AMAZON DEAL DOUBTED
Queens housing residents skeptical of getting HQ jobs despite hopes, promises
NEW YORK — Shawn Smith has heard the promises before. When new hotels sprang up near the public housing complex in Queens where he’s lived for 17 years, residents were told they would bring jobs and economic opportunity. He hasn’t seen any of it. So he’s cynical about the announcement this week that Amazon will build a headquarters for 25,000 workers on the Long Island City waterfront, a half mile from his home. Elected officials gleefully promised that Amazon’s presence will buoy all of western Queens. Smith is not so sure. “The hotels here, they’re not hiring nobody. They’re bringing their own kind,” said Smith, who commutes to a construction job in New Jersey. “That’s how I feel about Amazon.” His wasn’t the only skeptical voice among the roughly 6,400 residents of the Queensbridge Houses, the largest public housing complex in the U.S. Residents, most of whom are black or Hispanic, expressed hope that there might be something for them in Amazon’s hiring bonanza to offset the pressures of neighborhood gentrification. But they are taking the promised opportunity with a grain of salt. “Let’s see if they hire from around here,” said Fontaine White, 54, who has lived in Queensbridge for eight years. “I think it’s a good idea, provided you remember we live here, too. If you put Amazon in Long Island City, we’re part of Long Island City.” City and state officials promised at least $2.8 billion in tax credits and grants to lure Amazon to Queens, where it would occupy a new campus built around a formerly industrial boat basin. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, both Democrats, have heralded the deal as good for everyone. The big government incentives for Amazon have sharply split the Democrats who dominate state politics. New Yorkers who ride the subway through Queens have wondered how the neighborhood will handle additional commuters. The station closest to where Amazon would be located already has an average daily ridership of 23,672, making it among the system’s busiest. Queensbridge Houses has also factored heavily in the public discussion. For decades, the 26-building housing project in the shadow of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge was known for being a rough place. Crime has abated substantially in recent years. Queensbridge was celebrated for going nearly two years without a shooting before the streak ended in 2017. But like most New York City housing projects, residents complain of poor conditions, unreliable heat and hot water, and rats and roaches. The same week officials celebrated their willingness to let Amazon avoid billions of dollars in taxes, a federal judge rejected a consent decree that would have had the city pay $1 billion over four years and an additional $200 million annually for the following six years to fix deplorable conditions in public housing, saying it didn’t go far enough.