Ocasio-Cortez celebrates Amazon canceling New York offices: ‘Anything is possible’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Thursday celebrated Amazon’s decision to cancel its plans to build a second headquarters in New York City.

“Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world,” Ocasio-Cortez, one of the deal’s staunchest critics, wrote.  

Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world. https://t.co/nyvm5vtH9k

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 14, 2019

Her statement came shortly after Amazon in a blog post announced that it was canceling its plan to build offices, dubbed “HQ2,” in Queens, citing pushback from “a number of state and local politicians.” 

{mosads}Ocasio-Cortez in recent months joined the chorus of local politicians and advocates slamming the Amazon deal as corrupt and potentially harmful to local residents. Critics focused much of their ire on New York City’s decision to offer $3 billion in state and city incentives to lure in Amazon, as well as the company’s anti-union track record.

The self-described democratic socialist had criticized the tax breaks for Amazon, as well as the company’s hiring practices and wages.

Ocasio-Cortez said her future constituents voiced “outrage” when Amazon first announced that it would be splitting its new North American headquarters between New York and and Northern Virginia. The congresswoman, at the time newly elected, now represents parts of Queens, where the new headquarters was slated for construction.

Ocasio-Cortez earlier this month raised concerns about Amazon’s facial recognition technology Rekognition, which the company pitched to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last year.

“Nothing Amazon has said or done — including selling facial recognition technology to ICE & its intent to fight against worker unionization — would lead us to believe it could be a good or healthy neighbor for NYC,” she wrote in a tweet.

Amazon announced earlier Thursday that it has canceled plans to open the New York City branch of HQ2. 

“After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.

“While polls show that 70 percent of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City,” the statement from Amazon said.

Updated at 2:06 p.m.