles in Nashville, New York and Northern Virginia, where even Abraham concedes the chance of derailing Amazon’s plans is a long shot. On Feb. 5, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill granting the lion’s share of the $800 million incentive package used to bring Amazon to the Washington area. The Arlington County government is set to vote on its own contribution, which amounts to $23 million in subsidies tied to local hotel taxes, on March 16.
Two members of the five-person county board recently told a local publication that they didn’t want to vote on the subsidy package until Amazon engaged with the community. One of those members, Erik Gutshall, signaled support for the incentive deal at a public meeting on Feb. 23, saying that Amazon has met “quietly” with community groups.
“Amazon is making significant progress satisfying my desire for meaningful engagement with their new community,” Gutshall said in an email. “They are understandably reluctant to participate in a public forum where they could be subjected to a dysfunctional shouting match with angry opponents who may be more interested in creating a spectacle than actual civil dialogue.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.