The city’s top economic development official admitted Thursday that the Amazon deal was botched from the get-go.
“The rollout didn’t go as smoothly as it could have. I think we all regret that,” James Patchett, president of the Economic Development Corporation, said at a Crain’s Business forum in Midtown.
“There’s no question that the company was not prepared for what happened in New York City,” he said, but blamed the lack of preparedness on Amazon for failing to hire a “single New Yorker to work with them” or to connect with residents.
He also pointed to misinformation about the $3 billion in subsidies, saying that even his professional friends didn’t understand the economics of the deal.
“Why did you [give] them a check for $3 billion?” Patchett said he was asked. In fact, the subsidies would have come in the form of future tax breaks — not a cache of money currently sitting in city coffers.
Patchett faulted both Amazon and elected officials who supported the deal for losing the PR game.
“We tried to counsel them in that regard,” Patchett said. “They were not playing their cards as effectively as they could.”
He conceded that city officials didn’t effectively sell the project to New Yorkers, even though public polls showed a majority of residents approved of the deal.
“Not enough people could see themselves in those jobs,” Patchett said.
“We need to do a better job of making people not just hear about jobs but believe those would be the jobs they would get.”
He acknowledged that Rep. Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez’s opposition to the deal contributed to its demise.
Erik Engquist, an editor at Crain’s, jokingly asked if the city should just “give the keys” to the freshman congresswoman on Sunnyside Yards, a massive development site in Queens.
He ignored the quip.
During a question-and-answer segment, Patchett revealed that Amazon was most concerned about the high cost of living for its employees, but was also wary about the crumbling subway system.
Still, Amazon execs said the city’s 300-page proposal offering up 50 million square feet of real estate was “the best they had received by far,” Patchett boasted.
The company announced on Feb. 14 that it was pulling out of its tentative agreement to open a massive headquarters in Long Island City because of opposition from some local officials, progressive activists and union leaders.