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New York City politicians led by then-Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez greeted news that Amazon would be building a massive new campus in Long Island City, Queens with outrage after the company revealed that it would receive up to $3 billion in “performance-based” city and state tax incentives, as well as money from Empire State Development – money that, some argued, would be better spent fixing the goddamn subway. And in the months since the announcement, an inchoate resistance of left-wing lawmakers has formed to try and sabotage the company’s plans to build its new (helipad-equipped) campus just blocks away from the infamous Queensbridge Projects.
Until this week, the resistance consisted mostly of a few scattered protests and angry tweets. But for the first time on Monday, opponents of Amazon took a step giving them a real shot at sabotaging the company’s plans when the leader of the New York State Senate selected Queens state lawmaker Michael Gianaris to serve on the Public Authorities Control Board.
The board must still approve the development grant to Amazon. And with one of the state Senate’s most vocal opponents of the deal now on the board, it stands a very real chance of getting voted down.
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